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Do You Go Out to the Movies or Wait for the DVD?

Posted by Cliff on from the discuss-your-spending-habits dept.

SpecialAgentXXX asks "After I see a movie, I usually end up buying the DVD to see the deleted and behind-the-scenes bonus material. So I not only pay for $20 the DVD, but also $24 for a pair of tickets, $8 for parking, and $12 for popcorn & drinks. But now that I have a home theater system, I've mostly stopped going to the movies and just wait half a year for the DVD. The only exception is watching a movie in DLP or the IMAX Experience like Harry Potter since those are better qualities than a DVD. Are more people doing this? The cost of going to the movies is now more than double that of a DVD!"

4 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Depends a lot by katanan · · Score: 2, Informative

    yeah whenever i go to the theatre nowadays on weekends i generally prefer the matinees because of the smaller audience. less chance of annoying people sitting by you as well.

    the DVD issue is relevant, up here in Canada we have relatively cheap DVDs (tickets are from $8-13 and a DVD generally costs about $20-26 and about $50-60 for the high end ones like Criterion) so i often do prefer to own my favourites on DVD and also to rent new releases that I don't think i would want to own (rentals run about $3-5)

    ** all prices above are in CAD

  2. YMMV by david_420 · · Score: 1, Informative

    It depends on your situation, I guess. I happen to be single (like a lot of folks here, I gather) and live in a smaller city. Going to see a movie is usually a cost of $5-7 for me.

  3. For non-US folks, DVD imports are the way to go... by rklrkl · · Score: 3, Informative
    Of course, if you don't live in the US, you'll find that many US movies can take months and months to air in your country's cinemas. A recent example was the Jennifer Garner vehicle "13 Going On 30" - the Region 1 DVD was actually out a few days before the UK cinema release and also came with a load of deleted scenes and extras (including Jennifer in some lingerie, but let's not dwell on that too long...).

    Add to this the free international postage many Region 1 DVD sites have (I used DVD Soon on this occasion) and it's a total no-brainer - Region 1 DVDs are the way to go for UK folks.

  4. cheat the MPAA ... legally! by Yonder+Way · · Score: 3, Informative

    I go to maybe one or two movies a year. And they better be damn good movies. The last one I went to in a theater, I think, was Shrek 2 and only because my daughter bugged the hell out of me. Before that it was Hulk.

    I don't rent movies. I don't do pay per views. I wait. I am patient. I wait for Blockbuster to finish quenching the surge of demand for a new movie, and then I buy it when it hits the "Pre-Viewed" rack. Even then I wait until they run the "2 for $20" sale. That's when I stock up. I walk out once or twice a month with an armload of DVD's.

    Sooner or later I'll purge the collection and recoup some of those costs via eBay. For now, though, it's kinda cool knowing that I legally own over 400 DVD's and not a cent of my money has gone to the MPAA.