Cinemanomics - 2 x 12 = 18

I probably go to the movies twice a year.  The $18 ticket before we even get to the ridiculous food prices, which are second apparently, only to the airport, is too steep for me.  The "half-price" Tuesday ticket at $12 is an insult to my intelligence - I know what half of 18 is. 

No wonder people just figure that they will buy the DVD in a couple of months.  With big screens and surround-sound systems a lot more common than they used to be, people will just skip the cinema altogether. 

I know I'm not alone precisely because I did actually feel very alone while catching a movie earlier in the year.  There were perhaps 4 people in the session.  Granted, the movie was in its final week and it wasn't an evening session but a room that empty would suggest a broken business model.  

This model would appear to be based solely on the premise that there are enough fools prepared to pay sufficiently over-the-odds to make up for all of the empty sessions.  The problem with this model is that it only has one solution to any problem, namely to keep increasing the prices to an ever-decreasing audience.  Surely, the plan should be about attracting more customers. 

Here's something for cinema chains to consider: if the ticket was actually $9, I'd go to more than double the number of movies I currently do.  In fact, throw in a choc-top for $1, giving me a great 10 buck movie deal, I'd go every month.  By halving cost, they would make more than five times as much money out of me (admittedly not counting my cheap choc-top but I'm sure they'd still be making money on that anyway). 

So why won't that happen?