The wife and I decided to take a family trip to see the new Incredibles sequel. It took Pixar 14 years to make the sequel, but that’s okay because that’s about how often my wife and I make our way to the movies.
Honestly, I think the last film we saw prior to this weekend was one of The Hunger Games, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t one of the last two.
We aren’t totally lame. It’s just when you’ve been running schedules for three kids and working full time for so long, ordering take- out and crashing on the couch seems way more appealing than long lines, sticky theater floors, and the obnoxious mother who thinks everyone wants to hear her explain to her traumatized toddler why lots of people are trying to kill Katniss. PG is a rating, not an excuse to ruin the movie for everyone else, lady…
Anyway, when you’re going to the movies for the first time in quite a while, sticker shock can be more frightening than psychotic teenagers fighting to the death….as my wife’s reaction revealed when the ticket prices popped on the computer screen.
“$9 each????? For a Sunday matinee???”
I was just impressed she could purchase tickets online.
My younger daughter, our middle child who’s headed to college in the fall, calmed her down.
“Actually, Mom, $9 is pretty good.”
My son, the youngest of our three offspring and a rising sophomore in high school, confirmed it.
“Yeah, we paid $13 each for The Avengers.” The wife and I couldn’t help but reminisce about a simpler time when the Sunday matinee was a mere four bucks.
“How long has it been since you’ve been to the movies??” my son so kindly asked. “ Was it in black and white? Did it have sound?”
My wife didn’t pay him any attention. Instead, she was trying to figure out what RPX was.
“I’ve heard of IMAX… no idea what it is, but I’ve heard of it,” she said. “What in the world is RPX Real D 3D?? Is there such a thing as a normal movie?? Is that why it’s so expensive?”
She finally did manage to find the “standard format” option, got our tickets right to her phone (which was also impressive to me), and off we went.
Once inside, we quickly discovered concession stand prices had not changed. They were still the most expensive part of a trip to the movies.
To the theater’s credit, the size options for drinks were giant, more giant, and hope-no-one-is next-to-you-in-the-theater-because-the-cup-is-going-to-need-its-own-seat-size.
Pixar may take 14 more years to give us another epic Incredibles adventure, but I doubt the wife and I will wait that long to see another movie.
We have some time now. I just hope we can handle the next round of sticker shock.
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