Studios take 60%-70% of opening and second week grosses. Eventually, the scale slides to the exhibitor getting a larger and larger portion of sales, but the first weeks get eaten by the studio. More and more summer movies do the proverbial "boffo box office" business in the first two weeks and then trail quickly, leaving the exhibitors with a large piece of a very small pie.

Meanwhile, theatres still have to deal with things like rent, wages, and of course electricity. I imagine that the electric bill for the A/C is super-high in the summer (peak demand) while the theatre is paying to cool off customers who result in 30 cents on the dollar.

I'm not a fan of theatre owners but I can understand why tickets and concessions cost what they do - to cover the cost of overhead. Lucas broke new ground with the distro deal for Episode 1. And every studio has demanded a similar deal for their summer blockbusters.

Ticket prices are prohibitively high. If I take Girlie to one movie per month in the theatre, the cost of the tickets will be $288. Concessions can cost another ~$240. This is assuming that I can magically teleport to the theatre. I'm at $500 to see twelve movies with my girlfriend. I have to get there early to make sure I get a good seat, wait in line, listen to morons yammer and deal with idiots who kick my girlfriend's seat.

Or I can order Blu-Ray discs from NetFlix and watch movies at home on my set-up with a big comfy couch, a bowl of freshly popped popcorn and a decent bottle of wine.

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