I like to think I live in a pretty affordable city and that just sounds insane to me. I can find $5 matinees of old movies on slow days but a new release will still cost me $12/ticket and $18/ticket on weekends. As for snacks I looked and the theater is currently running a special for $10 popcorn and a drink combo.

A $10 popcorn and drink special. $18.00 dollar tickets.

That sounds like a very poor cost/value.

A sporting event, visit to a zoo offers so much more at that price point.

Plus an hour of travel/prep time.

And matinee is cheap because it's an inconvenient time.

City matters. I lived in middle GA, matinee showings were $8 or so. And a theater had all-day matinee prices on Tuesdays (including for 3D and IMAX showings), so I saw a lot of movies on Tuesday evenings. But go north to Atlanta, and ticket prices pretty much doubled and you did not get a better theater experience for it.

Also, $5 snacks sounds like the cheapest snack they had. If you bought popcorn, it started at $6 or $8 for the small, even in middle GA.

Well talk about beer in a hockey or football match