What was life like back then? Here's a snapshot: "Cleopatra," starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, was the number one film at the box office that year, when the average movie ticket cost 85 cents. A loaf of bread cost 22 cents . . . a gallon of gas, 30 cents.
In 1967, you would have paid just $1.20 to see a movie, but in today's prices, that same ticket would cost you $8.76 -- $0.11 more than the current average ticket price!
Observe that in constant dollars, movie-ticket prices more than doubled between 1935 (when they cost a quarter; that's $2.93 in 1999 dollars) and 1970 (when they cost $1.55; $6.68 in 1999 dollars). Prices for movie tickets peaked, in constant dollars, during the 1970s.
(Fun fact: The average movie ticket price in 1969 was $1.42, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners. Adjusted for inflation, that ticket would cost $11.93 today.)
What was the average cost of a movie ticket in the 1950s?
In 1950, a person could purchase a movie ticket for a mere 46 cents on average. By 2016, the average ticket price had increased to $8.65 -- and the increase in ticket prices shows no signs of slowing down. Still, the prices of tickets are much more consistent when adjusted for inflation.
What was the average cost for a movie ticket in 1930?
One favorite way of attracting patrons was to offer sweepstakes and drawings at the theater for prize money. Even the promise of just a little bit of money was a big draw for impoverished Americans. At an average price of $. 27 a ticket, movies offered a relatively inexpensive way to vacation from reality.
A trip to the movie theater in 1985, perhaps to see "The Breakfast Club" or "Back to the Future," cost $3.55 per ticket, on average, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners. Nowadays, you'll have a difficult time finding anything at the concession stand -- let alone an actual movie ticket -- for $3.55.
Like the country itself, the film industry has changed with the times. In 1940, a movie ticket cost a quarter. Now, some theaters charge upwards of $10 for admission.
Gigi won the Oscar for the best film of 1958. According to the National Association of Theater Owners, the average ticket price across the country to see Gigi, or any other film in theaters that year, was 68 cents, a far cry from today's prices.
With a worldwide box-office gross of over $2.9 billion, Avatar is proclaimed to be the "highest-grossing" film, but such claims usually refer to theatrical revenues only and do not take into account home video and television income, which can form a significant portion of a film's earnings.
But if you're talking about the most scandalously expensive movie ever, “Cleopatra” is the easy winner. The 1963 Taylor vehicle had a budget of $5 million when filming began on Sept. 28, 1960.
WikiAnswers.com says in 1960 it cost between $5 and $9 to sit down at a show. That makes today's ticket prices $45 and $79, when adjusted for inflation. So Broadway has gone overboard and over-the-top.
Cars: In 1960, the average cost of a new car was approximately $2,600, while today it's above $30,000. Groceries: The price of chicken was around $. 29 per pound in the 1960s and costs approximately $1.54 per pound today. Ground beef went from an average of $.
“I would say the '70s is when it first started to change,” says Oberleitner. “The quarter cup of popcorn increased to 50 cents, 75 cents and then $1. This all happened pretty rapidly through the course of the '70s, and by the time we hit the '80s it was in full gear completely.”
Along with shelling out about $500 for a 20-inch color TV in 1985, you risked a hernia, as well. And you were spending big bucks on a set back then — $1,195 (adjusted for inflation). Today you can get a lightweight 24-inch color TV for a much lighter price: $149.99.
In 1990, the average price of a movie ticket in the United States was $4.75, 8 percent more than in 1989 and 16 percent more than in 1988, according to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
In 1931, the average price of a new car was $640. The top three automakers were General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler—still familiar names in the auto industry!
Housing values dropped by approximately 35 percent. A house, worth $6,000 before the Depression, was worth approximately $3,900 in 1932. By the early 1930s, many people owed more money through their existing mortgages than the reduced value of their home.
