USA, UK, AUS – Who’s Paying The Most For Movie Tickets?

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Australian’s love to compare themselves with Americans. Folks from the United Kingdom love to compares themselves to Australians. But Americans hate comparing themselves to the Brits.

We’re just here to help that love-hate relationship blossom.

And we’re going to do it by letting you compare the average movie ticket prices across the three countries. Find out who’s getting the best deals and who’s getting taken for a ride.

Let’s jump right in – here are the average ticket prices for each country:

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Incoming graph. All prices in USD.

For easy viewing:

Cool. But does the graph actually mean anything? Not really. Why? Prices are relative.

Imagine movie tickets cost $10 in your country and you’re getting paid $500/week. You’re giving away 2.00% of your income (10/500) for the big screen experience.

Now you move to another country because the President’s gone a bit mad, head to the local cinema, and purchase a ticket for just $7. Your weekly wages here are $250/week.

Being the smart intelligent life form you are, you realize prices are relative to wages and come to the conclusion movie tickets in the first country are cheaper, even if they cost more. Because now you must be willing to walk away from 2.80% of your weekly income for a ticket (7/250).

The price of goods and services is relative to how much you’re getting paid.

With that in mind, let’s find out who’s paying the most for movie tickets taking into account wages.

Ticket Prices as a % of Weekly Median Wage

First up – we’re using median because it’s a more accurate representation of what the average person makes. Multi-million dollar salaries aren’t normal and completely skew the average.

We’re comparing movie ticket prices for everyday people. And to do this, we use median.

Median is picking the number right smack bang in the middle of all the numbers.

Take the following data set – 100, 105, 105, 110, 120, 130, 170, 200, 3000

The average – 449.

Does 449 seem like an accurate representation of those number to you?

The median – 120. Much better.

Figures for each country:

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Sources Australia – ABS United States – SSA United Kingdom – ONS



Let’s visualise it.

One more:

Well, well, well. How the tables have turned.

UK now has the cheapest tickets, hovering around 1.20% of their wage for the past 16 years.

USA has also been steady in between 1.40% and 1.60% over the same time.

AUS though, we don’t know what you guys are doing down there. All over the place mate. Considerably higher as well.

How do you think your country will compare when we switch out the median wages with the median disposable wages?

Ticket Prices as a % of Weekly Disposable Income

Disposable income is what you’ve got left after paying your ‘fair’ share of taxes (as we know, fair is a relative term).

The raw numbers:

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Go on – have a bit more fun.

For those who prefer to not have fun:

The overall positions are still the same, but the amount by which they differ has changed greatly.

Australian’s are now paying double that of their British mates for movie tickets, with Americans not too far behind.

What has the rest of the world been saying?

Figures released by the National Association of Theatre Owners on Monday reveal that cinema ticket prices in the US have reached an all-time high. – The Guardian The high cost of a trip to the cinema [in the UK] is the main reason putting people off going to see films, according to a new poll. – The Telegraph Ticket prices have skyrocketed around the world, but the problem is worst in Australia. – News.com.au

Everyone wants to claim they’ve got the highest price ticket, but not all have the right to the thrown. Only one of the three has the rightful claim to the throne – remember that.

Australia – you officially have the highest priced movie tickets.

You guys can now complain all you want – no one in the North will say otherwise. It’s too bloody cold up there anyway.

“A lot of people like snow,” Carl Reiner once said, “I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.”

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