Average Movie Ticket Price Hits Record High of $9.38 in Second Quarter

That's a five percent uptick over the same corridor in 2017. Admissions are also up notably over last year.

The average cost of going to the movies in the U.S. climbed to a record high of $9.38 in the second quarter of 2018.

That figure is up from $9.16 in the first quarter and a five percent uptick over the same corridor in 2017 ($8.95), according to the National Association of Theatre Owners.

That puts the average ticket price for the first half of 2018 at $9.27, up 4 percent over the same period in 2017 ($8.90), said NATO. The average ticket price for all of 2017 was $8.97.

Fluctuations in price are due to the strength of the marketplace, as well as the demand for Imax and other premium formats. The more people spend, the more the average cost of going to the cinema increases.

The 2018 box office continues to pace well ahead of 2017; in the second quarter, North American box-office revenue was up a whopping 23 percent year over year, according to NATO. The boom was led by summer tentpoles Avengers: Infinity War, Incredibles 2, Deadpool 2 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Admissions were also up by more than 17 percent, NATO reported. Ticket buyers between the ages of 18 and 44 accounted for more than 65 percent of all second-quarter revenue.

NATO has long contended that the cost of going to the movies has remained relatively static when accounting for inflation, noting that the average ticket price of $2.23 in 1977 was roughly $9.26 when adjusting for inflation.