Average Movie Ticket Price Falls Slightly as Box Office Lags in 2019

The average price of a movie ticket in North America fell in the first quarter of this year, as overall box office has been slow so far. 

The cost of a single ticket to a theater stateside averaged $9.01 in the first three months of 2019 — slightly cheaper than the price of $9.16 over the same time frame in 2018, the National Association of Theatre Owners said Friday.  

The price reflects costs at both big- and small-city theater chains and factors in a range of formats, including 3D screens.

The top age demographics that saw a movie in theaters in the first quarter of 2019 were 18- to 24-year-olds (27.3 percent) and 25- to 34-year-olds (24.1 percent), which made up a slightly larger percentage of moviegoers this year so far than last year, per Comscore’s PostTrak.

So far this year, Disney’s Captain Marvel has led the way at the domestic box office with $404 million — a number soon to be overtaken by fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe title Avengers: Endgame, which launched Friday.

About 57 percent of moviegoers who saw Captain Marvel since its March 8 stateside bow were male, according to Comscore. 

Universal’s Jordan Peele thriller Us ($171 million) and How to Train Your Dragon 3 ($159 million), along with Warner Bros. Shazam! ($125 million), round out the top five films domestically. 

Domestic box office overall is at $2,393,067,417 for 2019 so far, which is a 16.31 percent decrease from the same time in 2018. Overall admissions were likewise down 14 percent, to 265,601,267. 

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