The latest quarterly report from Commbank iQ shows that people under 30 are cutting back on discretionary spending like streaming service subscriptions, but movie ticket sales are on the rise. I love going to the movies with the heady aroma of whatever butter-like flavouring they add to the popcorn assaulting my nostrils from the moment I set foot in their foyer. I love the amazing reclining seats and mega-screens many cinemas have these days. I love going in at twilight and coming out when it’s dark. For all that I love there is, sadly, something I loathe. Something I first complained about when I turned 16 – 40 years ago! Cinema pricing.
To be clear, I’m not talking about paying $30 to see a movie. Two hours of sitting back in a big comfy chair caring nothing for the chocolate escaping from my overpriced Choc Top and landing on my shirt is my idea of a great night out. What I am talking about is the hypocrisy that did not escape my notice as a 16-year-old and certainly doesn’t now. My beef is, “An Adult ticket is required for people aged 16 or older unless a valid concession card discount is applicable,” a direct quote from Event Cinemas Australia’s website, yet in Australia you aren’t legally an adult until 18.
Age-restricted access to many things depends on what it is you want to do. The age you can have sex, drive, be culpable, get a job or a tattoo depends on where you live. Boy was that a point of angst for me as a teen when my 17-year-old NSW peers became licenced drivers. In Victoria, it was on my 18th birthday I could pass my driver’s test and legally buy my first beer. If I was doing it today, I could also join those hanging out to get their genitalia pierced – mmm, perhaps not!
So why am I banging on about the cinemas making people pay for an adult ticket at 16 when this is an age you can qualify for Youth Allowance or have a full-time job? After all, airlines and accommodation providers have for a long time been charging full adult prices for kids as young as 13. Well, here’s the thing – that airline and hotel will give that kid the same sized seat, bed, and towel as an adult. A cinema will take a 16-year-olds adult-sized payment, yet not deliver the same service an actual adult would get.
How is this so, I hear you ask. Same seat, same popcorn, same messy Choc Top. The difference is all in the movie classification ratings decided by the federal government, yet surprisingly I’m not about to blame them. The hypocrisy lies with the cinemas where you have to buy an adult-priced ticket from the day you turn 16, but that ticket won’t allow you to see an adult movie as “R18+ material is restricted to adults”, a quote from the Hoyts Cinemas website. I was outraged that my 16-year-old self who had left school and was working for minimum wage, was subsidising the industry so cinema goers two years older could go and see ‘The Exorcist’.
Notwithstanding the bleeding obvious that more kids over 16 these days are students and therefore get student ticket pricing, the fact is if they haven’t got whatever proof is required to validate this, they are going to be buying a full-priced ticket. As a mother of three who has navigated the perils of cinema going as a teen, believe me when I tell you they rarely remembered to take that proof!
Teens of today if you are reading this, I’m not sure if anyone cares but know that I do. My only consolation to you is a sweet spot I’ve found when you turn 15. You see on your 15th birthday you’ve got the following 365 days to cram in every MA15+ movie at kids’ pricing. All this before you hit 16 and start coughing up the big bucks for the exact same privilege.
As to you, Australian cinemas, my message is the same as it was 40 years ago. Don’t charge 16-year-olds adult pricing, hand them the same ticket you would anyone over 18, then tell them they can’t see the same movie. This is misleading and one day a group of sassy 16-year-olds just might demand they get into to see ‘The Exorcist Strikes Again’. I live in hope.
- Jo Pybus is a freelance writer and host of Alex the Seal podcast.
