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$110 for the Movies Isn’t a Cheap Night Out

by Sam Volkering
$110 for the movies isn’t a cheap night out
Out of touch with the common man

Don’t you love it when the elite of this world find restaurant that charges me $240 isn’t one I’d be
it in their good grace to make comment about going to regularly.
‘normal’ people?
But of course when you’re pulling in $3.9 million
When high-level executives on million dollar a year then $110 is ‘cheap’ and $240 at a
salaries think they’re in touch with normal folk. restaurant is probably common fare.
Well the quote you’re about to see from one of You’d expect such ignorance from a guy who runs
the highest paid executives in Australia is so out a business where their key arm, Village Cinemas,
of touch it’s amusing. is slowly but surely becoming less relevant in a
world of pirates, seeders and leechers.
Not amusing in the sense that what he’s said is
anything of comedic nature. Village Roadshow [ASX:VRL] lists on the ASX,
trading at about $7.11 a share. That makes the
No.
company worth about $1.13 billion.
What Graham Burke, co-executive chairman of Out of touch with the common man
Village Roadshow has said is funny because it’s There’s no doubt they’re a big company. But it’s
clearly a statement from a man out of touch.
clear from Mr Burke’s statements that they’re
So I guess by now you’re intrigued about what severely out of touch. And in an industry that’s
Mr Burke had to say? seeing declining ticket sales, it’s pretty concerning
when your co-executive chairman makes such
First you need to know something about Mr comment.
Burke. Based on the Village Roadshow Annual
Report from 2013 and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, According to The Australian, cinema box office
Mr Burke makes a lot of money. sales saw a 2.3% decline to $1.1 billion for 2013.
That’s interesting seeing as cinema ticket prices
In fact what he earns per year is more money than are increasing. That can only mean one
your average Australian will probably earn in their thing…attendance numbers are falling fast.
entire life. Mr Burke’s total calculated
compensation for 2013 was $3,927,381. The cinema in its current form and prices is not
sustainable. And it’s only a matter of time before
To break that down for you, Mr. Burke makes a cinema becomes a completely pointless exercise.
little bit over $10,759 per day.
The first nail in their coffin is ticket prices.
But this is what he had to say about his opinion
of what a ‘cheap night out’ looks like. The 7:30pm session on Wednesday night at
Crown Village to see Captain America: The
‘Gold Class is also a very cheap night out. Two Winter Soldier will cost me $41 for two adults
movie tickets at $35 is $70, plus a bottle of wine, (including my $2 booking fee).
some sliders or sushi — you come out of it having
had a great night and a terrific movie for probably For two adults and two children (and a $4 booking
$110. Whereas you go to any restaurant [and] it’s fee) the total is $72.
$240, and that [means] not being treated like I don’t care who you are or how much money you
royalty and not having seen a terrific movie,’
make. That isn’t cheap. And that’s the ‘normal’
Now to most people $110 for a night out certainly cinema. Multiply that out for Gold Class…
isn’t cheap. And I don’t know about you, but any

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