DC area included in most expensive places for moviegoers

In the film industry, summertime means one thing — it’s blockbuster season. Studios line up their big-budget movies hoping to cash in on hits, a strategy that sometimes backfires in a major way. This past quarter was a disappointment for movie theater chains AMC and Regal Entertainment, and whatever the root cause for the downturn is, the rising price of actually getting a seat in the theater can’t be helping matters.

CareerTrends — an employment and career research site powered by the Graphiq network — found the 50 most expensive places to go to the movies. The data comes from the Council for Community and Economic Research’s Cost of Living Index, which is compiled by pricing items across different locations at a specified time. The list is ranked by the cost of one ticket to a first-run, indoor, evening movie with no discount.

Not surprisingly, large metro areas made up the top of the list, and the top 10 most expensive places all had prices over $12.30 per ticket. Looking at the breakdown of the top 200 most expensive places to go to the movies, we see that the East Coast is the most represented region.

Once you combine the price of concessions in the theater — which have obscene markups as high as 800 percent — an evening at the theater might not seem worth it. Hey, you could always just stay in and get your Netflix on.

Note: In the event of ties, the city with the highest population is ranked higher on the list.