“Cinema should be seen in cinemas,” Stellan Skarsgård said during his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes where he won Best Supporting Male Actor for a Motion Picture.  

According to Yahoo! Finance in the United Kingdom, The Skarsgård men, Stellan and his sons, are part of the 21 richest Hollywood families. Stellan Skarsgård has a net worth of just over 50 million dollars. This is more money than most people in the world will ever see. It is easy for him to say that movie watchers should see the movies they want in the theater because he can afford to do that. With this information, Skarsgård’s statement can be seen as out-of-touch for most people’s realities. 

Although I agree that it is better to see a movie in a theater, it is not a feasible statement for the average person. With the cost of living rising every day, it leaves little room in the average person’s budget to make it to a movie theater to watch the next best film or to have disposable income for any sort of entertainment. With many people’s wages not increasing at the same speed as living expenses, it makes them choose between paying their bills or spending money on entertainment.

Trips to the movie theater and cancelling your streaming subscriptions seem to be the first things to go when people are in that predicament. Although, streaming services seem to be a better option than going to a theater. A person can watch a movie at home without having to purchase separate tickets for each person, spending extra money on outrageously priced snacks or experience the hassle that is trying to get everyone out of the house. 

The cost of a movie ticket has been at a steady increase. At an AMC theater in Tennessee, one ticket for a single feature costs around $15 to $17 depending on the time of the showing. If you add popcorn and drinks, a family of four can expect to spend over $100 for family entertainment.

A lot of households struggle to afford groceries, so spending that much money on one outing with the family feels irresponsible. A student who works to pay bills, as well as put themselves through college, does not usually have the expendable money to pay for an outing such as watching the latest hit film in theaters. Yet, Hollywood stars are putting the blame on audiences for not showing up to theaters rather than blaming the theaters for having outrageous pricing.  

Multi-millionaire actors and actresses should not be trying to guilt trip people back into the theaters to support their art. They should be acknowledging the fact that going to the movie theater is a luxury to most people. Have conversations about the economic reality of going to theaters instead of telling people who do not make as much money as them what they need to do.