The movies have, in effect, priced themselves out of competition for teen-age dollars. The main consumers of video games are the young males so coveted by the movie industry. And one of the big attractions of video games is the price. But for well under half that amount, a person can rent a video game cartridge for a whole day. This is an important consideration for young people with their relatively small disposable incomes.
Price is also the advantage of videotapes.
Again, young people make up the biggest segment of the videotape market. Virtually all theatrical films now become available on videotape about six months after their initial release. Since people know that they can eventually see just about any film on video, they are becoming pickier about what they will see in a theater. If a film doesn't have spectacular effects like those in Jurassic Park or The Fugitive, or some other elements that are best appreciated on the big screen, people will likely opt to wait for the film to appear in the cheaper medium of video. And even if people have to see a film on the big screen, they are increasingly choosing to wait until a film appears at a second-run theater, where tickets usually cost about half what they do in regular theaters.