Students on a budget may have an answer to rising movie ticket prices.
The Hippodrome State Theatre is now offering students and senior citizens a discount to all of its regularly scheduled shows.
The discount allows students and seniors aged 65 and older to pay $5.50 for tickets with valid identification. Previously, the Hippodrome offered the discount to students and seniors only on Sundays and Wednesdays. On other days, tickets were $7.50.
Hippodrome cinema director Alisha Kinman said the theater wanted to make ticket prices consistent. Kinman said the change came after some recent restructuring and analyzing of the ticket prices.
“It just made sense to me that we should have student prices, and senior prices for that matter, be for all of our regular showings,” Kinman said. “We’re so close to the university that it would be silly for us not to do that.”
The implementation of the discount is not a sign that the Hippodrome is undergoing any financial instability, she said.
In fact, Kinman said the Hippodrome is expanding its options with new digital equipment that debuted in January.
“I wanted to really evaluate all the student, or not just student, but all the pricing that we have because I know it’s so expensive to go to the movies in general,” Kinman said.
Allison Alsup, a 22-year-old UF public relations senior and intern at the Hippodrome, said the lower ticket price will allow more students to come to the cinema.
“It’s available more days of the week, so they don’t have to plan so far ahead if they want to come see a film that we’re showing,” Alsup said.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 4/1/2014 under the headline "The Hipp extends student pricing to all regular shows"]
The Hippodrome State Theatre, 25 SE Second Place, is now offering additional student and senior pricing for all of its regularly scheduled shows. It’s $5.50 with an ID.
