Earlier this week we decided to go check out Toy Story 3 with a few friends. It was our first time to a movie theater in China, so I was excited about the experience. All things considered “going to the movies” is pretty much the same in China as in the U.S., but there were a few key differences.
The price– When we went to buy the tickets (a day early) I realized the prices in SH are similar to any of the major U.S. cities. It was 100 RMB/ticket, which is almost $15! That being said, you could buy a VIP card by paying 800 RMB upfront and save 20% off your ticket price as well as food– a pretty good deal. The theatre was also assigned seating, which was really nice, although we had to get there 30 minutes early to keep our seats.
The concession stand– This was probably the biggest difference for us. First of all, there were two concession stands. One for beer (yes, BEER!) and ice cream and the other for popcorn, soda, and candy, etc. I convinced Rob to order a beer just because he could, which you can see in the pic above. I didn’t want beer, so I went to the other concession stand where they had tons of other stuff. I wish we had taken a picture of the concession stand menu! Just to give you an idea of some of the more noteworthy items– what you see Rob holding in the picture is beef jerky. We also saw squid on the menu, as well as Pocky (yum!). For any of you who don’t know what Pocky is see this Wikipedia explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky. Of course, popcorn was available, but it was definitely not the kind of popcorn we’re accustomed to! There were two kinds available, which they called “sweet” and “salty”. The sweet kind was in the front and seemed to be more popular with the locals (Shanghainese people tend to like sweet foods). I thought it would be like Kettle Korn, but it turned out to be more like caramel popcorn, but not as sweet. We opted to order the salty popcorn, but even that was a little sweet. AND there was no butter available! I rarely put butter on my popcorn, but it was still strange to not see it on the counter. Although the ticket prices were a bit expensive, the food prices were much cheaper than in the U.S. We got a huge combo (two large sodas and a large popcorn) for about $6, plus the discount!
The movie– Our overall movie watching experience was pretty similar except for the Chinese subtitles (in 3D) at the bottom of the screen, which didn’t bother either of us much. Rob complained that the 3D technology was different and not as good, but I didn’t notice anything. Although, the glasses were much larger and heavier, which was a bit annoying for me.
All-in I would say our first movie-going experience in China was a success! I would definitely go back. :-)
P.S. Can’t believe it, but today is our 1 year anniversary! Time sure does go by quickly!!
