Speaking of spending, movie theaters appear to have enjoyed their best Thanksgiving since the pandemic. Indeed, the theater I sat in Friday to watch The Holdovers (recommended!) seemed more populated than the few other cinemas in which I have sat for the past few years (I gotta get out and see more movies before this whole quaint custom of watching figments of imagination flitter across a giant screen in front of a group of enrapt strangers disappears). Cinema number-crunchers are guessing Americans bought $172 million worth of movie tickets from last Wednesday through Sunday—the best haul of the last four winter holiday kickoffs, but still only 54% of the pre-pandemic record, $315.6 million in 2018, and the $200M+ box office returns of the years around that:
If Wonka and Aquaman can draw a billion dollars’ worth of business at the December box office, movie ticket sales could top $9 billion this year, which, similar to the Thanksgiving cinema turnstile returns, would be a pandemic-era best but still lag behind the consistent eight-digit yearly takes from 2008 through 2018.
86″ (yes, 86) LG flatscreens are under $1000. Tough to leave the living room couch for kit like that.
I got my SS check on the Wed before Thanksgiving and decided I wanted to wait for Black Friday to hit Wal Mart. Then, I decided there would be so many shoppers on BF I wouldn’t get an electric cart to use for shopping. I went there Wednesday and there weren’t any carts available for nearly a half hour. I still managed to spend nearly 200 bucks and got no flat screen tvs.
I don’t necessarily like spending much money in Chinatown, but I still need to watch most pennies every month.
Carts are nice, eh, Mr. Mike? Even there in Iowa, carts like what Mr. Novstrup, the elder, rents to race around a little track are fun.