Movie theater experience in Rabat - Morocco

One of American people’s favorite past time activity is going to the movie theater, either with friends or alone, it is an enjoyable experience for everyone. From my visit to a movie theater in Morocco, I can agree that this is the same for those who choose to attend here. However, I did notice a few key differences between an American movie experience and a Moroccan movie experience. First, the prices of movies in the U.S. are much more expensive than the price of a movie ticket in Morocco. For an average movie ticket in the U.S., the price is around $12, while in Morocco, the price is around $7. Also, in the U.S. more movie theaters are having online ticket sales where you choose your ticket and pick your seat before actually arriving to the theater. A second difference I noticed is that there are multiple language choices for a single movie in Morocco. Tanya and I decided to see the movie Aladdin, and for this one movie it was offered in both English and French, with more showings for the French version. Once we had chosen our seats and headed to the concession, I noticed a difference in the type of snacks served. In the U.S., there are around fifty different types of snacks and candies to choose from and a wide variety of drink choices. This theater only had around ten. Also, the size of the snacks differed greatly from those in the U.S where there are three sizes for popcorn ranging in size of small, medium, and large (which is around the size of a bucket). At this theatre, there was only one size and it was comparable to a small in terms of U.S. sizing. We decided not to buy any snacks because there was nothing that appealed to us, so we headed to our seats. When we walked into the actual theater, I noticed that the size is much smaller to that of the U.S. This theater was approximately one-third the size of a typical theater back home. After we had settled into our seats and the movie started, we noticed that all of the previews were in French. This made us slightly nervous because we thought we had chosen the French version of Aladdin instead, but once the movie started it was in fact in English and with French subtitles. Overall, when I was watching the movie I felt like I was back in the U.S. and it was that same enjoyable experience I always looked forward to back home.

Sarah Wydra

July 3rd, 2019