This year's Spring Festival movie market is booming, but some consumers have discovered that when watching 3D movies, some theaters do not provide free 3D glasses, and need to purchase or rent them additionally.

　　Beijing: Some theaters need to buy or rent glasses to watch 3D movies

　　In a movie theater in Beijing, the reporter saw that on the big screen of the ticket purchase information, it was clearly written "Please bring your own 3D glasses or buy them in the theater."

On the ticket purchase page of another movie theater, the theater also clearly stated that "3D glasses with no deposit can be provided", but no deposit does not mean free.

In practice, the reporter found that there are many ways to charge for 3D glasses.

　　A cinema worker in Beijing: High-definition 3D glasses are charged at 2.98 yuan for 5 hours; ordinary 3D glasses are free.

　　The reporter found on the online complaint platform that there were 244 complaints about theaters not providing free 3D glasses.

Among them, the number of complaints in January 2023 increased by 126.6% month-on-month compared with the number of complaints in December, accounting for 15% of the total.

At the scene, many consumers also expressed their incomprehension.

　　Consumers in Beijing: 3D glasses are originally a piece of equipment for movie theaters. Why should moviegoers buy them?

　　Industry insiders: Theaters want to cut costs

　　3D glasses are no longer free

　　Why don't theaters offer free 3D glasses as before?

Is the charge for 3D glasses compliant?

　　The reporter found on the ticketing platform that most of the explanations given by the theater for the practice of no longer providing free 3D glasses are out of epidemic prevention and hygiene considerations.

According to industry insiders, theaters hope to reduce costs and increase profits is the main reason why 3D glasses are no longer free.

　　The person in charge of a theater: 3D glasses that are reused need to be disinfected and wiped, which is a huge workload in itself.

There is still some profit in selling. The purchase price is usually about two yuan, and it is very cheap to sell for five yuan or three yuan.

　　As early as 2019, the official Weibo of the China Consumers Association made a statement on the issue of "purchasing 3D glasses at your own expense to watch 3D movies". It is a typical "unequal format clause" and is suspected of violating the "Consumer Rights Protection Law".

　　Lawyers said that whether to buy 3D glasses, the right to choose should be returned to consumers, instead of "one size fits all" to exclude or limit consumers' right to choose, theaters also need to retain customers through honest management and high-quality services.

(CCTV Finance)