The movie-going "experience"

It has been a growing theory of mine for quite some time now that the way we watch movies is evolving. I am about to sound old and cliche but I remember the days when I could see a matinee for $5 and still have money left over to buy popcorn (which curiously used to taste like popcorn and not buttered cardboard as it does now, but that's a whole other topic). These days a movie ticket can cost upwards of $12 and yet we are still buying the same quality product, and in some cases arguably a worse one (i.e Indy 4), which is why, for the most part, my husband and I tend to steer clear of the theatre and watch movies from the comfort of our couch. I believe it was James Cameron who stated in an interview a few years back on the topic of ticket prices that he thought the steeply rising prices were fair and if anything should be higher because audiences are paying not just to watch a film but for an experience. Which leads me to ask what it is that an experience actually entails? Mr. Cameron may have believed his cinematic genius was experience enough, but I think now even he understands the trends toward true "experience cinema" is proof that when audiences pay more they start to expect more, hence his upcoming 3-D "Avatar". 

Whether it be 3-D, concert events on film, couches to sit on instead of seats, or dinner served while you watch I think the movie going experience is changing in order to catch up with both rising prices and the comfort and ease of the home theatre watching experience. Are these new additions just frivolous accents intended to fulfill a niche market, a possibility explained in this Machinist posting or is the business of movie going truly evolving? I suppose only time will tell.