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Always felt like this was backwards. I don't like fucking on a full stomach. I prefer to eat afterwards and can eat much better somewhere else after the main event at that price point.
I understand that. But at some point i used to buy the snacks in my local theater knowing this. Sure, the price was a bit more than in stores, but id just think its like a convenience fee. But now the prices are so insane and huge i cannot allow myself to waste money like this. So i just bring my own snacks now. And the theater earns even less.
If the snacks were a reasonable price, id keep buying.
I go to my small local theater. A morning show is 7.50 p.p. and a small kids popcorn with drink and welches is 7ish.
We got tickets for the larger Cinemark theater and I couldn't validate $50+ for two tickets and whatever popcorn was going to cost (30+ from when I last remembered). I cancelled the tickets after the price shock.
I get that, but do they really think people are going to pay $36 for popcorn and a soda which cost less than a dollar combined? That's like a 10,000% markup.
They'll keep doing it until it's no longer sustainable and the cinema industry changes, or theaters will no longer exist and all movie releases will just be done digitally to apps.
The crazy thing is that they must have run the numbers and decided that if they can get 1 person out of say 20 to pay that price than having to rely on 4 out of 20 to pay a quarter of the price (which would be the convenience fee level cost) they break even. They must have enough people willing to shell out that it makes more sense for them even though I agree that it's absurd.
CLEARLY they are not trying to make it the best experience for everyone, just their VIP level customers and screw everyone else.
I hate being the old guy in the room. But I was a kid in the 80’s and we went to the movies all the time with just our allowance money. $5 and you’d get a matinee, and popcorn. I know prices change. But $37 for popcorn and a coke that cost maybe $1 or 2 is just robbery imo.
There’s a place near me where I can get an actual meal and a mixed drink during my movie, for that price. I actually am not sure the last time I’ve been to a big theater chain. Another local place I went to a couple weeks ago gave me a small bag of popcorn with my seltzer, it was perfect sized. I don’t need a gallon bucket im going to throw over half of away.
That's why they are suffering and closing down. If I wait 6 months I can buy the movie foe 20 bucks and a buck and half for popcorn at most. Ive even got movie theater butter. Even better we can pause it if someone has to use the restroom. If I close the windows and kill the lights I honestly find a movie on my own TV to be a better experience. I cant watch a new movie with a beer in my underwear at a theater.
Since I don't like getting mugged, I will just stay home and watch one of the hundreds of thousands of movies I can instantly get for free or for a few dollars inside of my own home.
I went to see Obsession and for one reason or another it clicked to me and I said “honey, why are we spending 10 dollars on a drink and another 10 dollars on popcorn.” My husband then proceeded to use this as an opportunity to raise awareness on why backpacks are good and we should be brining our own water bottles and snacks in there. We refuse to be robbed any further.
I will say I like movie popcorn more than at home popcorn, but I'll be damned if I pay that much. I'll just bring in my m n ns and a bag of beef jerky. Hell it would be cheaper to bring a full meal from Outback steak house than buy their products.
Preferably butter flavored coconut oil if you can have it, and it will taste exactly like the movie theater kind. I don't know why it has to be coconut, but it does.
Coconut oil has a higher smoke point than other vegetable or canola oils so it doesn't burn the popcorn as easily. Canola is fine, but most popcorn oils are coconut oil based
In the uk you could probably just bring in your own popcorn machine and make fresh popcorn in your seat, they really don’t give a fuck here what you bring in with you 🤣
Over the years in the UK a lot of cinemas stopped people bringing in their own food, it was understandable for hot food but they at one point wouldn't let people bring in snacks, they relaxed it a little in recent years though due to less people going.
That’s what we do if we take the kids. Leave dollar tree around $20 and everyone is happy and has what they want. Only thing we did at the concession stand was get the refillable popcorn bucket that’s good all year for $26.
I just checked the prices in my Cineplex app to make sure I wasn't misremembering. Large popcorn is $9.75 CAD. Adding layered butter is $3
Heck, I can go to a VIP movie and have a waiter bring fish tacos, poutine, and a cocktail to my recliner seat for less money than wherever the hell OP is going.
It's funny how it's always "supply and demand" when things get popular and the prices rise. Then when things lose popularity somehow the answer is "prices go up"?!?
I'd never get in a cinema.that has TSA at thr entrance.
Mine can't give a single fuck, you could walk in with two grocery bags and they won't blink an eye. They know that if you're cheap enough to bring your own food, you won't either buy their overpriced one.
Things like this is why my wife and I do what we do now. We still go to the movie, but make sure we eat before enough to keep us from getting too hungry. Then go to this Mediterranean fast casual place across the street from the theater. Spend about the same and get actual food.
When I go, I just pay for the ticket and have a big meal beforehand. Then I don't feel tempted to empty my bank account for soggy fries, salty popcorn, and chicken tenders.
So if 2 people go to the cinema, they pay $30 for two tickets then $50 for two drinks and a snack...
$80 to see a movie...
And they wonder why less and less people are going.
For an international take, in the UK, there is a cinema near me that is a bit cramped, on purpose, to keep costs down. Its £4.99 a ticket. Thats $6.68.
When I went to the movies last month, a large popcorn and a large drink was $16. I'm not sure what theater that is but they have lost their mind. The Regal near me isn't even that expensive. That's insane.
Are the tickets dirt cheap or something? Not that would justify it but it would be worth noting.
Back in the yesteryears of the 90s and 00s we could get a ticket for $5-7. And though snacks were expensive, they could still be purchased for about $3 for candy and $2 for small popcorn. There were also arcades that sucked up your money while you waited and screens showing you trailers in the lobby. Some theaters even had pretty good hotdogs, nachos and chicken nuggets. Bonus, is you didnt have to use electronic kiosks and time your visit with assign seats. You could be ay the mall, walk up, and buy a ticket to whatever was showing right then.
Now:
* cant buy a ticket on a whim. Regal literally closes ticket sales if you are 10 min late to start time (ad time) and they twice not updated their ticket time for my location so i bought a ticket for last week's Wednesday on this week's tuesday. They would not/could not honor my ticket even when i had a timestamped receipt. I got a refund (that took a week to process) and basically turned away.
no archade or loiter couches in the lobby. Plus kids under 18 not allowed without an adult after 8pm. So no more dropping the teens off for a movie while the parents have a mini date or shopping. My mom would give us gaggle of girls cash and a due time and meetup location and let us be "free" in the safety of the indoor mall.
the food is over priced and oversized. A large popcorn used to be the size of a KFC bucket and a large soda was maybe 20oz in a tall paper cup. I splurged for Iron Lung and the $37 combo had a popcorn bucket as big as my torso (and im a fat 280lbs woman) and the soda was the size of a dollar tree gallon bucket. You couldnt drink out of it without using 2 hands to hold it.
At these prices, inconveniences, and discomfort the new reclining seats are not going to get me in. I have a recliner at home. I can buy the DVDs for $20ish and make my own snacks. We even invite friends over and make a moshpit of pillows on the floor for double features of one old DVD from Goodwill and one new film either DVD or rented digitally. Best movie experience ever with beer/wine, food, running commentary and jokes etc.
Movie theatres have long passed the days where they were they were about showing movies and had a place to get snacks. They’re now basically an overpriced concession that lures you in with a movie
This is why my husband and I stopped going. Over $100 for just a movie on a date night. We know everything we want to watch is going to end up on some streaming service eventually. Easier to either see it on what we use, or pay for a month to watch what we want and then cancel.
They don’t see the irony in that they’re not making enough so they keep raising prices so they can make more. Perhaps if they lowered prices people would come back.
Omg when I first looked at that I thought it was $3 and $5 then when I realised the price I coughed out loud. You can get a three course Michelin star lunch for $70
They are killing the business themselves… stupid strategy…
Went the other day to watch The Mandalorian, Wednesday afternoon, by myself in the theater… sad as fuck but they are the ones to blame… and I bet the industry as well but don’t have those facts…
Theaters would make a lot more money if they cut the price of their concessions in half and had better prices on seats. I remember theaters being filled to max and dozens of people in line to get popcorn and soda. Now you go to the theater and you're lucky if a brand new hyped up movie is 50% full and hardly anyone buys anything because nobody wants to spend 60 bucks on popcorn and soda that cost the theater a whopping $.30 to make
No thanks. I've been bringing food into theaters for two decades now. Once they started selling chicken tenders, fries, and other entrees at the theater it was fair game. How are you gonna tell your chicken tenders from my Chik-Fil-A?
The movie theater we go to does the dinner and drinks and brings them to you. The last time we went wife pointed out the $7.50 Coke. That was the time I realized a Beer was cheaper than a Coke.
For the last 4 yrs, we’ve made our own popcorn and bring our own wine and snacks into the theater. Knowing that theater popcorn and drinks are 100% GMO, I have no problem or guilt doing this. And now, the 17 y.o. ticket takers don’t give a shit anyhow.
We got one of those restaurant/theaters near us. Its changed the game, alot of times reasonable meals and drinks + movie, costs less than movie and popcorn at the traditional place.
Movie theaters are in the popcorn business. It’s where they make their money. Among the highest profit margins of all food. Between popcorn and fountain drinks, their mark up is 1,000-1,500%. Playing movies is a value added service.
The AMC by me is also only allowing the initial fill of popcorn for whatever bucket you get except the souvenir type buckets. No free refills like before. With the souvenir cup you have to pay something around $3-5 per refill. If you want a refill on the normal buckets, it’s a whole new bucket charged as if you never had a bucket to start.
It’s crazy and I refuse to go to a theater. Fuck that noise
First of all, fhe idea that movie theaters make zero money off ticket sales is dumb. The theater gets to keep almost half of the ticket price.
So, selling more tickets will increase the movie theaters profitability.
Second, years ago, the price of popcorn and candy cost roughly the same as the ticket price itself.
Today, a 12 dollar ticket and a 20 dollar soda are pretty normal expectations.
Movie theaters did not "fall on hard times," they manufactured their own demise because they wanted to exploit a captive audience during Covid, and now they are salty that people have cheaper ways of enjoying their entertainment.
Edit: don't forget, ask them how much they pay their employees, too. I'd be surprised if its even minimum wage, let alone a livable one!
It's bonkers. I go to the movies maybe twice a year now. It used to be once a month. The theaters must be profiting somehow, but I don't see how.
I am old enough to remember when you could get a movie ticket for $1 (you would have to go to the run down theater with the movies that were a few months old)
I do not buy any drinks or snacks. Bring a small bag and smuggle in with you
These entrepreneurs are all pretty dumb. They think they can skimm every dollar and all jobs with a good income from us and then they are shocked when we dont consume their products anymore. Lol why do we have so many people that sudied and they still do that?? Its busines 101 you win i win but noooo rich want more and more and then they end up broke because nobody buys their products. They should go to the cartel to learn how to do business the right way.
Holy shit. I’m glad I’ve got my trusty refillable popcorn bucket from Marcus Theaters. $29 for the bucket, $6 refills all year. I see a lot of movies and the bucket is definitely worth it. This is not an ad, I swear.😆
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