Earlier this month, a man in Michigan attained minor Internet folk hero status when he sued his local movie theater for charging sky-high prices at the concession stand while refusing to let customers bring in their own grub. But now one theater owner has tried to explain just why he and others charge the so much.
You’re not just paying for the cost of the food, the theater owner told the Detroit Free Press. You’re also paying for cleaning up the mess you leave behind with your careless eating:
The life of a popcorn seed would actually be very interesting, from getting popped to putting into a bucket, to where it ends up at the end of the day, whether it’s in someone’s stomach or smushed into the seats or the floors of the theater… If people would spill that popcorn in the living room as they do in the movie theater, I think they would understand the labor costs that go into running a concession stand in a busy movie theater.
He also points out that most of the ticket money goes to the movie studios and distributors, meaning the owners’ only recourse is to charge more for food and drinks.
“If we can’t keep a majority of that ticket price there’s only one way that we can pay for everything… and that’s at the concession stand,” he says.
The owner suggests that moviegoers should shop around to find which theaters offer the best deals on concessions.
Movie theater owner explains why concessions cost so much [Free Press via Time.com]
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Most people don’t know this, but most of the big chain theaters are owned by the movie studios.
Slightly off topic
Also search for articles on the accounting shenanigans that movie studios pull to have a movie show on the books as making a huge loss. Oversimplified example: studio makes a movie and spends $100 million. Distribution company under same parent company charges studio $500 million to distribute movie. Movie’s total take at the box office is $450 million so the parent company is showing a loss on the movie of $150 million.
I am in my 60′s and, from the age of a child, I never bought any food in a theater because of the food prices. I simply bought a candy bar before going and stuck it in my pocket; that was filling for a two hour movie stretch.
I do realize that the movie industry is raking off more of the admissions leaving the theater owner with less revenue except for the food they sell. Like some others suggested, I think the big theaters need to stand up to the movie industry and refuse to pay- shut their theaters down for a week in protest- or whatever it takes . The fat cats in Hollywood and the movie stars make so much money they don’t know what to do with it but to live lavish lives! Theater owners- BOYCOTT!
Television shows only exist to keep you tuned in between the commercials.
Apparently movie theaters are actually just popcorn stores and only play movies to bring you in to the concession stands.
gotta give it to him, the sticky seats they have to clean up from spills and candy and the rest…people eat like pigs at theaters.
I used to work for one of the big four movie chains, in the accounting dept. They bleed money. Liquor & food are what they’re betting will save them. Ticket sales barely cover paying the studio.
They made more money off of people losing their gift cards than ticket sales.
It’s a dying industry. But over-priced bland food and drinks won’t save them. Crappy movies won’t help.
However I refuse to watch Ben-Hur on my TV. But my local revival house went out of business. No more 50 Foot screen.
This makes sense too me for all those people who come into the theater and forget their manners it actually costs money to redo those seats and clean them as well as paying someone an hourly wage with various other costs which makes employing someone in the United States a dreadful task.
Basically what he is doing is off setting the cost of food that people carelessly eat and destroy that persons theater. Keep in mind small buisnesses do not have the funds like major chains like AMC.
Also all that food and dirt you risk having your threater closed for public health reasons.
I support these new “Adult” theaters opening up. One where you can dine in and eat like your at a resturant but your in a theater.