Soda and Candy at the Movie House

I say the government would be out of bounds to regulate that.
1. They are private establishment and can make what ever rules they want
2. No one is forced to go to the movies and ball parks.
3. Market forces can still work even in this closed system they set up because if enough people refuse to buy the food, they will lower the price until people do buy it again.
4. everyone knows that they inflate the price of good so they are making informed choices when going to these venues.

Note of interest: I live in a small town in AZ that has a local theater. That theater posted a sign that because of AZ increasing the minimum wage cost of tickets and concession stand prices would go up by a dollar to make up the difference. If the government tried to regulate concession stand prices you can bet that they would find away to make up the cost by charging in other areas. In the end regulations increase the cost to us one way or a other.

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Here in Minnesota we can bring food and drink into movie theaters. We can bring pre-packaged food and non-alcoholic drinks into sporting events.

To answer your question, no, the government should not be telling business what prices they may charge. I understand with taxpayer subsidized stadiums it can be a bit of a gray area.

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Popcorns sold at the theater has one of the highest profit margins, a whopping 1250%

 

Pretty much. Reminds me of working at the gas station. We only made a few cents off of each gallon of gas. If only one person drove off without paying during a shift, it wiped out any profit from gas.

Pop (or soda ) and cigarettes were the money makers. That's why the inside of every gas station resembles the concession stand at a movie theater.

 

http://www.the-numbers.com/market/

Been a slow decline since 2002 or so in ticket sales.

 

I went to a couple of movies with my college-aged son recently. We went on opening night. Remembering my youth and the crowds on opening nights of movies, I suggested we wait a week or so in order to avoid the crowds and get good seats. He said unless the movie was a blockbuster, like Star Wars or the Marvel superheroes movies, there wouldn't be a crowd. I envisioned myself sitting in the front row, craning my sore neck while seeing the center one-third of the screen.

Well, he was correct. We walked into the Jack Reacher movie on opening night and there was about 20 people in the theater that seated about 300.

Same thing with the movie Arrival.



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The theaters I attended to see these movies have tiered seating levels with faux leather recliner seats with built-in cup holders.

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I believe theaters are really struggling. With all these large screen HD TVs, many with surround sound, the theater isn't as good a movie experience as at home. The theater just offers the movie a little sooner and is getting out of the house.

 

The county I grew up in was pretty small, 30,000 people or so. The county seat had a two screen theater, but it shut down in the early 90s. I believe the story was that when a theater purchased a movie, they had to screen it for at least 6 weeks, so the theater couldn't turn over flicks quick enough to keep the seats filled.

 

I never heard of a six-week rule. These days, many movies don't last six weeks in the theater.

It's more likely that theater kept movies so long as a strategy in increase their profits. Switching to a new movie meant buying a very expensive roll of film. And, when a movie is new, a bigger percent of proceeds from ticket sales goes to the movie studios.

 

It was $22 for popcorn and Coke just for me when we went to see Hacksaw Ridge

It's no wonder people sneak things in

Ironically if I had gone to the other theater that theater is much nicer has big floor to ceiling screens all the latest audio technology big plush chairs and costs about half as much

For the record I didn't pay the $22 myself I'd never be that stupid I had a gift card and knew I'd never be going to that theater again

(Sorry for the lack of punctuation Several keys on my laptop have stopped working )

 

My brother in law's house is like that We stopped going to Eagles' games because he has a big TV surround sound La-z-Boy chairs a full bar pool table and pinball machines for halftime and in war weather a swimming pool for after the game

Compare that with the expense of the tickets parking bridge tolls $7 for a watered down Coke $6 for a hot dog and the fact that you're going into a very high crime area

It's a no brainer

Watching movies there is pretty awesome

(Sorry for the lack of punctuation)

 

I thought it was fabulous until the ending. Don't want to say more to spoil anything for others that haven't seen the movie, but if you want to know what I objected to, Google "bootstrap paradox". I'm a fan of science fiction and I felt the explanation at the end of the movie was a cop out.