Why is everything so over priced at the movie theater?

Question

I went to see a movie a few days ago and a water was $4.00, can you believe that.

Why do you think the popcorn and drinks, snacks, etc at the movie theater are so outrageously priced?

Answer 1

I work for a movie theatre in cincinati. The reason we have to charge so much for our movies tickets/ consessions is because the theatres pay the actors, hollywood, the directors, producers etc.. For every $9.00 ticket we sell we make 25 cents in proftit, for every $6.25 ticket we sell we make 10 cents. We have to charge that much just in order to make enough to keep the theatre open for one month.

Answer 2

I agree the candy counter at movie theaters should be selling caviar for what they charge! The only answer to why they charge so much is that people are willing to pay it. If you are a guy taking out a girl you want to impress you can't very well tell her that the popcorn is too expensive. And if you are a parent with a screaming kid, it's almost worth any price to get them to shut-up. If you are alone, you might feel like a little indulgence. If you are with friends, you don't want them to think you are poor if they are all buying something so the odds are you will pay too. My idea? Eat before you go and bring a candy bar and soda in your purse. (smile)

Answer 3

The movie theaters actually don't make any money from ticket sales. They have to pay to carry the movie, and for the people who work there, all out of the profits they make on vending. In other words everything you see in a movie theater is payed for by the snacks and drinks. Which is why you should sneak in food.

Answer 4

the problem is that movie theaters make only like a dollar of every ticket sold and make more of their money on concession's but with less people buying snacks at the movies the price start to get outrageous. so support your local movie theater buy the junk food.

Answer 5

The profit margin on showing the film itself is a very narrow one. The real profit at the theatre is on the concessions. Since i am "captive" at the movies, I concede to your over inflated prices for food, snacks, and beverages. How do i dare expect you to operate at less than a profit? But, $4 for water?? That must be relative to the real estate market where you are and land tax rates.

Answer 6

Because we keep going and paying it, thinking that we don't have any choice, but if we stopped going to the theater and just waited for the DVD's to come out, the prices would eventually go down or the theaters would go away.

Answer 7

I am not a cheapskate, but I bring my own bottled water or a soda in my pocketbook. The soda costs so much and always tastes like it's 90% seltzer. They do it because they know it is an American habit to eat like you're not going to eat for a month while shoving fist fulls of popcorn out of a barrel.

Answer 8

Because movies are usually coming to dvd in a month or so, and a lot of people are buying projectors and screens for their homes, and they predict that by 2009 movies will be in dvd from theatre to dvd in about 2 weeks, so nobody will go to movie theatres and thats a fact, another fact is that by late 2012 they expect movies to be from the studios directly to dvds.

Answer 9

The movie theatre makes the majority of it's profits from the concessions- which is why they are so over priced. Usually you can sneak a water or drink in your purse without them knowing =)

Answer 10

Because they can.

As long as people buy the crap at that price, they will sell it. Plain and simple.

Same for the price of the movie tickets.

This is a scenario that defies the competition theory, that if a competitor sets up shop, the prices will go down.

Answer 11

They have to make a profit to pay employees, insurance, permits,repairs to furniture and fixtures in the theaters, inspectors and delivery people, paper suppliers, cleaning equipment and products, refuse collection, taxes, carpet cleaning, state of the art video and audio equipment and the upkeep. And then they must be able to feed cloth and house their families.