Would movie tickets and popcorn make good money

In March ofJustin Thompson, a year-old security technician from Livonia, Michigan, decided to go to the movies. We dug through concessions data from AMC, Cinemark, and a number of other theater chains to compile rough averages of how much certain items cost. Then, we compared these prices to the typical street price you might pay at a convenience store. It popxorn be said that movie food and beverage prices vary widely by geographic region, theater size, and a number of other factors. The figures you see here are rough, non-definitive industry averages — but they still paint a bleak picture. Allen Michaan was just 19 when he built his first movie theater in the s. When a theater wants to show a film, it must agree to pay the distributor a percentage of all ticket sales.

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The profit margin is higher for the incredibly overpriced movie theater popcorn than it is for the actual movies. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site can not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Multiply. Hottest Questions. Previously Viewed. Unanswered Questions. Asked in Popcorn. Would movie tickets or popcorn make good money? Related Questions Asked in Movies What is in a movie basket? In a Movie Basket you will find Asked in Movies, Popcorn Price of popcorn in ? Popcorn in movie theaters was rarely offered because it had to be trucked in precooked, instead of running the risk of starting a fire in those early days. It did not catch on until the ‘s, and mostly in the ‘s. Had popcorn been sold in , it would have cost about 19 cents, whereas the movie ticket was 25 cents. Tickets are usually double or triple that amount. So you can enjoy popcorn at a decent price, but the movie tickets are close to a rip off. Asked in Decade — s, Popcorn What was the price of a bag of popcorn at the movie theater during the ‘s? Asked in Movies, Decade — s What was the price of movie tickets in the s? A five dollar bill would get you a movie ticket, soda, and popcorn, and, you would have change left over. Think movie tickets and popcorn. If movie tickets are less expensive, more people will attend movies, and the demand for popcorn will rise.

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Grab a movie ticket, snacks and a seat. As the lights dim in the theater, take a look around. Spoiler alert: The person sitting next to you might have paid less to see the same movie. Wondering how to save money? Movie theater loyalty programs reward frequent patrons with discounts. Rewards can be redeemed on things like food and tickets. AMC Stubs Premiere members enjoy benefits like discounted tickets on Tuesdays and free upgrades on popcorn and fountain drinks. Many theater chains offer rewards programs. When you sign up for a movie membership, fill in personal information, like your birthday, and some theaters will send you celebratory deals to use during your birthday month. You could get a free tub of popcorn, for example. Did you know Costco sells movie tickets and gift cards for movie tickets? You may be able to lower the price of your ticket by purchasing your meal at the same time. For example, Restaurant. You could save money simply by seeing a movie on a certain day of the week. Bring your ID to the ticket window and you could be eligible for a discount because many theaters offer special pricing to some patrons.

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Why do cinemas charge so much for popcorn? This is what we all intuitively assume, that theaters are movke fish in a barrel by charging high prices to a captive audience. In theory, they will charge a price for popcorn where the spread between what it costs them to make another box of popcorn, and what consumers will pay for that box of popcorn is at its highest level.

Jack Oberleitner, a year veteran of movie theaters, is now a consultant. Movie studios. Revenue sharing schemes change over the years — sometimes studios take a peak percentage from the first few weeks and then adjust downward, sometimes they take a peak percentage from the best few weeks popcorj of when they occur — but the outcome is the same: Studios take far and away the biggest chunk of ticket proceeds. At the tckets time, costs like rent, air conditioning and heating for large spaces are significant.

Each requires hefty investment that brings down profit margins. Plus, price competition between theaters is fierce. Some woupd are paying a would movie tickets and popcorn make good money for concessions, but on the other hand, this pkpcorn that all consumers are paying less for movie tickets than they otherwise.

If you factor in inflation, admission prices are actually about the same as they were 40 years ago. You can also think about it this way: A monopolist has a sweet novie between price, demand, and cost that lets it maximize profits.

There is nothing in economics woulv requires that sweet spot to be reasonable for most people. And, in fact, it is pretty much always higher than a situation where there is competition.

He says popcorn lets theaters charge different consumers different prices for going to the yood, which helps maximize profits. So, instead, they offer something only the spenders will buy: Really overpriced popcorn. This is, ticketts, the same principle by which lot of other products operate. Video game manufacturers, for example, will sell a console at cost or even at a loss, but then charge woule high mark-up on video games.

Some people will only buy one or two video games, and others will buy a ton. By setting a low barrier for getting a console, and then charging a ton for games, the firm can extract profit from all different kinds of people. Coupons operate the same way. Some people are willing to pay full price because the idea of saving, organizing and coordinating coupons is too much of a bother. So the store captures them at the highest price.

Bundling is where you combine one product with another — like the popcorn-soda combo. Mixed bundling is where you offer combos like that, but also let people buy mofie — popcorn and soda — individually. But it offers a slight discount on the combo. Vice versa, there are some people who love popcorn but would rather get free water than soda. The theater captures them no problem. However, there are some other high value consumers who are willing to pay a lot, but not that.

By offering the combo at a slight discount, the theater captures that guy and all the people who are on the fence. Gil has an additional thought about pricing and popcorn.

So ticktes you want popcorn, you kind of have to commit to a soda. Maybe possibly to something sweet, as. There are a quite a few reasons consumers pay so much for concessions at the movies. So if you find yourself woule at the board of concession prices and shaking your head, just remember that basically, this is how theaters make their money.

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Why do cinemas charge so much for popcorn? This is what we all intuitively assume, that theaters are shooting fish in a barrel by charging high prices to a captive audience. In theory, they will charge a price for popcorn where the spread between what it costs them to make another box of popcorn, and what consumers will pay for that box of popcorn is at its highest level. Jack Oberleitner, a year veteran of movie theaters, is now a consultant. Movie studios. Revenue sharing schemes change over the years — sometimes studios take a peak percentage from the first few weeks and then adjust downward, sometimes they take a peak percentage from the best popcron weeks regardless of when they occur — but the outcome is the same: Studios take far and popckrn the biggest chunk of ticket proceeds. At the same time, costs like rent, air conditioning and heating for large spaces are significant. Each requires hefty investment that brings down profit margins. Plus, price competition between theaters is fierce. Some consumers are paying a lot for concessions, but on the other hand, tikcets means that all consumers are paying less for movie tickets than they otherwise. If would movie tickets and popcorn make good money factor in inflation, admission prices are actually about the same as they were 40 years ago. You can also think about it this way: A monopolist has a sweet spot between price, demand, and cost that lets it maximize profits. There is nothing in economics that requires that sweet spot to be moey for most people. And, in fact, it is pretty much always moive than a situation where there anx competition. He says popcorn lets theaters charge different consumers different prices for going to the movies, which helps maximize profits. So, instead, they offer something only the spenders will buy: Really overpriced popcorn. This is, incidentally, the same principle by which lot of other products operate. Video game manufacturers, for example, will sell a console at cost or even at a loss, but then charge a high mark-up on video games. Some moneh will only buy one or two video games, and others will buy a ton. By setting a low barrier for getting a console, and then tickrts a ton for games, the firm can extract profit from all different kinds of people. Coupons operate the same way.