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Price of Film Popcorn by Karl F. Cohen
A popcorn popper not unlike what was invented by Charles Cretors in 1885. photo: unknown
IN 2012, JUSTIN THOMPSON OF LIVONIA,
Michigan realized that his local AMC theatre had marked up the price of popcorn 800% so he sued the chain. The lawsuit was dismissed, but it raised a valid question. Why are movie theatre concessions so overpriced when you compare their prices to what your local grocery store charges for the same items.
Popcorn hasn't been part of the cinema experience from the beginning. Although it was popular at fairs, where it was popped by street vendors, movies started silent and noisy eating was frowned upon. With the arrival of the talkies in 1927, however, the popcorn vendors set up outside the theater until the owners realized it was a lucrative business they could monopolize.
While prices vary from theatre to theatre, the movie concessions stands are what keeps theatre tickets for first run films at a somewhat reasonable price. If popcorn and soft drinks were cheaper admission prices would go up, and that would cut attendance numbers. You may already feel ticket prices are too high so you see fewer films in theaters and see more recent releases at home.
The author of a recent article on the subject of concession stand prices interviewed an old friend of mine on this subject. Allen Michaan, who runs the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland and has operated over 20 other theaters at one time or another in the last four decades (see cineSOURCE article), says the concession stand is the lifeblood of his business as he rarely makes much money off ticket sales.
Michaan told me that in order to show first-run product he averages paying distributors 61% of the ticket income, so he has to charge more for concessions. He also has a staff to pay, plus taxes, advertising costs, utility bills, insurance, etc.
Running theaters today is a risky business. The last single screen movie theatre in NYC closed this year. You have to have a multiscreen complex to compensate for first run shows that are not profitable. As I pointed out in a recent article I wrote, “What Is Going On? A Study about Greed and Flops in the Film Industry”, most features released today do not break even from ticket sales.
Sure, Disney is running an impressive, profitable business, but the majority of studios are not. That is why you end up paying absurd prices at concession stands.
So enjoy that popcorn, knowing that it helps support the variety of shows you can see at your local theater.
Karl F. Cohen—who decided to add his middle initial to distinguish himself from the Russian Karl Cohen, who tried to assassinate the Czar in the mid-19th century—is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached . Posted on Oct 18, 2019 - 07:18 AM