this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024
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[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I dunno, it's expensive, but concession sales are the only way that theaters stay in business; ticket prices go almost exclusively to the studios. I'll sneak in sugar-free candy (mmmmMmmM, zero-calorie "food"!), but I'll buy the popcorn and soda combo for another $20. If I want to keep being able to see movies in theaters, people gotta do that.

But I get it that not everyone wants the experience of seeing a film in a theater, when it can have a ton of other people, and you can't pause. Me, I like theaters, because I can't be distracted by my cats, or by checking phone notifications. Being in a different place helps me focus on the film.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

That only stretches so far, and concession prices are way beyond that. You violate the compact to screw your customers; No sales for you

  • Think of it like commercials: we accepted a reasonable number during shows as a cost of doing business, until broadcasters/streamers decided that wasn’t enough. One of several reasons many of us stopped watching TV. You violate the compact to screw your customers; No ads for you
  • think of it like www ads: we accepted banner ads and clearly identified search result ads as a cost of doing business until web publishers decided that wasn’t enough. Now many of us use ad blockers as a way to make the internet useable. You violate the compact to screw your customers; No ads for you

I used to goto a drive-in where they made their own food, had more interesting choices than the standard diabetes in a bucket, and more importantly reasonable prices. Don’t get me wrong, they were still high, just not ridiculous. I was happy to pay their concessions as the cost of doing business

[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I guess movie theaters around me aren't that outrageous to me. (I can't find their concession prices online, which is not a surprise.) I don't think of them as violating the social contract, both because prices for popcorn and soda don't seem utterly outrageous, and because I can see how busy they are and extrapolate how profitable they are based on the number of people going to movies (e.g., barely scraping by). EDIT - we went to see Deadpool & Wolverine the day after opening. While is was a very, very early show, there were still under 10 people in the entire theater.

I remember waaaaaaaaaaay back in the golden days of the very late 90s that I could go to the second run movie theater, get the endless popcorn for $5, a soda for $4, and then watch back to back films for six hours. I guess I could still do that, but tickets are more like $15-20 now, and there's usually not more than one movie I have any interest in at any time. I miss those second run theaters though.

But, again, I'm not going to tell people that there's only one way to enjoy cinema. God below knows that just how much shit I pirate, so I'm not some lily-white choir boy here. But, when I have the option, and when it's a film that my partner is interested in, I prefer a theater. (They don't like horror though, so I gotta watch In A Violent Nature on my own.)