AMC Entertainment Inc. has banned outside food and drinks at all of its 304 theater complexes after testing the idea at several locations. If you want to eat or drink during the film, you’ve got to buy your snacks at the concession stand. Regal Entertainment, the nation’s largest theater chain, also bans outside food.
You may be wondering what this has to do with health, but if you have recently checked the type of products sold in movie concessions, and at there vastly over priced rates, you can understand. Virtually all food offerings at movie theaters are high in fat, sodium, sugar or a combination.
This is not to say I have ever been one to turn down a soda or box of popcorn at a movie, but perhaps a requirement that all snacks be purchased at concessions should be accompanied by the theater chain providing more healthy alternatives. Noting that a small buttered popcorn at AMC packs a whopping 630 calories of which 450 are from fat.
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Healthy or not, I refuse to pay the OUTRAGEOUS prices they charge!!! And do they REALLY think banning outside food/drinks will stop people from doing it? Hell no. Are they going to have a pat down before letting people into each theatre??? How are they going to stop people from doing this? I'm an expert at getting food/drinks in and no one would ever know I had it on me and I'm not about to stop until they lower the price gouging prices. Or in most cases, I'll simply wait for the movie to come out on DVD. Problem solved. At that point, the theatres will have no choice but to lower prices. Either that or close up shop.
Theaters charge so much for their food because they make most of their money at the concession stand - the studios take up to 90% of the box office revenue, especially in the first ten days (thru the second weekend) of a movie's run.
That said, yeah, the theater closest to me (the UA Riverview) has a Wawa a block over, so of course I'll buy a box of Swedish Fish there for $1.50 instead of $3+ at the theater. What are they gonna do, frisk me? A matinee ticket is 9 dollars now - and Avatar 3D was $14 for a 3:00 show! That's truly outrageous, Jem.
But there's nothing like freshly popped corn - that's one goodie I won't smuggle in. But, sure, I'll bring in a bottle of Pepsi; if by chance I'm "busted" I'll just explain that I'm allergic to their Coke products...
OMG..... well I thought that was at every theater...but you do make a valid point...Its not really helping anyone if they ban it.(well in there favor it is)...its a marketing strategy. say everyone who went to the movies paid for food. its all about the money.
check out my review for AMC and MJR
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