when will those idiots learn???

by Anonymous 12 years ago

The reason that prices are so high is because they barely make a profit of off the tickets, the concessions really bring in the dough for them.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

And I'd argue that they'd make an even bigger profit if they lowered concession prices.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

They would and I YYA'd this post, but 50% just seems like too much if they want to make more.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It's the number of customers they'd attract. It's worth going to a lot of trouble to save $30 (the difference between buying outside food and concession) but not to save $2. Everyone would buy concession and they'd move a lot more stock. After a certain point, the tickets become pure profit.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Movie theaters have two options: 1) Have low priced tickets and high priced snacks or 2) Have high priced tickets and low priced snacks. Since the movie tickets are what bring people to the theater in the first place, most theaters keep those relatively low. The snacks end up being a compulsive purchase. People are willing to pay $6 for some popcorn and so that's the price they charge.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I just notice when I go to the theater, only a small portion of people get snacks. I hate to say it, but we're a fat-as-fuck country, they should be able to convince more of us to buy food. They can do that by dropping prices, which they can afford to do because popcorn and soda are dirt cheap

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I doubt it. There are people whose full-time job it is to optimize prices to maximize profits. They constantly are playing with the prices of different things and testing out different promotions to figure out exactly what's best for them. They spend a lot more time than you do thinking about it. (Also: Even if this post is true, those prices don't necessarily give you a higher profit, only a higher revenue.)

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But that doesn't mean they'll make more than what they're making right now...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yes it does. Popcorn and soda have giant profit margins (they cost about 1/30th of their current price).

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If it costs 1 dollar to make something and they sell it for 2, let's say a company can sell 10 a day. They would make $20- $10 to buy the stuff. so the profit is 10 dollars. But then, if they knock it down to $1.50 and sell twice as much, they'd make $30, but they'd have to pay $20 to make the stuff, so it's no different. It may actually work for movie theaters if the numbers are different, but it doesn't ALWAYS help to lower the price even if you are selling more.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

A tub of popcorn costs about $.15. If they charge $6 for it and sell 10, they'll make $60 - $.15 x 10 = $58.50. If they charge $3 and sell 30 they'll make $90 - $.15 x 30 = $75.50. A large soda only costs about $.10. As you can see, it makes sense to drop those prices.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

The problem with your argument is that they only make more money by charging $3 //IF// they sell 30. Of course they may sell a little more if they lower the price, but there's no guarantee they'd sell 1/3rd more (or enough to make more of a profit).

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Everyone's economics in here is good, but I'm gonna say no chance in hell they sell 3 times as much by halving the prices. When it comes to luxury spending people will make decisions less based on price and more based on their actual hunger.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

its true that people will buy these goods based on their hunger, but often where they buy these goods from is based on the price. I always take sweets and drinks to the cinema, but I buy them from local corner stores.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Seriously? They could double the prices of all that crap and the people who want it would still pay for it. There's something within some people that finds joy in eating a 50% butter 50% popcorn mixture out of a bowl larger than their heads. http://theoatmeal.com/pl/3d_movies/soda

by Anonymous 12 years ago