Bringing food into a movie theater

[aristocatz]

We went over the weekend, for our first time in 2 years! Bought movie popcorns & sodas for my family at the movie concession stand, but I also brought in a seltzer & a Starbucks coffee. I didn't hide either one of them and the guy collecting tickets commented on how he wished he had a Starbucks right about now & waved us in

 

[MrsPete]

Our mall movie theater allows us to bring in food purchased from their stores, so people bring in Starbuck's drinks and Cinnabon cinnamon rolls. Personally, yeah, I have a big purse for the movies.

I'm not taking sales away from them because there is literally nothing there that I will eat.

Well, I do like popcorn, but the rest of it is just frozen stuff marked up by at least 10Xs. Yeah, I will not buy it, so no lost sale for them.

 

[DisLiss]

I'm not taking sales away from them because there is literally nothing there that I will eat.

I don't get anything when I go to the movies, because of what you said here. There is nothing I can/will eat at my local movie theater. I have to be very careful with salt & sugar, and I cannot have artificial sweeteners or colors, so yeah, the concession stand & I are not really friendly with one another, LOL! If they start offering a fruit cup, I'll buy myself something!

However, I do always buy stuff for my kids now that they are older, because they *can* have the things that are sold, and they really see that as part of the experience, which is fine with me.

However, when they were toddlers, I did bring in food for them. Because again, I wouldn't feeding them anything the movie theater was offering. And while I can sit through previews and a movie without a snack with no issue, at their toddler stage, they would get pretty testy sitting that long without some sort of container of snacks. And of course, I brought a sippy cup since they couldn't drink out of the cups or bottles offered at theater at first, either.

 

[ThisIsJason]

We had a chain here, can't remember the name, but it is now out of business, had night vision cameras in the theaters. Management would come in and kick you out if you had outside food. People always thought they could sneak it in, nope. Kicked out with no refund.

 

[NotUrsula]

Pretty much everyone thinks cinema concession prices are exorbitant; they charge even more than theme parks, and for that reason, you'll find very few people who have never sneaked food into a cinema.

I also used to patronize a theatre chain that policed food, but the standard strategy there was to bring in only items that the theatre actually sold. They couldn't tell the difference when the packaging was identical. (I was once told by a friend who managed a supermarket that that was the whole reason supermarkets started selling the candy package size that had been designed for theatres; that they sold more of them than any other package version because customers would buy them to take to the movies.)

 

[Kellykins1218]

Personally, yeah, I have a big purse for the movies.

I have a movie purse lol. We buy popcorn, maybe drinks, always bring our own candy. We've taken happy meals & Chipotle a couple of times

 

[apirateslifeforme]

The 2 theatres in our area have large signs that say "absolutely no outside food or drinks" and they WILL check your bag, no matter how large or small. Even when I've gone in with a tiny crossbody cell phone bag, that there is no way you can fit anything but your phone and license in, I've had to open it and let them look inside.

 

[anniemae]

We take food in. Mostly because we don't really eat what they sell. When the kids were little, I would take lunch in, it helped keep them busy. It would be something like a turkey sandwich, fruit and cookies.

Now that they are older, we just take snacks like pretzels and granola bars. There is a drugstore right near our movie theater in the mall and it is always PACKED with teens and families buying candy and drinks for the movies. Cant really blame them, the candy is so much cheaper. I never checked to see what the theaters policy is, but I see people walking in with bags from McDonalds, Panera, chipotle etc. and nobody says anything or stops them.

 

[ronandannette]

Our theatre chains here have gone to a concept where they call themselves “entertainment complexes” and have concessions that are more like mini food courts with all sorts of snack and fast food options. They absolutely do not allow outside food or beverages but I’ve never seen them bag-checking. Sometimes we buy snacks ($$$) and sometimes we don’t, but I don’t think I’ve ever taken food in with me from elsewhere.

 

[anniemae]

One other thought I had is that our local theater is in a mall and because of this many of the businesses benefit. You go to the mall for a movie and wind up browsing the stores before or after the movie. You may buy something while browsing. You may eat dinner at a mall restaurant. You stop off at the arcade and let the kids play a few games before the movie. You buy coffee at Panera. You buy candy at 5 Below. You buy a movie ticket. So multiple businesses benefited from someone going to a movie.

 

[mmouse37]

I always bring in candy to the movies.....I also always buy the overpriced popcorn and a fountain soda at the theatre so it evens out. Milk Duds with salty popcorn is my favorite movie theatre combo.


MJ

 

[BrianL]

I get what the policy is, but then again I've seen stuff that clearly isn't keeping with the policy. I was actually surprised when I was told that outside food was OK in the waiting area.

As for drive ins, the only one I've been to says that outside food is fine, and when I went for a potty break between movies (love those double features) the lines at concessions were still pretty long. The only other rule is no outside alcohol, and they will randomly check trunks to see if anyone sneaks in someone in a trunk without paying.

Our drive-in just charges by the car-load. The number of people doesn't matter, so cram 'em in! You can also bring foord, etc. People will get pizzas, set up on card tables, etc. It's kinda fun, but not actually that great for actually watching the movie.

 

[dclpluto]

We sneak in Cheetos and put in the popcorn. We get feee popcorn a lot from regal but just the plain kind. Their Cheetos popcorn you have to pay for it. So we bring in some Cheetos and put it in their free popcorn. We always buy a soda. Sometimes we have to pay for the popcorn. Been to the movies 8 times in the last two months and haven’t had to buy a popcorn yet. Still have enough points for at least 6 more free popcorn. By that time should be a couple more available after that. What you do is get the free popcorn since popcorn cost more but is less points than a soda. Than you pay for the soda. At least regal is this way. We split one small soda that is enough.

 

[bcla]

Went to a Cinemark theater yesterday. I’ll just say that my bag wasn’t checked, even when it was larger than their stated 12”x12”x6” limit. Also brought in an empty water bottle and filled it at their soda fountain (with water). I was looking for their policy, but could only find this.

https://twitter.com/x/status/962398786172735489

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Pretty much everyone thinks cinema concession prices are exorbitant; they charge even more than theme parks, and for that reason, you'll find very few people who have never sneaked food into a cinema.

I also used to patronize a theatre chain that policed food, but the standard strategy there was to bring in only items that the theatre actually sold. They couldn't tell the difference when the packaging was identical. (I was once told by a friend who managed a supermarket that that was the whole reason supermarkets started selling the candy package size that had been designed for theatres; that they sold more of them than any other package version because customers would buy them to take to the movies.)

While I agree, the reason the prices are so high is that’s where they make their money. They don’t make it on ticket sales because almost all of that goes back to the studio.

 

[bcla]

While I agree, the reason the prices are so high is that’s where they make their money. They don’t make it on ticket sales because almost all of that goes back to the studio.

It depends on the particular studio and even movie. The big blockbusters (like most MCU movies) will have something like a 10% cut to the movie theater for the first week but then go to maybe 50% or more to theater if it's been around for a while. But then again the studios come up with specific terms for bigger blockbusters.

I went to a few movie theaters that showed later first run movies, where they said that it allowed them to keep prices down because the cost to the theater was less. But at that point I'm not sure if there might be some rental cost. This place did things a bit differently, including baby nights (turn down the sound, keep the lights up higher, and no complaining about crying babies) as well as half price nights. They also had a real kitchen. If we got food, it was typically their nachos, which were similar to what one might find in a Tex-Mex place.

 

[HiStitch626]

Our go to movie theatre is a dine-in, so now we tend to have a meal with the movie. The prices for burgers and such are more reasonably priced than popcorn and candy.

 

[MrsPete]

I have a movie purse lol. We buy popcorn, maybe drinks, always bring our own candy. We've taken happy meals & Chipotle a couple of times

Well, mine's not JUST for movies, but I do pull it out for that purpose!

The 2 theatres in our area have large signs that say "absolutely no outside food or drinks" and they WILL check your bag, no matter how large or small. Even when I've gone in with a tiny crossbody cell phone bag, that there is no way you can fit anything but your phone and license in, I've had to open it and let them look inside.

Wow, we have multiple theaters in this area ... I'd avoid the ones with that policy.

One other thought I had is that our local theater is in a mall and because of this many of the businesses benefit. You go to the mall for a movie and wind up browsing the stores before or after the movie. You may buy something while browsing. You may eat dinner at a mall restaurant. You stop off at the arcade and let the kids play a few games before the movie. You buy coffee at Panera. You buy candy at 5 Below. You buy a movie ticket. So multiple businesses benefited from someone going to a movie.

That's much what they do at our mall theater ... if you bought it in the mall, it's okay to take it into the theater. However, we've never been into eating a meal in the theater ... just snacks.

 

[Disneyland1084]

I'm not taking sales away from them because there is literally nothing there that I will eat.

I agree with you on this, though I usually buy the jumbo pretzel and soda and occasionally popcorn. But if I'm in the mood for a sandwich, I'll sneak one in. I refuse to eat the hot dogs and nachos at the theatre.

 

[HeartOfTeFiti]

I haven't ever been to a theater without a no outside food policy.
That said, I do bring a can of coke in my purse. But I buy a large popcorn, and sodas for my adult kids when they are with me. I don't care for the taste of their soda fountain drinks.
The weirdest thing I ever saw was when the teenage girls behind us took out an entire pumpkin pie. I have no idea how they ate it, we ended up switching to a different auditorium showign the same film because there were less kids in it LOL.

A pumpkin pie!! hahaha
Was it at least around Thanksgiving? because somehow that makes it a little less crazy!