Theatre food prices spoil the movie-going experience

Movie theater snack prices are getting even more expensive, and as alternatives to theaters pop up, is the price still worth it? 

By: Jake Boyette

Movie theaters and our desire to visit them is as American as apple pie and baseball. It’s something that I always cherish doing with my friends and family. However, every time I go to the movies, I spend an exorbitant amount of money just to get popcorn and a drink. 

This has been the norm for a while now, even before the recent price increases on food, as movie theater concession prices have always been high. 

This is a result of many factors, one of the largest being that the primary way movie theaters make money isn’t just from ticket sales but from concession sales. In 2022, it was reported that U.S. movie theaters made $14 billion, with $7 billion coming from tickets while $5 billion came from concession sales, according to Statista. The movie theaters also justify their prices through captive audience marketing, where once you’re in with your movie ticket, there are no competitors to offer lower food prices.  

These practices are understandable from a business side, but as a consumer, it feels hard to justify going to the theaters. At the local AMC, watching a new movie would cost about $15 before tax. With a large popcorn and a drink, that would raise the total to about $32 before tax just for one person, but with a group someone could easily spend over $100.  

When it comes to going to the movies, I find myself second-guessing whether I want to spend money on the movie theater experience. It is hard to justify the price of a movie, which may not be good enough to justify the price, especially when I go to movies and pay as much as I do for a sit-down dinner. 

Streaming services seem like an obvious alternative. They put the control of the movie theater in the hands of those who watch it. Being at home is much more comfortable, allowing you to relax in a more private environment rather than being at the whims of the movie theater. 

“Whenever a new movie comes out, I think about going out, getting people together, but I don’t always have the money for that,” Mark Smith, an avid moviegoer said. “Now, when a movie comes out, I don’t buy anything, I usually sneak in something like a candy bar or bag of chips. It’s just not worth it.” 

Making movie theatre food at home is a lot less expensive, especially when considering that theater prices can be 4.7 times more expensive than something you can make at home, according to The Hustle. 

It also helps that large flat-screen TVs have gotten cheaper, according to CNN Business, allowing at-home movie viewing experiences to be closer to what they can get at the theater. 

“In my opinion, I think the at-home viewing experience can replace the theater experience because there is a lot more control that a person has at home, including the ability to just watch films away from home,” said moviegoer Colin Manoloviz.   

Manolovitz added, “Additionally, home surround sound systems are becoming more available, increasing the re-creation of the theater experience at home. And with streaming services, it’s cheaper than paying eighteen dollars every time you want to see a movie.” 

However, streaming services don’t satisfy me completely. The movies have a very structured and straightforward way of working. Movies come out, are in the theatre for a specific time, then leave. It’s a streamlined system, unlike streaming services that frustrate me with the changes to what they show, when they show it and even what country it’s showing in. 

Movies and TV shows change between different streaming services all the time, and if you want to have a wide selection to choose from, you either have to wait for years for a movie to get into a streaming service or have multiple streaming service subscriptions. 

Streaming services will also limit certain movies and TV shows to be regionally locked. A movie could be on a streaming service, however, you aren’t in the right country to watch it. This specific problem has become such an issue that ads for Virtual Private Networks include fixing this issue by tricking the IP as if you’re in a different country, allowing you to watch the movie. 

Already, U.S. consumers are spending on average $69 a year for streaming services, according to Variety, for multiple streaming services. These streaming services vary in their picture quality with compression, and even when you have a subscription, you may still see ads that break up the movie. At least in the theater, the ads are run before the show. 

Of course, certain movie theaters have quality issues, and they rotate between movies on a time schedule. Streaming services may not be a complete replacement, but it is still a good option when you don’t want to go to the theater. 

Movie theaters are something that I love. Despite being dissatisfied with food prices, I don’t want to give up the feeling I’ve grown up with in movie theaters. It’s a feeling of nostalgia strong enough to make me deal with bad pricing. 

Small, non-chain theaters like the Grand Cinema here in Tacoma play movies that aren’t in larger theaters, like the David Lynch retrospective and local Indie movies you won’t see on a big screen anywhere else. It’s a unique experience that only these theaters can provide. 

However, it seems that people don’t find the movie theater experience as compelling as I do, as others like Smith and Manolowitz choose to skip the food and just enjoy the movie.  

Americans have gone to the movies three times less than they did in the 2000s, according to The Week, so it seems that the convenience and pricing of streaming services just appeal more to people than the full movie-going experience. 

The market is only adjusting to how movie theaters make money. Three thousand movie theaters closed from the pandemic, according to Capital News Service, and they’ve only just started recovering from the closures. As prices rise, they come at the cost of pushing people away. 

However, the experience of having a singular place, where we can all come together to watch a new movie we are excited about, with popcorn and a drink, is something we can still share together. For that communal experience, it’s worth the price.