If I’m someplace like Alamo Drafthouse where they have table service and you can you can actually order a complete meal, I will often order a beer to accompany my meal.
There’s an historic movie theater in Sacramento that sells beer and wine at their concession stand; I’ve never gotten alcohol there but I wouldn’t be opposed to it.
I actually wasn’t aware you could get alcohol at chains like AMC. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve been to a movie theater.
I go to the movies frequently and yes, will almost always have 1 or 2 drinks while watching the movie. 2 drinks won’t make me tired and I won’t have to urinate until after the movie. Usually I’ll have a non alcoholic drink as well to satiate the thirst from popcorn.
A couple times when it was first introduced, for the novelty. More often as a mischievous scamp in my younger days.
Thinking about it, beer is probably one of the more reasonable markups at the theater. Certainly not monstrously inflated like the rest of the concessions, but on par with other captive audience situations like airports and stadiums.
But if a WAG, though, I couldn’t tell you what a beer currently costs at the local cinema.
As a big drinker (at the time) I expected that beer + movie would be a match made in heaven, but I didn’t really enjoy it. The beer took me out of the movie, the movie took me out of the beer. As a consequence I didn’t really enjoy either.
Might have been different if it was a dollar movie and a BYOB situation. But as things stand, I wouldn’t repeat the experience of paying like $80 for a movie I don’t really remember and a beer that I also don’t really remember.
I only did once. A new theatre (with the fancy reclining seats) had opened, and this was an option (until then, alcohol was basically not available at theatres), and my son was with us so he could drive home.
Aside from that one time, nah. I usually won’t even purchase a soft drink; I’ll smuggle in a water or soda bottle, and drink maybe a third of it.
I didnt answer that poll as I never drink booze out in public, except maybe at an SCA overnight event, but I do drink diet cola, and I too often have to get up to urinate during a film.
Sometimes my wife gets a drink and I become the designated driver.
Yep.
You mean a planned intermission? Some movies are very long, especially some musicals, and have built-in intermissions. If they just randomly stop the movie about halfway through and create there own intermission, hoping that people will spend more money in the lobby, I would use that as an excuse to leave the theater and demand my money back, especially if I didn’t know it was going to happen. I would do that even for a movie I liked, since I can watch it straight-through at home in about a month once it goes to streaming.
Same here. The wine is generally crap.
As with all things at the cinema, the prices are freaking outrageous. I get they will mark things up some but they really go too far with it these days.
I will have an alcoholic drink at the cinema sometimes…depends on the movie and my mood mostly.
Yes, they’ve always included an intermission.
That reminded me of the time I went to the drive-in with a group from the Sierra Club. We brought lawn chairs and a cooler of craft beers. Not technically a “dollar” movie, but cheaper than the regular theater, and BYOB.
Not that I go to the movies frequently anymore, but when I do go, my wife and I go to a local Drafthouse equivalent/clone which has full service food and booze.
It’s almost always a dinner-and-a-movie sort of date night for the two of us, so one or the other usually has A (singular) drink.
If it’s my wife, she’s normally having a single beer with a personal pizza or something similar, and enjoys it, since that’s just enough (with food) to help her relax without feeling tipsy.
I drink less overall, don’t care for beer, and would bitch (internally) about the cost of a beer at such a place, but on occasions, I’ll have some form of adult milkshake - something I’d never want to pay enough to acquire all the individual elements of for just a single drink (and don’t want the calories of using up all such ingredients otherwise!), but would enjoy even if at a somewhat higher price.
But honestly, the costs of such things aren’t all that much more than most fast casual food places anymore, and far less horrible than the costs of the classic concessions, so why not?
If they do it for all their showings, no matter how long the movie is, then they are just stopping them near the middle since most Hollywood films don’t have built-in stopping points as far as I am aware.
I would only go to that theater if I couldn’t wait until the movie went online, and I would just sit in my seat, sulking like a 3-year-old, until the intermission ended and the movie restarted.
I would love to attend one of those movies with you! Sounds like a blast.
They serve pretty good pizza and have great local beer on tap. The front few rows are couches with TV trays. It’s a ton of fun, but not for everyone, I guess.
I saw a movie in an Israeli cinema once and halfway through it just stopped and the lights came up. I was so confused but the locals around me said it was normal and was always done. It wasn’t even a long film, it was only 90 minutes! It was so bizarre. So glad that’s not a thing in US theaters!
I had the exact same experience watching Avatar at theater in India. They just stopped the film halfway through and turned up the lights. My American colleague and I had no idea what was happening until our Indian colleague told us it was intermission.
I didn’t think it’d be something I’d enjoy and / or there wasn’t a full serve theater near me. Now that I live within walking distance of one, I do enjoy it sometimes. An added bonus is that they pour really good cocktails so one will last throughout. I do usually feel the need to pee but I’m one who never gets up during a movie.
I did have a group night out at the Brew and View in the 90s to watch Starship Troopers. A friend kept laughing throughout the movie because of the silly and overt propaganda. There is another theater nearby that has a bar attached to it, so I’ve had a beer and then gone into the movie once or twice. I don’t drink before or at movies generally. Our local AM theater also has a bar in the lobby and I think maybe someday I’ll get a drink for the show, but again I’m not really motivated to do it.
Remind me not to sit downstream of you.
I’d say it runs about 65/35 when watching movies at places that serve alcohol. Usually I’m also getting a meal in the process- so a hamburger, fries and a beer, and then water, or sometimes diet soda after that if I’m still thirsty.
Since I’ve got kids who seem to have to pee all the time, I’m usually sitting near the aisle anyway, so getting up to pee isn’t too much of a problem. That said, it’s usually no more than once during the movie, and sometimes not at all.
No. Alcohol just doesn’t pair well with popcorn for me.