You mean as long as they don’t find out about it.
They might kick you out.
My idea is to get a small pop, drink it.
Then, the pop you’ve snuck in, fill up the cup with it.
They’ll never know!
I think people are conditioned to eat popcorn with a movie, as they did since they were kids.
Most of it isn’t good anyway.
Most of the theaters near me-their “butter flavored oil” doesn’t taste enough like anything!
And the popcorn is usualyl gone by the half of the movie!
Personally, I have little problem with the price. Compared to most of the things I do for entertainment, a price of about $5/hour isn’t that bad.
The commercials don’t even bother me that much because I am either talking through them or reading my book (if alone). The United Artists chain around here does something nice with them though (if they are going to show them): They start the commercials early, before the listed showtime. The actual movie trailers start at the listed showtimes. The lights are kept half-up during the commercials.
Also, the Century Theater chain around here runs its concessions on a mostly self-serve idea. It mostly works, but when the place is crowded it does get pretty messy (concession stand workers are messy with the popcorn, but at least I don’t have to walk back there) and it doesn’t really move any faster. I don’t know how big of a problem theft is, but considering how willing many people are to steal the movies (by paying for one and then staying to watch four) I wouldn’t be surprised if a large number are willing to steal a Coke.
I may go to 2 movies a year because of this and many other reasons (people are assholes is the basics of it).
But, when my sis for LA was up a couple weeks ago she told me what she does to get even and I never even thought of it.
When she takes her husband and 2 kids to the Googleplex, it turns into a $50+ couple hours. What do they do? After the movie is out they go to the can, and then walk into another movie that is just starting. That way, if you can see 2 or 3 movies for your $50, they don’t feel quite as ripped off.
Do I condone it? Nah. I’ve never done it nor do I think I will. But, I can sure see the reasoning behind it.
Ah, yes, Bad Hat. The Century 12 and CineArts 6. I went there shortly after it opened, and was stunned; not only by the sparkling cleanliness of a new theater, or by the full bar and pretty tasty-looking menu, but by the fact that in one afternoon, with little to no effort, I got to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Quills in sweet stadium seating.
A boyfriend and I in large, long coats, once snuck (for the sake of doing it) the following items into a movie:
2 litres of soda.
2 cups
1 large bag of chips
2 box of cookies
1 cake
2 plates
2 forks
1 knife
We didn’t get caught either.
For those who want to sneak food into a movie theater, a backpack works wonders. When I would go to the movies with friends, one of us would carry a backpack stuffed with food. Usually we would stop at the grocery store and just stock up. A six pack of soda, a few backs of junk food, some cookies, and it was no problem. This still works. The last time I did this was to go see A.I. at the AMC Hoffman, a modern theater, they let us right in.
Another item that also works is a tote bag. My wife has one that fits a good number of sodas and some junk food as well.
Marcie and I haven’t been to a movie in at least four years. It simply costs too damn much money. Besides, as we get older, the hassle of going just isn’t worth it.
For what is is worth, I recently saw a blurb that said something about drive-in movies making a comeback. I believe I saw it on the MSNBC webpage, but I didn’t follow the link. Personally, I wish they would, although fighting mosquitoes in Florida is not a fun experience.
I have one word for you: iControl. I don’t know where all this has hit, yet, but we got it the other night. Basically it is Pay-Per-View where you get the same movie for 24 hours, you can start/stop it whenever you want, you can rewind, pause, fast-forward. It’s GREAT. The selection is small right now (just the newest movies and a few older ones), but it is growing every day. And we didn’t pay any extra for it to be available, or even order it. They just added it to the basic cable service we already had.
I love Pay-Per-View. We used to rent a lot of videos, but Jim Dear and I are awful about not returning them. We racked up HUGE late fees, and found a bunch of unreturned videos when we moved last winter. But it was still better than going to the movies because we could wait until the kids had gone to bed (no babysitter!) and spend some quiet time alone together every single night. The movie costs less than one movie ticket, and the food is free (well, free in that we don’t have to pay a surcharge to get something from the fridge!) Pay-Per-View has all of these features, and no videos to return.
The only time we go see movies in theatre is when we do a full-out dinner & a movie night. We haven’t done this since just before the baby was born. The advantage there is that you eat dinner immediately before the movie, so you aren’t hungry and don’t need a whole lot of movie theatre junk. We’ll sometimes buy a small popcorn and a drink to share just for the fun of it, but no need to load up.
Oh, and sneaking food into the theatre? If you are seeing a kiddie flick it’s simple: diaper bag! That’s how we got snacks and water into the zoo.
Cessandra, it sounds like Netflix.com was made for you. If you get a DVD player, it’s $20 a month, no late fees, and depending on the plan, you can have 3 movies at a time, and you keep them as long as you like. (No, I don’t work for them, but we’re on the verge of getting a TV/DVD system and I’m salivating for flicks.
Sorry guys, but I have got all of you beat on price. Here on the east side of Cleveland, I pay 50¢ for a matinee, $1 in the evenings during the week, and $1.50 on weekend evenings (still 50¢ during the day on weekends). Yeah, it’s second-run films, but it means that I can take a chance on a film with mixed reviews. If I don’t like it, I’m only out 50 cents.
During the recent heat wave, I was without air conditioning. For 2 bucks, I spent over 6 hours at the movies and stayed cool besides!
And Netflix and iControl still have the same problem mentioned above: unless you have a 50-foot screen and an expensive sound system in your living room, it’s still not the same thing.
Crikey! This ranks as one of my more popular threads.
Anyway, for those who suggested, I normally always go during matinees or on Tuesday “cheap night” (if you can call it that…)
And yes, we can go 2 hours without food. This is not the point.
The point is that we like to get popcorn or a drink while there to enjoy during the show, and would like to do so without being robbed. Popcorn is one of the cheapest damned snacks and soda costs so little that it’s likely the largest money maker! That’s why some restaurants can give away free refills.
We would gladly go to the pictures more often if we didn’t leave feeling so ripped off.
As for commercials keeping ticket prices low: Nonsense. Commercials have never once made the cost of a ticket go down at any movie house I’ve ever been to. It’s just more of a money grab, because they know there’s nothing we can do to stop it. We’re a captive audience, and if we don’t pay, there’s someone else who will.
The thing is, that I don’t mind paying full price if the movie is good, but even that is asking too much from most movies nowadays…
Even if commercials didn’t cause ticket prices to go down, isn’t it possible that they prevented a price increase?
Netflix.com rules.
I paid $7.75 per ticket for my wife and I to see the movie at the local theater Saturday. My mouth dropped at the price. We had stadium seating and plenty of room, so that was good, but, man, I doubt I go back to that theater. Cost more than $21 for two tickets and two medium sodas. Ouch.
OTOH, the movie was great. The Road to Perdition is a very good movie. I’m guessing multiple Oscar nominations. Hanks could well be up for a best actor award, too.
I really hate going to the movies nowaways. I very rarely go, and when I do, I try to make it pleasureable by:
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Catching a matinee or twilight showing.
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Wearing my Big Purse so I can sneak in what I care to eat and/or drink. (You know, paying such exorbitant prices for food wouldn’t be intolerable if it were actually GOOD food.)
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Going to an independent film and/or theater. This cuts down on the tactless twits who always manage to tract me down and sit next (or behind) to me. Loud gum smacking, kicking my chair, talking LOUDLY, etc. are pretty common at certain theaters in our area. Yes, I’ve become a snob, and proud of it.
Opal, I am in awe! You have completely lapped me (a few times) in the sneaking-in record department. My record (and to be fair, it was just a deceptively HUGE purse):
1 family size bag of Doritos
1 large jar of Pace salsa
2 cans of soda
4 candy bars
(Yes, I had the metabolism of a teenager then, as did my friend.)
I also snuck in two small pizzas, wrapped up in napkins, on a previous occasion. We hadn’t planned to do it–the pizza was just late and we had to get going. It was quite amuzing, though, watching the other movie-goers start sniffing and looking around the theater when we took the pizzas out of their hiding place and started scarfing away. Hee hee!
When I was much younger, my friends and I snuck in bottled beer. I dropped a bottle and heard it roll on this theater’s hard surface all the way down to the front of the theater.
We thought it was quite funny back then. Now, it doesn’t really seem that funny to me.
Again, not in any movie house I’ve ever seen. The prices continue to rise regularly…
It’s called two-tier pricing. People would object to being charged more than normal prices so what is done is that they set a normal price, then give a ‘discount’ to people that they feel would not pay full price. These groups usually include the very young (student discounts) and the elderly (senior citizen discounts) but can include others.
Another variation is done by places like Pizza Hut, KFC, and others (especially grocery products) where they will have their full price but flood the market with coupons where they give a significant discount. These coupons are always or almost always available. The idea is that the people that can afford to pay, will, but many others that have a harder time paying full price will look for these coupons and use them.
This sets in place a two (or higher) tier pricing system in a market where most everyone would find such a thing repulsive since people don’t think they should have to pay more for the same thing as someone else.
It works.
Opal, I am in awe! You have completely lapped me (a few times) in the sneaking-in record department. My record (and to be fair, it was just a deceptively HUGE purse)
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Here is my Big Secret:
Large (knee-lenght) shapeless coat. Tear the lining at the armpits (this was a case of actual old-coat-mistreated, but you can do it on purpose) and voila! Full-coat sized pocket! And everything is around knee/thigh height so unless people look down they won’t even see any weird bulging. I did have to walk carefully because the plates kept bumping into each other.
There is a drive-in theatre a few minutes from where i work, and they seem to do a fair amount of business, even if they raised the admission fee from $6 per car to $6 per person.
I think you can get a mosquito repellent incencse-dealie at the concession stand.