This is a minor rant, but to be sure many theatergoers will identify with it when they go see Harry Potter…
Supposedly a theatre makes very little money when a new movie is released. They depend on sales of overpriced popcorn, candy, and soft drinks to make their money.
However, after you stand in line to purchase your ticket you can expect to see gigantic lines at the concession counter. I like popcorn as much as the next guy, but after spending 20 minutes plus in line for a ticket I’ll be damned if I wait another 20 for the privilege of paying them $5 for 20 cents worth of popcorn. Plus if I get in line and wait for popcorn, all those people who could care less about snacks are getting the best seats.
Don’t theatre owners realize they are shooting themselves in the foot? Or are they just content with making their profits from the drones standing in line and who cares about the hundreds of people a night that the lines chase away.
It would seem smart to me for movie theatres to take a page out of the book of the major sports venues. Bring the product to the customer, rather than depend on all the customers coming to them. I am not saying that I want people selling stuff during the movie, but I don’t see anything wrong with vendors coming around before the movie starts. “Get your popcorn” “Ice Cold Pepsi”….
There’s a theater in my town called “the Granada” that is a combination movie theater/restaurant. Instead of rows of seats like in a regular theater, they have rows of tables & chairs alternating with rows of stools at counters. They serve burger/pizza/chicken wing type stuff. They take orders before the movie starts and unobtrusively deliver the food within the first 20 minutes or so. GREAT idea.
I love that you can do dinner and a movie more efficiently by doing them at the same time. Also, this is the ONLY theater in the world that serves iced tea (not to mention liquor!).
Hey, Chef, I think I saw the Granada profiled on the Food Network-- on “The Best Of…” Seemed like a really cool place.
Some theaters in New York do bring around carts with popcorn & sodas, but I think this might be chain specific. I can’t remember if I’ve seen it at Loews or someplace else. It doesn’t seem like a movie to me without popcorn, but I HATE standing in a long line and risking missing anything-- I also can’t stand trying to find my seat again in the dark if the theater is especially crowded. Sitting on the aisle helps, but it’s still irritating.
When Mrs. Boo and I go to the movies, we get our seats first and then I go get the snacks. It doesn’t seem as long in line when you don’t have to worry about your seat.
What pisses me off at the concession stand is when the workers seem to make every effort to work as s l o w l y as possible. Come on, move your ass. I’ve worked in theaters, it’s not that complicated.
About restaurant theatres: there’s a microbrewery chain in the Northwest out of Portand (McMennamin’s)that runs about 5 of these, and they are glorious-- the best is a beer-pizza place called the Baghdad in an old '20s renovated theatre-- balcony and everything. I wish more cities in the rest of the country would pick up on this business plan. There’s nothing like having a slice of pepperoni or a blue-cheese burger and a fourth beer while watching Damien II: The Omen. There is something similar in Oakland-- why can’t Santa Barbara have one, damnit?
Thanks for your suggestion BooBoo316.
Though I have not yet mastered how to juggle two 55-gallon drums of soda, a mammoth bag of popcorn, and two huge boxes of candy. Plus carrying all that over to the extra butter stand to put more butter on the popcorn.
If it was me, I would rather be in line chatting with my SO than alone in line. And I would rather be in a comfy seat next to my SO than standing in line.
I worked in a small 4 screen theater for a few years.
RainbowDragon
This was at least true 5 or 6 years ago. It costs the theaters a bundle to rent the films. They make almost all of their money off of concession sales.
I’m tempted to say they don’t care because there are plenty of drones who are willing to brave the lines and shoddy service to get their overpriced bucket of day old popcorn covered in yellow oil.
BooBoo316
You’re right…it’s not that hard…hectic yes…hard no.
The only good thing I can say about the slowpokes is that they’ve taken to layering the butter/oil in my popcorn without me having to ask.
I guess you’re going to have to decide which thing you want to sacrifice… Being next to your SO the whole time at the theater, or avoiding the long lines.
My suggestion would be for one of you to be in line getting your tickets while the other stands in line for the snacks.
Another not-so-fun alternative is to wait until the movie comes out on video and snuggle up on the couch with your SO and a tub of corn.
You mean, except for the Parkway in Oakland, California? Sounds like pretty much the same setup.
Nothing better than snuggling on a couch with the SO, a pizza on the table and a pitcher of Thomas Kemper root beer. What I love is that on weekends we can go there and for a $2 cover get the same food and watch the Raiders game on a movie screen.
Which brings me to another problem, when the lights go down for the trailers I’d have a bitch of a time finding my SO. Not to mention all the “excuse me”s I’ll have to make getting back to my seat.
This is a great suggestion for those theatres that don’t require tickets to get to the concession stands. Some multiplexes won’t let you past the box office without a movie ticket, and don’t bother taking your ticket when you enter the individual theatre.
We can watch DVDs anytime. Going out to a movie is supposed to be an enjoyable entertainment experience. Otherwise why haven’t movie theatres become obsolete?
Actually I see more and more people doing this. Of course movie theatre owners don’t police theatres anymore. One time I saw a lady with a huge purse open it and hand out candy to five children. She had everything in there. This was right in front of a theatre staff member; of course he didn’t do anything about it.
I don’t know, I feel like you could deal with this very easily by coming early (or earlier than you already do) to the movie theater. That way, you can suffer through a not-so-long popcorn line, THEN get your choice of seats, all while staying with your significant other.
That said, “extra butter stand”? Wow…I’ve never seen those. Is it just a place where they have more butter pumps, or is it something more elaborate and gross, like a big stick of butter and you cut hunks off or something? (Joking, obviously…but how common are these extra butter stand things?)
I hate to “pooh pooh” everyone’s ideas, but there is a problem here at well. The theatres don’t let you sit too early for a showing anymore. The ones here like to pack one show in directly after another, barely giving the staff adequate time to clean the theatre. So if you aren’t waiting on popcorn, you’re waiting to get into the theatre.
Yes, we have extra butter stands where you can operate a pump to pile all the hot butter you want on your popcorn. Basically every multiplex theatre I have been to in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio had them. Of course I don’t think it is actually butter, but rather artificial butter flavored oil (but you knew that already).
ARGH! THIS MAKES ME NUTS!! :mad: The multiplex closest to my house has a main concession stand, and then two other smaller ones in the “wings” at either end of the complex. I went to see a movie that wasn’t too crowded, but it was the same weekend some big-name picture opened (along with “Dude, Where’s My Car?”).
Now, picture the scene: Saturday evening, 7:00-ish. Big picture opening, lots and lots of people. The complex has THREE concession stands…
Only the main one was open.
WHY?
The lobby was so crowded with people trying to get popcorn that it was almost impossible to get through the crowd just to get into the theatres, much less get popcorn. However, we had arrived quite early and gotten our seats about half an hour before the start time. So I figured I’d brave the crowd and get popcorn. Not only did I have to wait for 35 minutes, I had to wait with a bunch of people who were very excited about seeing “Dude, Where’s My Car?” on opening night. Needless to say, there wasn’t a lot of cerebral conversation in the line. :rolleyes:
Well, so much for my dream of opening a movie house that does NOT sell popcorn, candy or drinks. I fucking HATE going to see a movie and being distracted by the sound of popcorn being munched en masse, the sound of fifty straws scraping against fifty plastic lids, and the ten or so people behind me trying to suck that last ounce of moisture out of a cup that now holds only ice. Of course, in my movie theater, I would have ushers with billyclubs walking up and down the aisle, ready to administer a sound bitchslap to anyone who spoke (unless a really bad movie was showing and people were forced to exchange MST3K type banter to keep their intelligence from being sucked away. Nicholas Cage movies, for example.) Now, I realize that nobody would want to go to my hypothetical theater but me, but that’s OK, too.
the theater here has a worker take note of how many people see a movie at one showing, and if the number is big enough, they send in a vendor type person who has popcorn, snacks and drinks.
Keep practicing, it gets easier. It also helps to have big paws like me. Bout the only thing that throws me off is when the wife wants nachos.
I never heard of an extra butter stand, but it sounds like a great idea. I never get butter put on the way I want it. It’s either dry as a bone or the popcorn is floating.
You have a good point there. My wife and I have been married for 9 years, so it’s not that big a deal to us.
You’re right…it’s not that hard…hectic yes…hard no.
The only good thing I can say about the slowpokes is that they’ve taken to layering the butter/oil in my popcorn without me having to ask. **
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Like I said, I’ve worked in theaters, I know how hectic it can be. I’m not talking about the poor folks who get swamped and are working as hard as they can to keep up. I’m talking about the sloths who stand around doing nothing, then reluctantly take your order, doing everything as slowly as possible.
