I’m posting this in Cafe Society cause it’s all about movie theatres.
Confirmed! I went to see T3 yesterday and I asked the girl in customer service and she said it was true!
For Houston Dopers, this was at AMC Gulf Point, Beltway 8 and 45 south.
I’m going in with a pizza next time. 
Can’t thank psychomonkey enough for that tip.
My first thoughts as I read the thread was"Oh yeah, but is that true in HOUSTON!?"
You kinda cleared that up…
well, every theater i have ever been to has let me bring in outside food.
they just weren’t aware of it!
As a former theater employee, let me tell you this:
Employees aren’t supposed to let you take outside food or drink into the theater, but we can’t actually search you (duh). Also, most theater employees don’t pay that much attention. I was working concession one day, when a mother reached into her purse to get money to pay for her purchases. I could see when she opened her purse that she had a crap load of candy in it, but I didn’t do or say anything because it would have caused much more trouble than it was worth.
One of my favorite things to do with smuggling in food at the movies is this: bring cans of soda, and during a real quiet part during the previews (like at the green MPAA screen, never during the actual film), open the soda. KSSHHT!
I’m morally ambivalent about this. I never used to smuggle in snacks, because I knew the movie theatre counted on the concession stand for their profits (since they make very little profit off ticket sales). But then they started running eight or nine commercials before the movie.
I took my son to Century Theatres today to see Sinbad and remembering that same comment by psychomonkey, I asked. The counter person said I could bring in outside stuff. We rode over to Osco Drug, picked up a couple Cokes, a bag of sour gummi octopi, and a bag o’ popcorn. Total cost:$5.50, less than the popcorn alone would have been:)
I might have mentioned this in an earlier thread a while back, but if you are a frequent movie-goer you might want to sign up for Century theaters’ email list. They email you a coupon once a week for free concessions. Usually a free hot dog, coke, or popcorn. This week it’s a free medium soft drink.
http://www.centurytheaters.com/my_cent/index.html
Also, Regal has the card you can sign up for, and you get a free soft drink or popcorn every 2-3 movies, a free movie ticket every 7 or 8, and free popcorn on a thursday.
I forgot to mention re the Century deal, that their poster in the lobby and website are REALLY vague about what you get when you sign up… “recieve members only offers”, “Get members-only coupons, offers, and discounts”, etc. But I’ve been receiving their weekly e-mail for a few months now and like I said, you get either a free hot dog, medium drink, or popcorn every week.
I kind of wonder why they’re so vague about this program… it’s a great deal.
Hmm, must be news to some theater chains because I have been searched (at the Silver Cinemas in Laplace, LA, and at the Potomac Yards Cinema in Alexandria, VA) In both places, the employee rifled through my backpack to see if I had any contraband before I was allowed in the theatre (He found nothing, of course.)
Well, backpacks are another matter entirely. Some theaters will make someone check their backpack at the desk, for fear that it may have booze or something in it.
I am not sure how reliable my friend is, or if what he says is simple rumor and talk amongst the employees, but when he worked at AMC they went through the policy change. When he started, the would not allow sodas, food, candy, etc in the theater. Then a month later they had a policy change. He claims a lady sued the theater for some reason or another, and something about the lawsuit incited the policy change.
Dunno, but I am not complaining, I stop by QT on the way in, and bring my own 42 ounce coke (diet) in. Our Regal cinema, however, does not permit drinks or food. Nor does any other theater around that I am aware of existing.
Perhaps my friend has something, or he may just be spouting off baseless rumor and speculation. Who knows. Who cares. (takes sip of pop)
My (ex-) g/f and I went to an AMC cinema in Santa Monica several years ago. We wanted hot dogs, but they didn’t have any. An usher mentioned that there was a hot dog cart just outside, and why didn’t we go there? We couldn’t believe it. This was the first time we experienced a cinema allowing outside food, let alone mentioning where to get it.
When I worked there, I was also waitering at a local resteraunt (actually in the parking lot of the movie theater) It was always great when I had back to back shifts, and a customer I had told to go ahead and take their food or drink into the theater, hoping for a tip, would come through my line looking confused. Id jokingly ask them who told them they couldnt bring that in, and then let them through of course. Tip #2 if youre there for a late movie, you can generally sore some cheap hotdogs, often edvertised with a sign. If you’re whiny enough you may be able to get some popcorn when they throw it out, if you have your own container. That was just at our theater, and generally only when i was supervising the cleanup.
AMC also has the movie watcher card. Since their deals look a lot like the Regal (Who owns Edwards in Houston-which to my knowledge does NOT have a card.) deal, AND I can take in additional food from the Sams or Wal-Mart next door (at Dunvale) I’ll choose to go the AMC route.
The AMC moviewatcher club is cool! They let you buy tickets online for free and they keep track of all of the movies purchased with the card (in the last 12 months, so they say, but they go back further for me.) so you can reminisce online. The first movie I saw with my moviewatcher card was… Oh man that sucks. Scream 3. How humiliating? Not even Scream 1! Why oh why couldn’t it have been Vanilla Sky? So much moreso a better movie in my eyes.
I do like Edwards theatres though. They are very nice. Seats are comfortable and big. Carpeting is very plush. The one on I-10 is in a nice outdoor mall and the one in Greenway Plaza is a cool 2 story job with a Marble Slab (ice cream) right there in the same building. There IS a sign that specifically DIS-allows Marble Slab ice cream in the theatre though. If THEY let in outside food then maybe I could have convinced my movie buddies that (to them) the uncomfortable seats are worth it.
zuma
They are vague so they can change their deal whenever they want to and then they don’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars or more to change their signs. AMC used to have a decent coupon (25¢ off popcorn or drink) with EVERY movie purchase. It wasn’t much but it ALWAYS saved me a quarter we could put into a video game, or pocket. They since have replaced that coupon with 50¢ off a movie combo, a horrific deal that costs a lot of money. So it only rewards you if you already spend a lot of money. Before it rewarded everybody. I’m sure those that always got the combo before celebrated the extra quarter, but those of us who only want a coke are paying the price. Give me back my quarter you glutton! No matter. I’m not paying $3.50 for a coke ever again, not at AMC anyway.
I am a current employee of AMC. We don’t openly advertise the fact that we allow outside food and beverage products in as Baldwin mentioned, we rely a majority of our profits (not revenue though) on sales from the concession. I have seen people actually bring coolers into the movie theatre, and myself I’ve never had to stop someone from bring in outside consumables. Only items from the following list are not permitted to be brought in by guests…
[ul]
[li]The item is alcoholic[/li][li]The item has glass[/li][li]The item has an obvious odor, weather it be good or bad[/li][/ul]
Also, ever wonder why we always say we “have to go get our manager” if there is a noisy or rowdy guest? It’s because only a manager can give refunds on tickets, so even if you are kicked out of the movie, you still will get a refund.
Sweet, I can’t wait to bring my extra-large can of sardines next time I go !
I believe the situation is that a typical theater would like to be able to ban outside food and drink entirely, but can’t. A theater manager I used to know (this was more than 10 years ago) claimed the reason for no outside food was this: if a person brought in their own food, and then got food poisoning from the food, they could sue the theater. Sounded like a big steaming pile to me. Also heard the arguement that outside food might stain the carpet and seats and they are expensive to clean. My friend was never able to explain how the mustard on my Wendy’s burger would make a worse stain than the mustard from the Sony hotdog bar.
Anyway, I’ve been smuggling food in for my while life and I ain’t quitting now.