Movie theater popcorn - is this happening everywhere?
 

I go to a cinemark theater and usually get some popcorn / soda once in a while. Well last week when we went to see Atonement, I noticed that they took the large popcorn off the menu and replaced it with junior, small, and medium.

I thought maybe they just re-named the sizes so people could get the biggest size without feeling guilty about it. This wasn't the case though, medium was actually the medium size, small was small, jr was jr.

So maybe they ran out of the large sized bags? Then I looked up at the price on the overhead menu and noticed medium wasn't priced at the normal medium price, and it wasn't priced at the normal large price either, it was priced 25 cents higher... large was nowhere in sight but for the prices.

They're charging 25 cents higher than the 'large' price for a medium. So not only are they making more by giving less popcorn, but they're also charging higher than the prior peak. Double the greed. Is this happening everywhere, or is this particular cinemark just greedy? From now on I'm sneaking in a candy bar.

Actually, I was just at a Cinemark last Friday (also for Atonement, incidentally), and I bought a large, only to notice that it was a bigger bag than I remembered. It was HUGE, and I felt like a glutton. Of course, it should have cost less than half what it did, too ($5.75).

Where I go, a large popcorn and drink is $10.50. That's as much as the ticket itself.

No wonder I buy so many movies.

11 bucks for a medium drink and medium popcorn where i'm at.

crazy.

-NiCK

Still huge ass popcorn tubs at the Regal and AMC theaters that i go to. I don't really buy popcorn that often though. I can sit through a 2 hour movie without snacking on something.

I never buy anything at the theatre other than the ticket itself anymore. Way overpriced. I love fountain drinks and popcorn though, it's hard to say no.

Speaking of this...is there anywhere where I can buy a good size bag of popcorn for like...$1.50 or so? And I don't mean brand name popcorn at the supermarket nor do I mean microwavable popcorn that I would pop ahead of time and sneak in.

I remember being on vacation, and going to a store and they had a really good size, clear bag of buttered popcorn for like...$1.29. It could be easily snuck in a backpack or something if you wanted to munch on it at the movies and not pay $100 for movie cinema popcorn nowadays. But, I haven't been able to find that kind of deal elsewhere. But, as popular as popcorn is, I'd have to believe it can be purchased somewhere, whether offline or online.

Anyone know?

You guys would love the theater near my house. It's called Harkins Theatres and for $20.00 you can buy a T-shirt and everytime you go to the movies and show them your Shirt ( you don't even have to wear it) and they give you a coupon for a free Popcorn ( size Med) and at the snack bar you can buy a 32oz plastic cup for $4.00 and everytime you go to the snackbar they will refill it for $1.00 and the popcorn and shirt last all year long and they donate the money from the shirt and cup sales tot he big brother and big sister charities. My friends and I go to the movies, get med popcorn and a 32oz soda all for the grand price of $9.50. I just about cried when I had to go to an Edwards theater and a large popcorn was $6.00 and a med popcorn was 4.75.

Are you talking about popcorn that's in a long bag, with the little twisty tie?

Actually, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Nothing fancy, no brand names, just buttered popcorn in a simple clear long bag with the twisty tie.

I haven't noticed because I don't buy food at theaters, basically for the reasons you already stated.

I actually had one enforce the "no outside food or drinks" policy on my a few months ago.... man I was pissed.

I've seen the long bags of popcorn in a wire rack at Food Lion, usually near the chip aisle.
Saw Sweeney Todd on 12/31 at a Consolidated Theater. Large bucket of popcorn was 6.75 I think. Large drink is 4.00. Free refills on both. We had coupons, so we both got to see the movie, get 1 large popcorn, 1 medium, and 2 drinks, for about 5 bucks. Bargain of the year.
The theatre also has 6 popcorn spices you can put on, and the other one we go to has a self-serve butterer.
Yes, the concession prices are outrageous. I see a movie in the theater about every 1-1.5 years, a big bucket of "butter"ed popcorn is part of the experience for me.
But yeah, I'd be irked at that bait-and-switch at your theater.

Don't know if you'd call it "buttered" (probably just butter-flavored), but they sell those long clear bags of popcorn at just about every Wal-Mart I've ever been to. Usually on a rack by the McDonald's, for the ones that contain a McD's inside. (If not there, probably by the registers.)

^^Really? Thanks, I'll look for it there.

I can confirm that Walmart actually has really good bagged popcorn for about $1.29. Maybe a little more now, I haven't bought it in a while. Still much cheaper than the theater.

most supermarkets have these too, i.e. Kroger

We used to bring in extra large pizzas into the theater. They never cared. Then one day they did. Even Abe Lincoln could not convince him otherwise.

Thats probably true. I guess it depends on where you live. Here in MA, the supermarkets don't have them. And we don't have Kroger or Food Lion.

I'll check out Wal Mart, though. Thanks.

nope, still have small, medium and large. The large popcorn and large drink is 8 bucks here

You must live in AZ. If you notice, they make up for it by charging more for a movie ticket than AMC does. Bastards.

Just curious, where do you live?

I walk into the theatre with food bags from elsewhere and a Starbucks in my other hand. I think I go enough that it's OK.

Or, it's all apathetic teenagers.

I went to harkinstheatres.com and they give you an 85 ounce popcorn for wearing that shirt!


BIGGG!


I don't know how much popcorn and a drink is here, been about a year since I went to my local theater.

I remember it used to be around $9 for a large drink and large popcorn, free refills as long as you refilled before the movie was over.

I used to go to one theater, and always take in a bag of burgers and fries, never got told a thing.

Another theater, I used to buy 35 cent store brand cans of soda and take those in, never had a problem.

I've been twice lately to a theater about 40 miles away, and concessions there are INSANELY expensive.

Luckliy, right across the street is this mini 'food-mall', you can get chinese, burgers, mexican, subway, bbq, thai, or smoothies, all cheap.

:lol:

Plus AMC offers a free popcorn coupon in their e-mail newsletter all the time. I think you can also get free refill on Large drinks and possibly Large popcorn. But I could be wrong.