To answer my own question, there are two main theaters near my house that I attend. One is a 16 screen AMC huge one, and one is a 4 screen small indie one. I try to go to the indie one when I can, because I like that they’re the “little guy” and they tend to have a more mature, well behaved crowd.
At the 16 screen huge one, their policy is no outside food or drink, but they don’t seem to care, because I brought in a big brown paper Trader Joe’s bag and nobody said a word. I had a bag of popcorn and a few cans of diet tangerine soda. I am not willing to pay $6 for popcorn and $4 for soda or whatever the prices are. That’s crazy.
The indie theater has more reasonably priced food, and coffee too. I will buy it from them, on the rare occasions when I am hungry at the movies. Popcorn is maybe $3 which is reasonable.
In general, I try not to eat at the theater as it can be distracting and I feel like popcorn is very bad, with the salt, fat and carbs. This weekend, I did because I was with my daughter and we had a big lunch but no dinner as we weren’t yet hungry, and the movie was right at dinner time. I knew that by the time the movie ended around 9:30 or 10, she’d be hungry.
One of my friends is a movie buff and if she and I go to the movies, she’ll bring in candy from outside but she will also occasionally buy popcorn from the stand. She has something called “AMC Stubs Program” which gives you free upgrades if you buy a medium popcorn, they’ll give you a large size for free. (Stubs program is $8.50 per year).
Yesterday, when this conversation came up on the other question, I asked one friend and one co-worker and both said they will bring in their own food and drink.
I wonder what the total percentage of people who attend the theater and take in their own vs. buying from the stand is. I am guessing maybe 50% buying from the stand and 50% taking in their own?