Sneaking contraband into the cinema, what's the forum's position

It cost my wife and I just over fifteen euro to go see Gone Girl at two o'clock yesterday. We bought our sweets in the two-euro shop around the corner, which added a fiver.

If the cinema had a strict no-outside-food policy, would we have gone? Probably not; buying in the cinema would have pushed the total cost to maybe thirty euro for two people, which is beyond the point at which we'd be willing to pay.

Ultimately, though, cinemas will die. They're not going to be sustainable in the long run. Gone Girl is a cracking film, but it wouldn't have been any less impressive on a 32-inch HDTV. A cinema screen versus a 14-inch television with no widescreen and a terrible pixel count is no contest; a cinema screen versus a 32-inch full-HD flatscreen television is close to being a dead heat. Most films just don't gain much by being watched in the cinema, and sooner or later they simply won't go to the cinema. Lincoln and Behind The Candleabra were both critically acclaimed films with top-quality casts and superb scripts, but both films came very close to being released on HBO or Netflix. We're rapidly approaching the point where the "serious" films, for want of a better word, will never grace a cinema screen, and once that happens then nothing will be left for the cinemas but big, loud action.

Fat Christy wrote: »

You can buy popcorn, a can of coke and a big bag of malteasers for under a fiver in the shop beside Cineworld. Why would ya waste your hard earned cash?

Because it isn't a waste of money to some people. Some people enjoy that the popcorn is hot or buttered and that the coke has ice. It also stops the annpying rustling of bags.

The_Captain wrote: »

I don't know what world you live in where two drinks and two popcorns for €13 isn't expensive

And the fact that that's a value deal, rather than the normal price is even worse

Compared to the alternative of going to a pub or a concert and spending a fortune there, €33 for two people for tickets, and food for both is not expensive.

It isn't a value deal? its the normal price. Works out at 6.50 a person

cloud493 wrote: »

Gone girl is just shy of 2 and a half hours, not including trailers.

So? I don't see how someone can't go three hours without eating sh*te. Eat before or after.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Lincoln and Behind The Candleabra were both critically acclaimed films with top-quality casts and superb scripts, but both films came very close to being released on HBO or Netflix. We're rapidly approaching the point where the "serious" films, for want of a better word, will never grace a cinema screen, and once that happens then nothing will be left for the cinemas but big, loud action.

I agree to A point. I look at the States, where friends live and they make decent money with gimmick nights. I went to a place that shows kung-fu movies once a week. There is also another place that shows an old/classic movie the last Friday of the month, they do meal deals with the tickets. My mate say these places clean up each time because there is such a large back catalogue of these types of movies.

The business structure of cinemas in this country is far too rigid.

I think that even if they lowered the price of food here nowadays people would still be less inclined to buy it in there as they have been institutionalized to believe its too expensive.

Also I can't see cinemas being willing to lower prices because if more people bought cinema food profits would rise and the company would be even less incentivised to lower their prices then as they'd try milk it.

Like any other industry with limited competition someone will have to make the first move and draw customers in that way for others to follow suit.


Actually.

Here's one. How much more would you be willing to pay for a ticket if it meant they would be willing to lower the price of sweets to match general newsagents etc? Because I reckon if they did that then this thread would turn into "Why a cinema tickets so bloody expensive?"

Trent Houseboat wrote: »

Some people are implying that to bring in outside food is akin to stealing from the establishment, but what of the case of a person who doesn't buy or bring food/drinks?

They've paid as much Davos Seaworth, are they committing the same crime?

Yeah, I don't particularly want to eat cinema food, apart from the price, it's junk. I can go the length of a film without stuffing my face with rubbish.

I do smuggle booze into the cinema though. Not cans or anything overt, maybe a naggin of Captain Morgans or something in a hip flask. Buy a coke for myself and the missus or whoever I'm with and pop the lids off.

This would be in evenings on a night out by the way, I wouldn't be doing this in the morning/afternoon

Trent Houseboat wrote: »

Some people are implying that to bring in outside food is akin to stealing from the establishment, but what of the case of a person who doesn't buy or bring food/drinks?

They've paid as much Davos Seaworth, are they committing the same crime?

I wouldn't say its akin to stealing but to be fair would you:

walk into a cafe and pour a cup of coffee you brought from home,
or
sit in a pub and start cracking cans you bought in Tesco,
or
go into a McDonalds and start eating a Burger King.

The answer in most cases is NO because, if you were caught you would be asked to leave or be removed from the premises. I know its expensive but I wouldn't liken it to stealing. The cinemas claim that it has the effect as stealing i.e. the are losing revenue due to people bringing in their own stuff so they have to increase the cost to those who are buying in the cinema.

Gannicus wrote: »

I wouldn't say its akin to stealing but to be fair would you:

walk into a cafe and pour a cup of coffee you brought from home,
or
sit in a pub and start cracking cans you bought in Tesco,
or
go into a McDonalds and start eating a Burger King.

The answer in most cases is NO because, if you were caught you would be asked to leave or be removed from the premises. I know its expensive but I wouldn't liken it to stealing. The cinemas claim that it has the effect as stealing i.e. the are losing revenue due to people bringing in their own stuff so they have to increase the cost to those who are buying in the cinema.

This kind of comparison annoys me. People go to the cinema to watch the movie (well that should be the main reason, but it appears a lot of people just use it as an excuse to stuff their face under the cover of darkness) and the ticket has been paid for. If people went in without paying for the ticket then it is stealing.

People go to the pub to drink, for the most part, so to use their facilities you buy drink, so you can't compare the two.

Eutow wrote: »

This kind of comparison annoys me. People go to the cinema to watch the movie (well that should be the main reason, but it appears a lot of people just use it as an excuse to stuff their face under the cover of darkness) and the ticket has been paid for. If people went in without paying for the ticket then it is stealing.

People go to the pub to drink, for the most part, so to use their facilities you buy drink, so you can't compare the two.

Be annoyed. People go to Cafés or pubs to socialize yet they buy alcohol and nightclubs to dance and meet someone (even for a O.N.S.) and pay an admission yet if they were removed from bringing their own can in most reasonable people would say its the persons own fault.

Trent Houseboat wrote: »

It's not really a direct comparison.

In my opinion the following hypothetical is a closer comparison:

The fact that its a hypothetical also means the comparison is moot on that basis alone. I'm not agreeing with people paying cinema prices against their will or agreeing with prices some cinemas charge for food I'm just likening it to something else planted in reality were is a similar incidence took place it would not be tolerated/