Prices of snacks at the cinema

[Moominfan]

Doesn't matter how often I go, I don't think I'll never not be shocked at the prices. My friend pointed out today if they charged a little less maybe more people would buy from them. Instead of being a cheapskate like me that brings their own snacks.

I am not used to paying full price on a cinema ticket but wanted to see Joker. It w was at Vue - Christ! the price of the ticket! I got a ticket and a regular Pepsi max and got not much change at all from £20. I nearly fainted! I had a code but they claimed it did not work. I normally go to the Waterman's where the tickets are much cheaper, particularly on Mondays.

They will have given the matter a hell of a lot more thought than any mumsnetter.

Well they've lost out on this mumsnetters custom who buys elsewhere

We have a local Cineworld and I use Tesco clubcard points at 3x their value. A £12 trip to the cinema for me costs me £0 in real terms.

@Hirsutefirs
Cinemas’ profit margins ain’t my problem, so I bring the food with me.
It is your problem if you want them to stay open. Depends how much you enjoy going to the cinema.
My second nearest cinema is £5. My nearest is Picturehouse. So I go to the second nearest and even with a bus ticket and enormous popcorn and drink it’s cheaper and I’m supporting a local independent business.
Win win.

I much prefer going to a local Film Theatre where eating & drinking whilst watching the film is banned . Having to listen to people eating, rustling sweet papers, the smell of those nachos is disgusting & puts me off going to most cinemas.

I am greedy & love snacking, just not when I I’ve spent £s on a cinema ticket and want to concentrate on watching a film.

I am not prepared to pay through the nose for a drink and some snacks at a cinema. The cost of most tickets is exorbitant already.

If that means that cinemas fold in the future, new films have to be distributed in a different way, or better yet, cinemas are able to renegotiate the amount of profit they make per ticket - so be it. I’m still not paying ridiculous prices for food/drink on top of an already expensive ticket.

If cinemas can’t survive without committing daylight robbery, perhaps they are just not sustainable.

I'm not sure cinemas are only making 50p a ticket when the tickets are £14 each.

Cineworld is our nearest big screen multiplex and we never go because it's ridiculously expensive. I'm sure I read somewhere than is some areas Cineworld charge about £5 a ticket to see the same films.

Our local cinema is an independent very small.chain of about 4 or 5 cinemas.

It's lovely there is a nice bar which sells lovely find etc so you can have a nice drink first. They sell freshly cooked pizza, tea and coffee which is served in China cups and bought to your cinema seat if you want. The seats are really comfortable. That is about £13 a ticket but it lovely so you don't mind paying and is always busy!

My local cinema is community owned so you can get a ticket, drink and popcorn and have change from £10. It's brilliant!

Otherwise I am amazed by the amount of people who cannot spend 2 hours without a snack

Hahahaha. That is the most ridiculous comment.

There's a huge chasm between choosing to enjoy snacks during the cinematic experience (traditionally part of that experience) and not being able to spend two hours without snacking.

But hey, you can choose whichever interpretation you like.

it does make me laugh when posts on here imply (or sometimes state) that cinemas don't realise that they would sell more at lower prices

I agree, @BadLad - the idea that a casual commentator has cracked the secret of capitalism and has spotted a solution that an international cinema chain has not!

Well they've lost out on this mumsnetters custom who buys elsewhere

Smuggling your own food and drink into the cinema and then smugly declaring it's the cinemas fault for charging more than you want to pay is a bit....i don't know, its not exactly dishonest (depending on the cinemas policy on outside food and drink) but it is a bit like putting a bottle of wine in your bag when you go out to dinner and swigging it in the toilets because "the restaurant charges so much for wine, I can get a bottle of red for six quid in tescos. Now maybe if it was only seven quid in the restaurant, more people would drink wine...."

We have a lovely little independent Theatre a few miles from us. Always take water/wine gums but buy ice creams there .(They show films as well). In town large complex with several eateries and mini golf course?! about £15/20 per ticket!

JeezyPeeps eating snacks during the film isn't part of the traditional cinematic experience, at least not in the UK. There used to be a lady who sold choc ices in the interval and that was the only food available in the cinema.

Well they've lost out on this mumsnetters custom who buys elsewhere

You're missing the point.

If they priced their food and drinks at a level which you would be prepared to pay, then they would have to charge every customer those prices.

They have calculated that they make more profit by pricing them higher and selling to fewer people.

That's why they are expensive. If enough people vote with their wallets and stop buying snacks, then the cinema will reconsider.

It isn't because of lack of insight or carelessness on the part of the cinema.

People do buy them, they wouldn’t sell them otherwise

Of course people can last 2 hours without a snack what a bizarre, puritanical argument. People just you know, like to have one

Everyone who buys their overpriced snacks are making the film going experience possible for you because that’s where they make profit.

Vue, Odeon and Cineworld have all said they are happy for people to take their own food and drink in, as long as it is cold and non-alcoholic. I don't think it's the cinemas fault, but where costs have spiralled which has forced the price of tickets up, the snacks are out of reach for a lot of people. All of the cinemas around here are huge, and never overly busy. If they hadn't expanded so optimistically then overheads wouldn't be so much, and perhaps they could make it more affordable. The one independent cinema nearby only has 2 screens, and food is quite cheap.

Sorry but I refuse to believe that a cinema makes 50p profit from a ticket when they cost around £13 which I think is extortionate.

Why are some cinemas able to charge a lot less for tickets I.e my local VUE charges £5 a ticket regardless.

It's just ridiculous that a trip to the cinema now costs about £45 plus babysitting costs! It's why I don't bother going anymore

Cinemas surely only have a few years left in them. We can stream the films into our houses, it’s surely only a matter of time before they’re released that way rather than to cinemas. The cinema chains must know this

I'd pay more to go in where people weren't eating. Nearly everyone in the cinema yesterday had massive boxes of popcorn and spent the full two hours stuffing their faces at full volume. Two people behind us were especially noisy, I don't know how they managed it. I'm sure we were in the minority not buying food.

Oh here we go... all the 'food should be banned in the cinema' and 'why can't people last 2 hours without a snack'
Yes I can last 2 hours without a snack, but for as long as I can remember, popcorn (or other snacks) go hand in hand with going to the cinema. Stop belittling people into mocking them for not being able to last 2 hours when that isn't the case.

In my hometown, my local independent cinema used to do ice cream half way through the film, they still do it now (after the adverts). That has been happening since I've been going to the cinema and I'm sure for many years before that.

I think people could be more considerate with noisy snacks and maybe open packets before the film begins bit honestly stop stating that people can't wait 2 hours for a snack when it is clearly just part of the experience.

We have a divine little cinema with sofas, tables and a smashing bar together with serving lovely cakes!

I’m quite happy to purchase from them (as indeed everyone else appeared to be last time I went!) to keep the gem open!

Sorry but I refuse to believe that a cinema makes 50p profit from a ticket when they cost around £13 which I think is extortionate

I used to work in a cinema, and I can tell you that the price of the ticket just about covers the cost of the showing the film. All the actual profit for the cinema (the bit that makes it a business) comes from the concessions stand. You can "refuse to believe that" if you like, but it doesn't stop it being the case.

Smaller cinemas can offer cheaper tickets if they a) don't show films as soon as they are released - the license is cheaper for older films, b) have less state of the art equipment which reduces their costs.

The price of the ticket covering showing the film isn’t accurate at all really. It may be a low profit venture but don’t forget sometimes you’re showing that film to a full house, sometimes you’re showing it at 11am
On a Tuesday and there are only 3 people watching.

I used to work in theatre (actually in finance) and we only needed a full house once a week to cover costs. That was a long time ago mind.

I get free cinema tickets with my bank account, so we go to the local chain cinema about twice a month. I'll normally bring small, healthier ( than the cinema's offering) snacks with me.

However, if I go to our local independent, it's more of a treat. So I'll buy their snacks, partly for the experience and partly because I'd like them to stay open!

My local cinema is a Vue that does the £4.99 for every film every day.

It also accepts meerkat movie codes, so we can go to the cinema on Tuesdays or Wednesdays for £2.50 a head. Ridiculously cheap.

That said I bring my own snacks but I do like to buy an ice cream!