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Comment by MBCook | Hacker News Reader

The way things are setup is also designed to make me feel like I’m being ripped off.

Go to see a brand new very popular movie. They know high ticket prices scare people away, so I can easily get tickets for $9/each (no 3D) for most films. That’s perfectly fair.

A small bottle of water is $6. A small popcorn is like $10.

So the total cost is about $25 but most of that is hidden in two cheap/basic snacks.

How about just charging me the real price for the ticket and fair snack prices? Charge $25 for a pack with a ticket and some snacks.

A low upfront price and high snacks feels like bait-and-switch.

But it works so they keep it up. And I feel ripped off every time I go because of the psychology of their pricing model.

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Is there such a pressure to buy snacks ? 2h without eating doesn’t feel so difficult.

Or bring snacks from home (or a convienence store which is a bargain compared to a theatre)

>Or bring snacks from home (or a convienence store which is a bargain compared to a theatre)

Movie theaters almost universally do not allow outside food or drinks, so that isn't really an option. But these days if I ever go to a movie I pretty much exclusively go to a dine-in theater(alamo drafthouse, studio move grill, etc) because at least there I'm getting decent food instead of a paying $20 for tub of popcorn and soda that cost them probably less than a dollar, not to mention they have comfy recliners instead of those awful padded seats most theaters have.

Just break the rules. I have gone to the movies with food and beer in my back pack over one hundred times and never been searched, or caught in the theatre.

If I'm to just break the rules in order to improve the viewing experience, why should I not go the whole way and just torrent the latest movies to watch at home?

No one said to break the law.

It depends where you are and how you do it, but copyright infringement is often a civil matter, not a criminal one, just like ignoring the posted conditions of entry of a cinema by sneaking food in.

Oftentimes, the latest movies don't have a high quality Blu-Ray Rip until months after they are released in theatres.

That's true, but as I said before, I've delayed my movie timetable by 6 months, so that doesn't really affect me. Here's the thing I would have those who's job it is to design the movie theater experience understand:

If going to the cinema was free, I would still choose to wait for movies to be released for in home viewing. The cinema experience is /that/ bad.

2h without doing anything with my hands is a nightmare.

Normally, I'm doing all kinds of things with my hands. Usually, I'm at a computer, I have my phone, I'm playing with my cane, or I'm flicking my fidget cube, etc. But I can't do any of those things at the movies. I need to snack during movies because I'd go nuts if I didn't have something to do with my hands. A bag of popcorn is a godsend... I can keep grabbing pieces of popcorn and sticking them in my mouth, which keeps my hands occupied.

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