MOVIE THEATRE POPCORN

Welcome to our second installment of Axioms! Did you ever wonder how much a movie theatre pays for popcorn when you buy your large $6.00 popcorn? Today all of your questions regarding movie theatre popcorn prices will be answered, and that’s about it.

The paper bucket is the most expensive part of the operation. Theatre’s pay 30 cents for a large bucket. The popcorn is 2 cents and the butter is 1 cent. That means they pay 33 cents for one large popcorn compared to the $6.00 that they charge. That’s a 1,818% markup!!! That sure beats the 2.5x markup I used to charge back in my old retail days. Golly, imagine if retail establishments could charge 1000% more than what they paid! That would be some profit! A snow globe (yes, I used to sell snow globes, what of it?) that I may have originally sold in my old retail store for $30.00, would sell for $218.16!!! I would either be the most profitable store or the most broke.

We need to pause here. In real life, I actually say water globes because there is not always snow within the globe. Sometimes there is glitter, sometimes there are other shiny or iridescent flakes, and sometimes there are skulls and daggers! Okay, the latter isn’t true; I just wanted to sound more manly, or manlier, if you will. What I’m trying to say is people always question why I call them water globes instead of snow globes and I wanted to give y’all (also a word I like) an insight into the writer’s life through trivia. I digress…

This information may make you angry at the movie theatres (yes, I’m still using the Old English spelling even though it looks like a funky monkey). But do not be too livid, cross, infuriated, and by all means, don’t gnash your teeth at this news. In fact, despite the outrageous prices for movie tickets, movie theatres would go out of business if it was not for concession profits. The money they make from selling tickets alone does not cover all of the other costs that they incur. So next time you’re at the movies, go ahead and buy that popcorn, smile, and say, “I’ll be happy to pay that 1000% markup!”

Next time, we will be discussing quirky grammar in the English language, for example: fun with thrice, words that rhyme with orange and silver, and the term for a group of cats. On future installments we will talk about the history of Dr Pepper. How did the company start, why was this popular soda that I don’t like created, and was there a real Doctor Pepper? These and many other questions will be answered on Axioms with Barry!

Disclosure: The exact costs reflect those of popcorn buckets. Many theatres have replaced the buckets with paper sacks, which are most likely cheaper. And yet, the price for popcorn seems to get more expensive. Interesting…