Mark Up on Movie Theater Food is Shocking

If you've ever been to the movies you already know there is a huge mark up on movie theater food, but seeing it spelled out in black and white is quite shocking.A report on Yahoo  shows us the incredible mark up on pop corn and soda at the theater in a way that is both shocking and revolting.

The report says a large popcorn that sells for around $8 only costs the theater about 90 cents, while a soda that sells for about six bucks costs the theater around 51 cents. The numbers come from a business school professor at the University of California Irvine.

Theaters try to make you feel better about being gouged by offering you a "free" refill on your large popcorn and soda. Free?? Are you kidding me? Even after you get your "free" refills the mark up is still a whopping 79%!

Everybody knows that the theater makes their money on concessions and not on movie ticket sales. But, how can theaters feel good about gouging the customers who are filling their seats week after week, already having been shanghaied by the outrageous cost of a movie ticket? And what is even harder to believe is that the American public apparently thinks it's okay, too. Is our society really  that stupid? Wait, don't answer that.

The fact is, we are screwed. We are a captive audience, there is no competition, we love  movies - and we are addicted to buttery popcorn. The sad truth is we are going to just keep on forking money out  the wazoo for over-priced movie tickets and theater food until the day we die. Redbox and Netflix are great cost-saving alternatives, but there is nothing like sitting in a dark theater with the big screen and awesome sound, not to mention the other movie enthusiasts.

We can groan and complain all we want and it won't do a lick of good. Nobody - in the industry- cares. They have created this monster, and we have willingly fed the monster and made it the beast  that it is today. And, yes, the next time I go to the movies I will be buying a big bucket of popcorn. The hungry monster must be fed. I will open my wallet and watch the cash fly out until the movie monster is satisfied, as nearly as I can tell to the tune of about $40 bucks.