Sneaking Candy into Movies: Frugal or Cheap?

[amandajane]

To clarify, I just rang my local cinema and apparently the only thing you can't take in is hot food. Snacks, crisps, ice creams are all ok. That's why there are no signs around I would think.

It's interesting to see people's diverse opinions in this thread, It's not about who is wrong and who is right as it were. We are all entitled to our opinions and to be able to state them - it is a free country - well NZ anyway, lol.

Just for info purposes my local cinema charge $27 (NZ) for tickets for my 10 year old son and I. The cheapest deal for popcorn and ice cream for two is $15. That means it costs me $42 to see a movie. I'm a full time photography student and a single mother, I simply can't afford it but I love taking my son the movies. I actually can't remember the last time I did 'sneak' anything in fwiw.

What are screenings btw?

[GearMaven]

I understand where you're coming from in these difficult times, amandajane. Screenings come in different flavors. There are the screening premiers which are usually the grand openings of the films where the top media, film folks, etc., attend; they usually are for a fee for the public.

Then there are the free screenings which occur in major cities throughout the US, Ireland, and the U.K. (not familiar with offerings in other countries). These screenings are held about a month to one week before the movie's opening and are opportunities to expose the local press folks and regular consumers to the movie to start the buzz and, hopefully, the free word-of-mouth advertising. Free passes are offered at local bookstores/comic shops/special retailers, through radio and TV contests, online contests, free and paid newspapers, etc. A large number of screening passes are given out, but the seating is first come, first served. In San Francisco, for example, for top movies people line up from 1-2 hours prior to the screening and have something similar to a "tailgate party" in the queue. A whole community of folks has developed who share screening passes. Folks pass the time by chatting with old and new friends, playing cards, eating "picnics," reading books, etc. The line becomes part of the event, if you will.

To see a variety of sources for free movies, check out Neel Mehta's Advanced Screenings Guide General Tips where he walks folks through how to enjoy free screenings in a variety of areas. While he isn't updating that site any longer, it still provides a wealth of info on how to find free movie screenings in the U.S. If one reads far enough down the page, he lists sources in a multitude of U.S. cities.

Hope that clarifies.

Oh, another source for actual free movie tickets are the many Safeway promotions where you are given 2 free movie tickets with a certain grocery purchase. Was a very good promotion as you could use grocery coupons to bring down the purchase cost significantly. Today there are terrific sources to save at the cinema.

[davoscat]

If a theater explicitly states that we're not allowed to bring food into the venue, then I respect their wishes. I think it is an incredibly silly rule, but is their establishment and their rules.

However, I never buy food in theaters anyway. I can wait 2 hours to eat, thank you.

[Megan]

If there are signs, I wouldn't consider it. But if I were to bring food to a movie, it wouldn't be a frugal thing but rather a health thing. Rather than buy candy or popcorn, I would bring in something healthier, perhaps some snap peas or apple slices or something along those lines. I would feel funny even bringing in something like air popped popcorn - even though it's something the theater doesn't sell, it's so similar that I would feel rude.

I used to frequent a theater that had a nice bar outside as well as the standard concessions. If you bought a beer before the movie (at typical bar prices, no higher), you were welcome to take in whatever food you liked. Unfair to those who don't drink, I agree, but it was interesting to see where the theater was really making its money.

[amyschiff]

Originally Posted by Megan

I used to frequent a theater that had a nice bar outside as well as the standard concessions. If you bought a beer before the movie (at typical bar prices, no higher), you were welcome to take in whatever food you liked. Unfair to those who don't drink, I agree, but it was interesting to see where the theater was really making its money.

Now that's interesting... I don't know if I'd want to be in a theater with a bunch of people who have been drinking though....

[Megan]

Originally Posted by amyschiff

Now that's interesting... I don't know if I'd want to be in a theater with a bunch of people who have been drinking though....

You know, I never thought about it that way, but I was never there when there were people who were annoyingly drunk. You're right, that could be disastrous!

[purplefdu]

We have a theater that serves dinner and drinks with big long tables and comfy chairs (used to be from lincoln towncars) and I've never had an issue with people being drunk. Stupid teenagers talking on cellphones, but never drunks.

Some of the grocery store promotions have been absolute hell to work properly. Shaws/Star/Albertson's had one for the new Indy flick that was buy $25 worth of one list of stuff and get 2 tickets, buy $25 worth of another list of stuff and get two tickets, buy $50 (25 from each side) and get four tickets and $10 off your next trip but it was a huge headache and didn't print about 1/3 of the time.

KMart had the buy 4 2ltr Dr Peppers and get two tickets. Half their stores don't have working Catalina machines and thus didn't print the coupons. Some did and didn't work, and Kmart lied and said they were sold out of tickets, although its not possible according to the Catalina company. The tickets were also only good up to like $7 which isn't enough at most places and people had to pay the difference. They have a new one where you buy 10 General Mills products and get two tickets but its even more expensive and I can imagine just as hard.

Publix has a nice one where you buy ten items and get ten codes. Seems to be working alot easier but I heard they are peelie stickers on the products not a Catalina that prints.

Not everyone buys soda and processed food though. Which means they could do these but never would as it would be wasteful. *shrugs*

Even when I lived near NYC and had friends in the industry it was hard to get into screenings or find out where they were.

[moneymatters]

Whenever we go to a movie, first of all we go to the second run theater ($2 instead of $10 for a ticket) and then we bring our own candy/pop. The theater doesn't have signs posted, and I'd rather not pay $9 for a pop and popcorn.

[hollyvangogh]

On a related note:
I worked "security" at my college basketball games. Outside food and drink were not allowed with a few exceptions:
medical reasons (we weren't to ask what they were, if you said you have a medical reason we had to allow it)
and
babies (cheerios, expressed breast milk, that sort of thing)

I always thought to myself that if I ever attended a game as a fan (and not an employee) I would use the medical loophole. As far as I'm concerned forcing me or parents of children (not just babies) to go hours without any healthy food options is a medical issue. If they sold stuff other than candy, hot dogs, and soda then maybe things would be different.

And even if I want candy, there are several brands I won't buy (Nestle and Mars) because of boycotts targeting these companies. If that's all you sell there is NO way I'm giving them my money.