re: Popcorn - I haven't read the book, but I have helped run a movie theater. The answer, if you're not going to read it, it that popcorn (and the associated f

re: Popcorn - I haven't read the book, but I have helped run a movie theater. The answer, if you're not going to read it, it that popcorn (and the associated food products) is how the theaters make their money. Sure, your ticket price contributes, but it's mostly to cover their constant labor and facilities costs. If a movie theater schedules a showing, it has to run - doesn't matter if there's 2 or 200 people in the theater at the time. The labor to run the show is scheduled far in advance, and represents a sunk cost to the theater. That cost is seen by theater management as the cost of getting people into the building. Once they're there, however, they're pretty likely to buy some food, based on the advertising and how the theaters are designed - which is pure profit (the material cost for a large popcorn is about 2 cents). It has incredible margins, and lasts forever (none of the stuff they serve goes bad). It's similar to how TV works - their core business is selling advertising, and if the cost of business to do that is creating shows that people like, so be it. Put another way, the point of TV shows is to get you in front of your TV so that you'll watch some ads. Likewise, the point of movies is to get you in the building so you'll buy some food.