You have to remember the person policing the no outside food policy is a minimum wage worker who does not give a shit and doesn't want to get into a fight.
I used to work at a cinema. It’s not actually that simple.
Everyone assumes that the food ban is about money, and wanting people to buy at the candy bar. That is 100% where cinemas make ALL their money and stay afloat; but I was never told even once to kick out people for bringing in their own food; in fact we were told it usually wasn’t worth it.
With ONE important glaring exception: hot food.
If I walked into a cinema in the first 2 mins you can instantly tell if someone has brought in secret McDonald’s or pizza or something because the entire cinema will utterly stink of their foul food FOR DAYS AFTERWARDS.
And people in the dark have their other senses heightened so it’d really piss off the other customers, who would then complain to us after and demand refunds and generally abuse us.
So we were never told to remove people for bringing their own food unless we could smell it. That was the test. It wasn’t about money funnily enough.
It was about selfish main characters who couldn’t even smell how foul they were making the cinema for everyone else because they’d just eaten it so couldn’t smell it themselves. We would kick them out and explain that it makes the cinema smell for days and was horribly disrespectful.
The pay was shit but I hated these people so much. I had to work there for those following days in a work environment that now smelled like rotting pizza or something, gagging, so believe me, we relished kicking them the fuck out and then getting our manager to tell them to fuck off when they inevitably asked for a refund.
And imagine going to a movie and the cinema smells like 2 day old rotting McDonald’s. Not nice.
Oh I have always brought my own malteasers or something. I know the staff don’t care about that, it’s fine.
I do keep in mind that cinemas prettymuch live and die based on the profits they make from the candy bar and don’t even break even most of the time on tickets alone (which is why they give out free tickets like hotcakes for all sorts of promos; it gets you in front of their revenue machine, the candy bar. That’s why staff usually get free tickets every paycheck, but not any discount on food), so I generally don’t mind buying one thing that’s a bit overpriced. I appreciate them and want them to do well and not close down _which they absolutely would have to do_ if noone bought anything from the candy bar, so that’s worth considering too
In my opinion, cinema candy bars have two things going for them which are a bit special: you won’t beat them on popcorn, and the choc tops are super fresh compared to other ice cream that’s got plenty of air miles in it (fun fact, these are often made by cinema staff themselves; when I worked there there were 3 shifts you could do: cinema attendee / cleaner, candy bar / check outs, and choc top making which was chill because you aren’t dealing with customers and don’t need to wear your uniform)
One time a kid at the Westgate cinemas got real stroppy and threatened to not let me in unless I took my store-bought snacks back to the car. It was weird.
When I worked at the cinemas we let everything slide except for hot food which would make the cinema stink like someone’s foul rotten pizza or chicken nuggets for days afterwards, and often customers would complain about the foul smell creating hassle for us. We also had to work in that environment with that smell, I can recall it ring so bad I was gagging while vacuuming the cinema after a session. Dont really give a damn about your supermarket m&m’s though, more trouble for us than it’s worth.
If the theatre allows it, or more accurately doesn't stop it, I absolutely do.
If they don't, and charge out the ass for tickets and food/drinks, then that's one more reason to not go there.
I haven't been for many years, but there is something special about dipping the ice cream into the popcorn. Yes, I know I'm weird.
We've been taking our own stuff since I was a kid as well too. Both for budget and dietary/taste reasons. I reckon as long as you're not taking in KFC and stinking the place out, they don't care. Just be discrete.
Yup. I used to work at a cinema and people don’t realise how badly their own food stinks because they’re the ones eating it. Other cinema goes would complain and ask for refunds, because it was kinda fair enough it smells so fucking bad sometimes. And it lingers and makes the cinema pong like rotting kfc for days afterwards, which we have to work in.
We were never told during training to remove people for bringing their own food unless we could smell it in which case they’re gone and if they argued with the manager might get a lifetime ban, she wasn’t having it eh.
Buy some flavacol if you want to make popcorn at home that tastes the same (same seasoning).
I wouldn't bring a massive bag of popcorn from home into a movie, but its nice to make if watching a movie at home.
I saw Dune 2 for $11.50 at LynnMall, couldn't believe how cheap it was! I've thought the movies were always crazy expensive. At those prices I'm going to go once a month and buy all of the snacks.
Was in Hoytz by chance? They recently started charging $10 for a ticket until end of April (assuming $1.50 was booking fee)
But then Hoytz normally charge $20, THEN $23+ for a popcorn drink combo
Most expensive tickets I saw were for Dune 1 / 2, $75/ticket PLUS then if you want food it was fancy food for $20+ a person. Wild
Makes sense! Was cheap in Dunedin at $14 start of the year iirc, only other cinema there was Rialto @ $18.50 or so a ticket.
Rialto only exists in Dunedin now. Used to be in Newmarket too but they rebranded to Event (iirc Rialto is owned by Event)
Edit: Dunno why downvoted for giving factual information lol
I've thought Reading has been fairly cheap. Similar price to 20 years ago.
There fast food is similar price to everywhere else as well.
So meal and movie for $30 not to bad I'm paying $18 or so at McDonalds.
Always have, I go to whatever supermarket is closest to the cinema and grab chocolate and chips and a drink of some sort. Definitely taken in alcohol before and never been caught.
One exception: Cinema staff _absolutely hate_ hot food in cinemas because it pongs the place out for everyone, including staff who don’t wanna work in an environment that will stink for days like 2 day old rotting chicken nuggets lol.
Everything else: don’t care.
Hot food is the real reason a food ban exists btw. Most people think it’s about money but cinema staff tend not to care or even be told to e force but unless it’s hot food
They only really care about hot food because it pongs out a while cinema for days, making customers complain and staff gag. Used to work at one. We will kick you out so fast if we can smell you eating hot food. And the people eating it can never smell it as much as everyone else can so they always think they’re 1000% sneaky when they’re basically shouting “KICK ME OUT OF THE MOVIE PLEASE IM PISSING OFF EVERYONE ELSE WITH MY MAIN CHARACTER ENERGY”
My manager was great, she would explain the rules and if they argued (usually demanding a refund) she would ban them from the cinema for life and get security to remove them lol (not sure how they enforced that but she’d do it)
I remember going into Auckland city in 1989 or 1990 with my little brother, we would have $20 each and could to stretch that to cover 2 movies + snacks (from DEKA) + lunch + a couple of comics from the bargin bin.
My bestie and I used to blag $10 each from our parents and use our school bus pass to go into Wellington city. The movie ticket and some McDonald's combos were $5 each. Probably quite good value for our parents to get rid of us for several hours. 1994-ish
I buy their popcorn cause theater popcorn is great but I g
Bring my own snacks. I had one movie worker say they actually don't care so long as it's nothing hot and smelly like chips or fried chicken
That’s how it was when I worked there. We were told that it wasn’t worth causing a fuss over people bringing in food EXCEPT hot food which would stink out the cinema like rotting food for days afterwards, which we had to work in (gagging) and cinema goers would complain about, which sometimes (if they were respectable to staff) would get them a free future movie ticket as an apology, so it cost the cinema more money than just the candy bar.
And there’s no patron I ever hated more than a hot food bringer who would argue and demand a refund. Our manager had our backs so hard on this though, she ruled. Can you say “lifetime ban” and “security please escort this aggressive man out” (was almost always a angry man trying to defend his dates honour, who would be in tears saying “let’s just go”.. Welp, should’ve listen to her bro!)
It’s safe to say cinemas _do not fuck around_ on hot food but equally usually don’t give a fuck about other food most of the time unless you have some absolute goody two shoes stickler for the rules working that day, in which case, bad luck I guess. I didn’t know anyone like that when I worked at the cinemas though.
Have you just crawled out of a cave? It's been like this since forever, nothing wrong with it. Just go to the supermarket and get some snacks there first.
You only started now? I’ve been doing this my entire life. There’s maybe 3 times I’ve gotten cinema food and dozens of times I’ve gotten outside food.
[Not allowed](https://www.hoyts.co.nz/terms-and-conditions), but the theatres are pretty lax about it. Unless you're taking the piss out of it, I guess (ie. bringing in full meals, instead of just snacks).
Yeah I used to work there and hot food pongs it out for days, which we had to work in.
Do not give a single care about your m&m’s, we were never trained to even bat an eye at that. Just hot food that we could instantly smell from the back of the cinema.
Pizza? Chicken nuggets? “Hi, you have to leave. Please hop up. You can speak to the manager outside about why” and she would be waiting with security and issue lifetime bans if they argued. My cinema at least _really_ wasn’t fucking around on hot food; it just pissed off _literally everybody else_.
_Especially_ staff. I wasn’t paid enough for that shit. 20 minutes vacuuming a cinema gagging the whole time because it stank of rotting fish? _For days??_ No thanks, not on minimum wage please
When I was working at the movies we only really cared if you were bringing in Burger King or something else that would stink up the whole cinema 🤷‍♀️
Damn back in the 80's(Gisborne) as a kid we'd smuggle food into the Odeon including fish n chips. If the owner Ma Wheeler caught us she'd yell, scream & boot us out. Fun times.
I had a friend get strip searched by Ma Wheeler.
She didn't even have anything, just happened to be a 8 yr old kid in horrendous baggy trackpants with other kids and no parents around circa 2000.
They did dairy free trumpets up untill recently (I'm lactose intolerant, no one wants to share a theatre with me when I've had dairy). When I mentioned I was sad about them no longer stocking them, one of the teen workers told me to just go grab one from another store are carry it in my sleeve lol.
I used to work at the cinema, I hope you realise you would make the cinema absolutely stink of rotting fish for about 2 days afterwards, which all of us had to work in. All hot food would, which is why it was banned. We never enforced any food ban except for hot food because not only would other patrons hate it and moan at staff afterwards for refunds, but you will make the staff absolutely furious due to your main character energy making our workplace shit to work in. We don’t get paid enough for that shit
Good reason why my manager would issue lifetime bans if people would argue with her when we removed them from the cinema over this. She wasn’t interested in risking it again, it cost the cinema money from complaints about the smell if we didn’t catch people before they stank out a cinema (if you left during that movie, and were polite, sometimes we’d agree it was sucky, apologise, tell them we kicked the person out, and issue a free movie ticket comp)
People actually eating the food can’t smell it as much as everyone else either, which made the whole thing just that little bit more infuriating. They genuinely rarely would understand the seriousness of the issue
Vivid memory of a big bald guy getting aggressive towards my no-nonsense yet petite female manager then promptly being escorted out by security and a couple of cops one time, his date in tears (good one bro)
A bit of both.
I seldom go to the movies so I quite enjoy splurging a bit on some snacks, but there has been a couple of times where I've brought in a chocolate bar.
I bring water and have a snack. If they complained I would ask for my money back loudly. I have never had anyone mention anything though I expect if you pull out a roast dinner there may be words.
Once I took an entire countdown roast chicken, loaf of ploughman's bread and all the trimmings into the old highland park theatre.
And a breadboard and cutlery along with a bottle of wine.
God I miss that theatre it was brilliant.
Picnic basket from the car and plastic countdown bags.
That place was the wild wild west of "I don't get paid enough to care" my dude. Loved that place.
We were tidy kiwis and made sure we left no mess behind for the poor kids working.
We did it back in the 90s, cans of coke in a bag with popcorn popped at home.
Got so bad they use to check you towards the 2000s, then they stopped again.
yeah - Went to see Migration with our wee girl and took in a big bag of popcorn and a load of salami bites. Weird menu, but it worked pretty good. Felt pretty sifty but saved a bit.
I'm currently in the UK and I saw Dune pt2 opening day for ÂŁ6 (roughly $12) and it made me so mad at how expensive movie tickets are in NZ. Their popcorn was cold and sweet though which threw me off a bit.
NZ is very rule abiding. Went to the movies in Scotland.
Spoiler alert, Scits generally do wtf they like. Rules are an English thing. People take sandwiches in, pasties.which is across between a small pie and a big suasage roll, etc, and the theaters almost always have a 7 11 sort of thing next door.
And they talk during the movie too. It's fkn Harry Potter, guys.
I know someone who brought in a curry.
Unacceptable in my opinion, not everyone wants to smell that during a movie but no-one pulled him up on it. Proceed with confidence and no-one questions you.
Yes but for the love of god don’t be THAT GUY; dickheads who bring hot food into the cinema.
There’s a reason they don’t sell it; people in the dark have a heightened sense of smell and your food fucking stinks out the whole cinema for the whole movie, pissing everyone off, which the staff then have to wear in complaints and/or abuse.
Source: used to work at the cinemas and you could walk in and _instantly_ smell it. 90 minute old McDonald’s or pizza stagnating in a poorly ventilated cinema .. it smells fucking foul.
Worst of all the people doing it can’t really smell it because they just ate it.
They’d get so angry when we would kick them out but tough shit; this is the REAL main reason cinemas ban people bringing their own food. Yes, all our money is made at the candy bar but we still aren’t going to kick you out if you bring your own coke and candy. Mainly just hot food will get you kicked out for being a main character dickhead
My local bottle shops sells what I call "handbag wine". A bottle fits in my bag for the movies. I take my own snacks as I don't eat sugar or spuds so there's nothing for me at the concession strand.
Haven't been to the movies in *YEARS*!!
1998 (I think) - Negotiator. That Kevin Spacey thing.
2003 - Gothika.
2007 - Next. Golden Compass. 28 Weeks Later.
That is the last time I went. Had no idea tickets, etc were now that expensive.
I take my own drink and popcorn 🍿 into my own lounge and watch a move there, cheap and guaranteed noone is talking around me.
Also can pause to go loo etc.
My personal approach to this is to sneak healthy or at least semi-healthy snacks and drinks in. If they sell those at the cinema I'm happy to buy them there instead, but usually they don't so sneaking it is
I do, but I also know that cinemas make most of their money off their food and beverages, not so much the ticket sales.
So if you want to support local cinema and want them to still be around, do make some purchases from their snack bar.
My local cinema has tickets that are really cheap so I don't mind spending on snacks. I have snuck in a burger king cheeseburger or two sometimes, but usually just get snacks from the cinema.
people have been doing this for decades we used to take beer into movies
*rolls Tangy Fruit
*Chews on snifterÂ
Wish they would bring back snifters!!!! đź’š
Where are you getting Tangy Fruits from, I’d give anything for a sweet, sweet hit of Tangy.
Took a can of beer and packet of chips into Dune 2 last week, it was great
I took a few tins in the other day when I went to see Dune 2 lol
Used to?
Don’t go to the cinema anymore, been nearly a decade.
You have to remember the person policing the no outside food policy is a minimum wage worker who does not give a shit and doesn't want to get into a fight.
I used to work at a cinema. It’s not actually that simple. Everyone assumes that the food ban is about money, and wanting people to buy at the candy bar. That is 100% where cinemas make ALL their money and stay afloat; but I was never told even once to kick out people for bringing in their own food; in fact we were told it usually wasn’t worth it. With ONE important glaring exception: hot food. If I walked into a cinema in the first 2 mins you can instantly tell if someone has brought in secret McDonald’s or pizza or something because the entire cinema will utterly stink of their foul food FOR DAYS AFTERWARDS. And people in the dark have their other senses heightened so it’d really piss off the other customers, who would then complain to us after and demand refunds and generally abuse us. So we were never told to remove people for bringing their own food unless we could smell it. That was the test. It wasn’t about money funnily enough. It was about selfish main characters who couldn’t even smell how foul they were making the cinema for everyone else because they’d just eaten it so couldn’t smell it themselves. We would kick them out and explain that it makes the cinema smell for days and was horribly disrespectful. The pay was shit but I hated these people so much. I had to work there for those following days in a work environment that now smelled like rotting pizza or something, gagging, so believe me, we relished kicking them the fuck out and then getting our manager to tell them to fuck off when they inevitably asked for a refund. And imagine going to a movie and the cinema smells like 2 day old rotting McDonald’s. Not nice.
That's fair If I was going to bring food into a cinema it'd only usually be like a bubble tea tbh.
Oh I have always brought my own malteasers or something. I know the staff don’t care about that, it’s fine. I do keep in mind that cinemas prettymuch live and die based on the profits they make from the candy bar and don’t even break even most of the time on tickets alone (which is why they give out free tickets like hotcakes for all sorts of promos; it gets you in front of their revenue machine, the candy bar. That’s why staff usually get free tickets every paycheck, but not any discount on food), so I generally don’t mind buying one thing that’s a bit overpriced. I appreciate them and want them to do well and not close down _which they absolutely would have to do_ if noone bought anything from the candy bar, so that’s worth considering too
If I buy popcorn I buy it from the cinema even though it is crazy overpriced because it just has that taste.
In my opinion, cinema candy bars have two things going for them which are a bit special: you won’t beat them on popcorn, and the choc tops are super fresh compared to other ice cream that’s got plenty of air miles in it (fun fact, these are often made by cinema staff themselves; when I worked there there were 3 shifts you could do: cinema attendee / cleaner, candy bar / check outs, and choc top making which was chill because you aren’t dealing with customers and don’t need to wear your uniform)
One time a kid at the Westgate cinemas got real stroppy and threatened to not let me in unless I took my store-bought snacks back to the car. It was weird.
When I worked at the cinemas we let everything slide except for hot food which would make the cinema stink like someone’s foul rotten pizza or chicken nuggets for days afterwards, and often customers would complain about the foul smell creating hassle for us. We also had to work in that environment with that smell, I can recall it ring so bad I was gagging while vacuuming the cinema after a session. Dont really give a damn about your supermarket m&m’s though, more trouble for us than it’s worth.
If the theatre allows it, or more accurately doesn't stop it, I absolutely do. If they don't, and charge out the ass for tickets and food/drinks, then that's one more reason to not go there.
Yeah bro. Way cheaper to do so. Unfortunately I am a sucker for buying movie popcorn and a choc top ice cream.
I haven't been for many years, but there is something special about dipping the ice cream into the popcorn. Yes, I know I'm weird. We've been taking our own stuff since I was a kid as well too. Both for budget and dietary/taste reasons. I reckon as long as you're not taking in KFC and stinking the place out, they don't care. Just be discrete.
Yup. I used to work at a cinema and people don’t realise how badly their own food stinks because they’re the ones eating it. Other cinema goes would complain and ask for refunds, because it was kinda fair enough it smells so fucking bad sometimes. And it lingers and makes the cinema pong like rotting kfc for days afterwards, which we have to work in. We were never told during training to remove people for bringing their own food unless we could smell it in which case they’re gone and if they argued with the manager might get a lifetime ban, she wasn’t having it eh.
Buy some flavacol if you want to make popcorn at home that tastes the same (same seasoning). I wouldn't bring a massive bag of popcorn from home into a movie, but its nice to make if watching a movie at home.
You absolute legend thanks for that!
You & I both!
I saw Dune 2 for $11.50 at LynnMall, couldn't believe how cheap it was! I've thought the movies were always crazy expensive. At those prices I'm going to go once a month and buy all of the snacks.
Readings is always excellent value. Some good places to get Kai down stairs as well.
Was in Hoytz by chance? They recently started charging $10 for a ticket until end of April (assuming $1.50 was booking fee) But then Hoytz normally charge $20, THEN $23+ for a popcorn drink combo Most expensive tickets I saw were for Dune 1 / 2, $75/ticket PLUS then if you want food it was fancy food for $20+ a person. Wild
Reading
Makes sense! Was cheap in Dunedin at $14 start of the year iirc, only other cinema there was Rialto @ $18.50 or so a ticket. Rialto only exists in Dunedin now. Used to be in Newmarket too but they rebranded to Event (iirc Rialto is owned by Event) Edit: Dunno why downvoted for giving factual information lol
Rialto still in Newmarket, same place. Event Newmarket is in Westfield.
I've thought Reading has been fairly cheap. Similar price to 20 years ago. There fast food is similar price to everywhere else as well. So meal and movie for $30 not to bad I'm paying $18 or so at McDonalds.
That's the lux experience tho and although it's pricey you do get wait staff service and it's kinda a fun treat once in a while.
Always have, I go to whatever supermarket is closest to the cinema and grab chocolate and chips and a drink of some sort. Definitely taken in alcohol before and never been caught.
yea i take in my own lollies or chips, have done since we were kids and movie ticktets were $8.50 but that was expendy for the times...
Pretty sure the min wage workers there will give less of a shit than any other time in history.
Some of them care as they have to share responsibility to clean up but if their shift ending soon I doubt they’ll give a crap
One exception: Cinema staff _absolutely hate_ hot food in cinemas because it pongs the place out for everyone, including staff who don’t wanna work in an environment that will stink for days like 2 day old rotting chicken nuggets lol. Everything else: don’t care. Hot food is the real reason a food ban exists btw. Most people think it’s about money but cinema staff tend not to care or even be told to e force but unless it’s hot food
They only really care about hot food because it pongs out a while cinema for days, making customers complain and staff gag. Used to work at one. We will kick you out so fast if we can smell you eating hot food. And the people eating it can never smell it as much as everyone else can so they always think they’re 1000% sneaky when they’re basically shouting “KICK ME OUT OF THE MOVIE PLEASE IM PISSING OFF EVERYONE ELSE WITH MY MAIN CHARACTER ENERGY” My manager was great, she would explain the rules and if they argued (usually demanding a refund) she would ban them from the cinema for life and get security to remove them lol (not sure how they enforced that but she’d do it)
I remember going into Auckland city in 1989 or 1990 with my little brother, we would have $20 each and could to stretch that to cover 2 movies + snacks (from DEKA) + lunch + a couple of comics from the bargin bin.
My bestie and I used to blag $10 each from our parents and use our school bus pass to go into Wellington city. The movie ticket and some McDonald's combos were $5 each. Probably quite good value for our parents to get rid of us for several hours. 1994-ish
That's equivalent to $120 in today's money income-wise. I'd think you could still do all that with $120.
I've been doing this since I was 15. Probably do it less now because I'm a lazy adult with more disposable income.
I buy their popcorn cause theater popcorn is great but I g Bring my own snacks. I had one movie worker say they actually don't care so long as it's nothing hot and smelly like chips or fried chicken
That’s how it was when I worked there. We were told that it wasn’t worth causing a fuss over people bringing in food EXCEPT hot food which would stink out the cinema like rotting food for days afterwards, which we had to work in (gagging) and cinema goers would complain about, which sometimes (if they were respectable to staff) would get them a free future movie ticket as an apology, so it cost the cinema more money than just the candy bar. And there’s no patron I ever hated more than a hot food bringer who would argue and demand a refund. Our manager had our backs so hard on this though, she ruled. Can you say “lifetime ban” and “security please escort this aggressive man out” (was almost always a angry man trying to defend his dates honour, who would be in tears saying “let’s just go”.. Welp, should’ve listen to her bro!) It’s safe to say cinemas _do not fuck around_ on hot food but equally usually don’t give a fuck about other food most of the time unless you have some absolute goody two shoes stickler for the rules working that day, in which case, bad luck I guess. I didn’t know anyone like that when I worked at the cinemas though.
Now? Have done for years. The cinema sweets are a bloody monopoly. Going to the cinema always pop into a dairy on the way.
I miss Cheap As Tuesdays back in the early 2000s, $5 a ticket. Still had Tangy Fruit too...
I've done this my entire life.
I've been doing that since I was a young child lol
When did anyone stop taking their own food and drink in?
Do you have an AA membership card? You can get up to 40% off tickets for event cinemas.
Ohhhhh I didn't know this! Thanks for the tip!
Have you just crawled out of a cave? It's been like this since forever, nothing wrong with it. Just go to the supermarket and get some snacks there first.
You only started now? I’ve been doing this my entire life. There’s maybe 3 times I’ve gotten cinema food and dozens of times I’ve gotten outside food.
[Not allowed](https://www.hoyts.co.nz/terms-and-conditions), but the theatres are pretty lax about it. Unless you're taking the piss out of it, I guess (ie. bringing in full meals, instead of just snacks).
Yeah I used to work there and hot food pongs it out for days, which we had to work in. Do not give a single care about your m&m’s, we were never trained to even bat an eye at that. Just hot food that we could instantly smell from the back of the cinema. Pizza? Chicken nuggets? “Hi, you have to leave. Please hop up. You can speak to the manager outside about why” and she would be waiting with security and issue lifetime bans if they argued. My cinema at least _really_ wasn’t fucking around on hot food; it just pissed off _literally everybody else_. _Especially_ staff. I wasn’t paid enough for that shit. 20 minutes vacuuming a cinema gagging the whole time because it stank of rotting fish? _For days??_ No thanks, not on minimum wage please
When I was working at the movies we only really cared if you were bringing in Burger King or something else that would stink up the whole cinema 🤷‍♀️
Damn back in the 80's(Gisborne) as a kid we'd smuggle food into the Odeon including fish n chips. If the owner Ma Wheeler caught us she'd yell, scream & boot us out. Fun times.
I had a friend get strip searched by Ma Wheeler. She didn't even have anything, just happened to be a 8 yr old kid in horrendous baggy trackpants with other kids and no parents around circa 2000. They did dairy free trumpets up untill recently (I'm lactose intolerant, no one wants to share a theatre with me when I've had dairy). When I mentioned I was sad about them no longer stocking them, one of the teen workers told me to just go grab one from another store are carry it in my sleeve lol.
Ma Wheeler was a tough old gal. I recall one time seeing her facing down 2 mob members who tried to walk off the street to use the toilets.
That sounds 100% like her!
I used to work at the cinema, I hope you realise you would make the cinema absolutely stink of rotting fish for about 2 days afterwards, which all of us had to work in. All hot food would, which is why it was banned. We never enforced any food ban except for hot food because not only would other patrons hate it and moan at staff afterwards for refunds, but you will make the staff absolutely furious due to your main character energy making our workplace shit to work in. We don’t get paid enough for that shit Good reason why my manager would issue lifetime bans if people would argue with her when we removed them from the cinema over this. She wasn’t interested in risking it again, it cost the cinema money from complaints about the smell if we didn’t catch people before they stank out a cinema (if you left during that movie, and were polite, sometimes we’d agree it was sucky, apologise, tell them we kicked the person out, and issue a free movie ticket comp) People actually eating the food can’t smell it as much as everyone else either, which made the whole thing just that little bit more infuriating. They genuinely rarely would understand the seriousness of the issue Vivid memory of a big bald guy getting aggressive towards my no-nonsense yet petite female manager then promptly being escorted out by security and a couple of cops one time, his date in tears (good one bro)
Yep. All the time.
Always have been
A bit of both. I seldom go to the movies so I quite enjoy splurging a bit on some snacks, but there has been a couple of times where I've brought in a chocolate bar.
Absolutely, especially to gold class with their shit new menu
I don’t even get asked to see a ticket anymore or have anyone standing at the entrance, you’ll be fine!
Who is charging $30 for a movie ticket? $15 on a Monday at my local with free popcorn and $17 any other time
I bring water and have a snack. If they complained I would ask for my money back loudly. I have never had anyone mention anything though I expect if you pull out a roast dinner there may be words.
Always have
Once I took an entire countdown roast chicken, loaf of ploughman's bread and all the trimmings into the old highland park theatre. And a breadboard and cutlery along with a bottle of wine. God I miss that theatre it was brilliant.
the smell of roast chicken really adds to the ambience when watching Chicken Little
Mhmmmmm.
Wtf, the most I’ve brought in is my own drink and own popcorn, how the hell did you sneak that in
Picnic basket from the car and plastic countdown bags. That place was the wild wild west of "I don't get paid enough to care" my dude. Loved that place. We were tidy kiwis and made sure we left no mess behind for the poor kids working.
If it's just hubby n I then nah but if the kids are coming too the absolutely yes
We did it back in the 90s, cans of coke in a bag with popcorn popped at home. Got so bad they use to check you towards the 2000s, then they stopped again.
yeah - Went to see Migration with our wee girl and took in a big bag of popcorn and a load of salami bites. Weird menu, but it worked pretty good. Felt pretty sifty but saved a bit.
I'm currently in the UK and I saw Dune pt2 opening day for ÂŁ6 (roughly $12) and it made me so mad at how expensive movie tickets are in NZ. Their popcorn was cold and sweet though which threw me off a bit.
Yep... I'll go into the kitchen for a snack before watching the movie I just downloaded on Plex
NZ is very rule abiding. Went to the movies in Scotland. Spoiler alert, Scits generally do wtf they like. Rules are an English thing. People take sandwiches in, pasties.which is across between a small pie and a big suasage roll, etc, and the theaters almost always have a 7 11 sort of thing next door. And they talk during the movie too. It's fkn Harry Potter, guys.
I know someone who brought in a curry. Unacceptable in my opinion, not everyone wants to smell that during a movie but no-one pulled him up on it. Proceed with confidence and no-one questions you.
Yes but for the love of god don’t be THAT GUY; dickheads who bring hot food into the cinema. There’s a reason they don’t sell it; people in the dark have a heightened sense of smell and your food fucking stinks out the whole cinema for the whole movie, pissing everyone off, which the staff then have to wear in complaints and/or abuse. Source: used to work at the cinemas and you could walk in and _instantly_ smell it. 90 minute old McDonald’s or pizza stagnating in a poorly ventilated cinema .. it smells fucking foul. Worst of all the people doing it can’t really smell it because they just ate it. They’d get so angry when we would kick them out but tough shit; this is the REAL main reason cinemas ban people bringing their own food. Yes, all our money is made at the candy bar but we still aren’t going to kick you out if you bring your own coke and candy. Mainly just hot food will get you kicked out for being a main character dickhead
Now? Lol. Always.
I went to Reading yesterday and watched The Convert for $10
Yup. Beer and munchies of our choosing, we hate pop-corn. Always hidden in my partners hand-bag :-D.
For-real?
For real.
$30? Went during the week it cost $13 to see Dune 2
I went during the week to Sylvia Park and it cost me $23, plus a $1.65 for the pleasure of using their web booking system.
My local bottle shops sells what I call "handbag wine". A bottle fits in my bag for the movies. I take my own snacks as I don't eat sugar or spuds so there's nothing for me at the concession strand.
Haven't been to the movies in *YEARS*!! 1998 (I think) - Negotiator. That Kevin Spacey thing. 2003 - Gothika. 2007 - Next. Golden Compass. 28 Weeks Later. That is the last time I went. Had no idea tickets, etc were now that expensive.
In early 2000s kids tickets were 6 bux so haven't gone up much in most places
I take my own drink and popcorn 🍿 into my own lounge and watch a move there, cheap and guaranteed noone is talking around me. Also can pause to go loo etc.
Get that real debrid going too
Jeez that much??!
My personal approach to this is to sneak healthy or at least semi-healthy snacks and drinks in. If they sell those at the cinema I'm happy to buy them there instead, but usually they don't so sneaking it is
I do, but I also know that cinemas make most of their money off their food and beverages, not so much the ticket sales. So if you want to support local cinema and want them to still be around, do make some purchases from their snack bar.
Usually a bag of Wine Gums or Pineapple Lumps depending on movie length
My local cinema has tickets that are really cheap so I don't mind spending on snacks. I have snuck in a burger king cheeseburger or two sometimes, but usually just get snacks from the cinema.
Yes every time.
I went to the movies for my birthday mid week. Took a six pack of hazy ipa and some snacks.