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Comment by izzydata | Hacker News Reader

Over the last 20 years I often have food and / or drinks in my hands when I walk in. No 16 year old ticket taker is ever going to make a fuss about it, because they certainly don't care. It is odd how deeply rooted in everyone's mind it is that there will be a huge scene if you try and sneak in food.

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Most American movie theaters allow outside food/drink, so long as it doesn't give off a noticeable odor and isn't alcoholic. The myth about needing to sneak in your food is just that—a myth.

I wouldn't say it's a myth. It's been a while but I recall being in a theater (San Luis Obispo, CA) and witnessing a manager ask a person to throw away his smuggled snacks or leave the theater. He declined to do both and the police arrived and escorted him out.

Probably a regional thing. Every NYC-metro movie cinema I've been to check your bag before you enter, and I've seen them actively stop people from bringing in outside food and drink before.

Yeah, I've never seen anyone have their backpack/purse/jacket searched at a movie theatre.

I know Harkins (a southwest chain) allows outside food so long as it is non-disruptive, non-alcoholic, and they do not sell it. You can't bring your own popcorn or M&Ms or soda, but if you wanted to bring in tea or a coffee from one of the Starbucks in the strip mall or even McDonald's, they're generally A-okay with it. I've seen people ask about it numerous times and they are always allowed to bring it in.

They just want you to purchase their food but seem to realize that every piece of food brought in is not a lost sale, unless that food is something they already sell themselves. Which, in my mind at least, seems reasonable.

From my experience working at a movie theater this is not true. While the staff may not care, the theater ownership definitely does. Concessions are where the majority of the money is made as ticket sales have to be split with the studios.

It was real at one point. Every AMC in our area refused to allow outside food for the entire time I was living with my parents. Some time after I moved out, they dropped that policy. So far as I can tell, it didn't make any difference at all in our spending habits. It just changed how fat my mom's purse got while we entered the theatre.

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