Why Does Movie Popcorn Cost So Much?

Marguerite Rigoglioso

Movie theaters are notorious for charging consumers top dollar for concession items such as popcorn,1. movie theatre: 电影院；notorious:臭名昭著的，众所周知的；concession: 营业摊点上出售的商品。soda, and candy. Are moviegoers just being gouged2. gouge: 诈骗……的钱财，敲……的竹杠。?

Research from Stanford GSB3. GSB: Graduate School of Business，商学院。and the University of California, Santa Cruz suggests that there is a method to theaters’ madness—and one that in fact benefits the viewing public. By charging high prices on concessions,exhibition houses are able to keep ticket prices lower, which allows more people to enjoy the silver-screen4. silver-screen: 银幕，电影。experience.

The findings empirically answer the age-old question of whether it’s better to charge more for a primary product (in this case, the movie ticket)or a secondary product (the popcorn).5. empirically: 经验主义地，以经验为依据地；age-old: 古老的，存在已久的。Putting the premium on the “frill”items,6. premium: 额外费用，加付款；frill:无用的装饰，虚饰。it turns out, indeed opens up the possibility for price-sensitive people to see films. That means more customers coming to theaters in general, and a nice profit from those who are willing to fork it over for the Gummy Bears.7. fork over: 付钱；Gummy Bear: 小熊糖。

Indeed, movie exhibition houses rely on concession sales to keep their businesses viable8. Although concessions account for only about 20 percent of gross revenues, they represent some 40 percent of theaters’ profits.9. 虽然这些商品带来的收入仅占影院总收入的20%，但占了影院利润的40%左右。gross:（未扣除税或成本）总的，全部的；revenue: 收入，收益。That’s because while ticket revenues must be shared with movie distributors, 100 percent of concessions go straight into an exhibitor’s coffers.10. distributor: 经销商，分销商；exhibitor:〈美〉电影院老板（或经理）；coffer: 财源，金库。

Looking at detailed revenue data for a chain of movie theaters in Spain,Wesley Hartmann, professor of marketing at Stanford GSB, and Ricard Gil, professor in economics at University of California, proved that pricing concessions on the high side in relation to admission tickets makes sense.11. a chain of: 一系列的；on the high side:（价格等）偏高； admission:入场费，入场券。

They compared concession purchases in weeks with low and high movie attendance12. attendance: 出席的人数。.

The fact that concession sales were proportionately higher during lowattendance periods suggested the presence of “die-hard” moviegoers willing to see any kind of film, good or bad—and willing to purchase high-priced popcorn to boot.13.观影人数低时，影院的商品价格便会成比例上涨，这一事实证明：有这样一种“无比忠实的”观影爱好者，他们什么电影都愿意看，不论好坏；另外，他们还愿意买昂贵的爆米花。proportionately: 成比例地；die-hard: 顽固的，死硬的；to boot: 而且，另外。“The logic is that if they’re willing to pay, say, $10 for a bad movie, they would be willing to pay even more for a good movie,” said Hartmann. “This is underscored14. underscore: 强调，突出。by the fact that they do pay more, even for a bad movie, as is seen in their concession buying. So for the times they’re in the theater seeing good or popular movies, they’re actually getting more quality than they would have needed to show up. That means that, essentially, you could have charged them a higher price for the ticket.”

Should theaters flirt with15. flirt with: 稍加考虑，不认真地考虑。raising their ticket prices then? No, says Hartmann.The die-hard group does not represent the average movie viewer. While the filmo-philes might be willing to pay, say, $15 for a movie ticket, a theater that tried such a pricing tactic would soon find itself closing its doors.16. 虽然那些无比热爱电影的人可能会愿意花15美元买张电影票，但如果影院票价一直如此，很快就会关门大吉。-o-phile: 等于-phile，爱好……的，嗜……的；tactic: 战术，策略。

“The fact that the people who show up only for good or popular movies consume a lot less popcorn means that the total they pay is substantially17. substantially: 非常地，巨大地。less than that of people who will come to see anything. If you want to bring more consumers into the market, you need to keep ticket prices lower to attract them.” Theaters wisely make up the margin, he says, by transferring it to the person willing to buy the $5 popcorn bucket.18. make up: 凑齐，补足；margin: 差额，差数；transfer: 转移，迁移；bucket: 桶。

The work of Hartmann and Gil substantiates what movie exhibitors have intuited all along.19. substantiate: 证实，证明；intuit: 凭直觉感知；all along: 自始至终。“The argument that pricing secondary goods higher than primary goods can benefit consumers has been circulating for decades, but until now, no one has looked at hard data to see whether it’s true or not,”20. circulate: 流传，散布；hard:（证据、资料）可靠的，确凿的。says Hartmann.

捧着爆米花看电影可谓人生一大乐事，既有视觉盛宴可赏，又有飘香零食可享。不过，众所周知，电影院里的爆米花卖得很贵。不仅爆米花如此，汽水、糖果等其他商品也售价不菲，为什么呢？消费者被坑了吗？调查研究结果表明，我们都想错了，快来看看到底是怎么一回事吧！

In another study examining Spanish theaters, the researchers discovered:Moviegoers who purchase their tickets over the internet also tend to buy more concession items than those who purchase them at the door, by phone,at kiosks, or at ATMs (the latter option has not yet hit the United States).21. kiosk: 售货亭，小亭；hit: 到达。More research is needed to figure out why, but for now this suggests that theaters may want to be sure to partner with an internet service to make such ticketing available—or even take the function in-house.22. figure out: 理解，弄清；in-house: 内部地。

People who come to the movies in groups also tend to buy more popcorn, soda, and candy, Hartmann and Gil found. While this, too,merits more investigation, it may be that such groups comprise families or teenagers.23. 这一点也值得进一步调查，不过这可能是因为这些群体主要是家庭或者青少年。merit:值得，应受到；investigation: 调查，审查；comprise: 包括，由……组成。“If that turns out to be the case, it may be that theaters will want to run more family- or adolescent-oriented movies to attract a more concession-buying crowd,”24. adolescent: 青少年；oriented:以……为方向的，重视……的。Hartmann says.

Analyzing data along the lines suggested by Hartmann and Gil can also support other pricing schemes25. scheme: 计划，方案。for businesses that sell concessions, such as baseball parks. Taking the kids to a ball game can be a pricey proposition for many families, once you take into account all the hotdogs and memorabilia.26. pricey: 价格高的，昂贵的；proposition: 提议，建议；take sth.into account: 考虑到，把……计算在内；memorabilia: 收藏品，纪念品。“If we found the current pricing scheme turns away such a group, theory suggests that the firm might want to throw in27. throw in: 免费赠送，额外奉送。a free baseball cap or bat,” Hartmann says. “That raises the quality of the experience and provides an incentive28. incentive: 刺激，激励。for families to show up.”