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: 電影院；notorious:臭名昭著的，眾所周知的；concession: 營業(yè)攤點上出售的商品。soda, and candy. Are moviegoers just being gouged2. gouge: 詐騙……的錢財，敲……的竹杠。?

Research from Stanford GSB3. GSB: Graduate School of Business，商學(xué)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: 銀幕，電影。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: 經(jīng)驗主義地，以經(jīng)驗為依據(jù)地；age-old: 古老的，存在已久的。Putting the premium on the “frill”items,6. premium: 額外費(fèi)用，加付款；frill:無用的裝飾，虛飾。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: 付錢；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. 雖然這些商品帶來的收入僅占影院總收入的20%，但占了影院利潤的40%左右。gross:（未扣除稅或成本）總的，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: 經(jīng)銷商，分銷商；exhibitor:〈美〉電影院老板（或經(jīng)理）；coffer: 財源，金庫。

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:（價格等）偏高； admission:入場費(fèi)，入場券。

They compared concession purchases in weeks with low and high movie attendance12. attendance: 出席的人數(shù)。.

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.觀影人數(shù)低時，影院的商品價格便會成比例上漲，這一事實證明：有這樣一種“無比忠實的”觀影愛好者，他們什么電影都愿意看，不論好壞；另外，他們還愿意買昂貴的爆米花。proportionately: 成比例地；die-hard: 頑固的，死硬的；to boot: 而且，另外?！癟he 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: 強(qiáng)調(diào)，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: 稍加考慮，不認(rèn)真地考慮。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. 雖然那些無比熱愛電影的人可能會愿意花15美元買張電影票，但如果影院票價一直如此，很快就會關(guān)門大吉。-o-phile: 等于-phile，愛好……的，嗜……的；tactic: 戰(zhàn)術(shù)，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: 湊齊，補(bǔ)足；margin: 差額，差數(shù)；transfer: 轉(zhuǎn)移，遷移；bucket: 桶。

The work of Hartmann and Gil substantiates what movie exhibitors have intuited all along.19. substantiate: 證實，證明；intuit: 憑直覺感知；all along: 自始至終?！癟he 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: 流傳，散布；hard:（證據(jù)、資料）可靠的，確鑿的。says Hartmann.

捧著爆米花看電影可謂人生一大樂事，既有視覺盛宴可賞，又有飄香零食可享。不過，眾所周知，電影院里的爆米花賣得很貴。不僅爆米花如此，汽水、糖果等其他商品也售價不菲，為什么呢？消費(fèi)者被坑了嗎？調(diào)查研究結(jié)果表明，我們都想錯了，快來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: 售貨亭，小亭；hit: 到達(dá)。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: 內(nèi)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. 這一點也值得進(jìn)一步調(diào)查，不過這可能是因為這些群體主要是家庭或者青少年。merit:值得，應(yīng)受到；investigation: 調(diào)查，審查；comprise: 包括，由……組成?！癐f 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……為方向的，重視……的。Hartmann says.

Analyzing data along the lines suggested by Hartmann and Gil can also support other pricing schemes25. scheme: 計劃，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: 價格高的，昂貴的；proposition: 提議，建議；take sth.into account: 考慮到，把……計算在內(nèi)；memorabilia: 收藏品，紀(jì)念品?！癐f we found the current pricing scheme turns away such a group, theory suggests that the firm might want to throw in27. throw in: 免費(fèi)贈送，額外奉送。a free baseball cap or bat,” Hartmann says. “That raises the quality of the experience and provides an incentive28. incentive: 刺激，激勵。for families to show up.”