Sneaking contraband into the cinema, what's the forum's position

gandalf

LOL that poor kid, makes me wonder what other rubbish are his parents teaching him!

If I remember to buy munchies outside of the cinema I do, however most times I make it to the foyer and remember then.

The only time I was ever nabbed sneaking stuff in at a cinema was in the Classic in Harolds Cross (long now gone sadly) at a late night showing of Jurassic Park after spending the night in the pubs of Rathmines. They took the bag of beer off us after we were tried (badly) to smuggle into the cinema. Fair play to them, they returned the beer to us on the way out after the film.

Chocolate Lions

PucaMama wrote: »

He does not.

I do so. No backsies.

purplecow1977

Sweets and crisps etc fine. I know some people like to buy their own in the cinema.

No alcohol.

Chunners

Myself and the other half are going to see The Maze for Holloween and my plan is to get their largest bucket of buttered popcorn because it's just not the same eating it out of a bag of popcorn you'd buy in a shop but thats the only food I'll be paying for in the cinema, I'll be bringing an extra large hand bag to hold the MnMs (peanut of course), Lion bar, Chunky Kit Kat, Buffalo Hunky Doreys, six pack of Hula hoops and 2 liter of Diet 7 up (have to watch my figure like) I'll be buying in Tesco before hand

Generic Dreadhead

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Ninja ninja ninja

Yeah, I had a good long hard think about it and said if i'm gonna be a smart**, i may ass well be an honest smarta**

Gannicus

I remember going to the cinema as a kid and it happened as a once off in a cinema in Coolock. My mam got a load of goodies in the shop and they made her leave her handbag with the goodies in a locked room until after the movie. The had/have a no outside food policy there. Now in saying that it was about 18 years ago when this happened

If the cinema saying "only food bought on this premesis may be consumed here" then yeah that's grand enforce away but they have to have signage up to that effect. and if they want to search you they also have to have a sign up for that too..

I know If I had a cinema I'd have them up and I would be enforcing them. Cinema make next to no money on ticket sales for movies its all made via the food and to be fair everyone goes mad about the price of popcorn specifically. there's very little difference... at least not what I've noticed, between the bags of sweets and bars etc. (Pick N'Mix is a rip off absolutely everywhere). Bottles of soft drinks are a farce, price wise in cinema but a big drink in cinema and in Burger King Are comparable... i think

ash23

I hate seeing the popcorn being brought in in big bin bags. Ruins the illusion.
The local cinema has a popcorn machine. Much better!

Sinister Kid

I'd go to the cinema almost every week & I never buy cinema food. I'd normally go early in the mornings & bring coffee & breakfast in with me...

Baron Kurtz

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

Wife brought ours & 2 neighbours kids to the cinema yesterday as a mid term treat.
Anyway, they stopped off at a local Centra to pick up the contraband before going in.
One of the kids refused as his parents had taught him it was stealing.
Rather than buy him his 1000% markup popcorn combo my missus let him go hungry while the other munched into their Manhattan & Haribo.

What's the forum's opinion on smuggling food into the cinema ?, I'd be interested in hearing if there is a consensus.

The 'let him go hungry bit' there - Jaysus, he's only a child. Ostracising him for the sake of a few extra quid is a bit harsh imo. Granted it's pretty full whack to buy food in the cinema but she could have purchased him something, the cheapest thing on the menu even. Despite the glaring oddity from the little fella he still shouldn't have been excluded.

Baron Kurtz

Chunners wrote: »

Myself and the other half are going to see The Maze for Holloween and my plan is to get their largest bucket of buttered popcorn because it's just not the same eating it out of a bag of popcorn you'd buy in a shop but thats the only food I'll be paying for in the cinema, I'll be bringing an extra large hand bag to hold the MnMs (peanut of course), Lion bar, Chunky Kit Kat, Buffalo Hunky Doreys, six pack of Hula hoops and 2 liter of Diet 7 up (have to watch my figure like) I'll be buying in Tesco before hand

I'm not sure if you're actually serious. How many films are you going to see?

Sinister Kid

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

The 'let him go hungry bit' there - Jaysus, he's only a child. Ostracising him for the sake of a few extra quid is a bit harsh imo. Granted it's pretty full whack to buy food in the cinema but she could have purchased him something, the cheapest thing on the menu even. Despite the glaring oddity from the little fella he still shouldn't have been excluded.

I don't think it's harsh at all, he was offered food but he turned his snotty little nose up at it. He wasn't excluded, he chose not to take what he was offered. I think the OP's wife did right. I wouldn't treat him to overpriced cinema popcorn just because he wont eat peasant popcorn from centra.

hoodwinked

i like to sit on both sides of the fence on this one, our local cinema is in the same center as a tesco, so i will buy the drinks, jellies and chocolates in Tesco and then go to the cinema and buy the popcorn....


i just LOVE cinema popcorn and would eat a large bag by myself,

in saying that though i get my cinema tickets for free so i can't complain about the price of the trip overall

FutureGuy

Cinemas make almost no profit on ticket sales. Shame on all of you.

Ruu

Got stopped when I wheeled in the buffet, had the whole family as well.

Neyite

Sinister Kid wrote: »

I don't think it's harsh at all, he was offered food but he turned his snotty little nose up at it. He wasn't excluded, he chose not to take what he was offered. I think the OP's wife did right. I wouldn't treat him to overpriced cinema popcorn just because he wont eat peasant popcorn from centra.

He was only doing what he was taught by his parents. If your parents teach you something is very wrong and you try to be good and not do that thing, how is he a brat?

Its the parents who are morons here. And they should have given the kid pocket money going to the cinema to get treats. So not only are they morons, but they are stingy too.

wicklowstevo

no bother sneaking in anything apart from the popcorn, yes its maaaaaaaasivly over priced but its tasty,


ps i used to work in a cinema and while the staff never had a problem the management did

TerrorFirmer

For the sake of once a week or two, I just buy the large popcorn, large drink and ticket. It's not bad value. Provided the movie's a good one, that's two hours of solid entertainment with some good snacks for €18 a person or so. Hardly criminal, all in.

My local cinema always does a deal on Wednesday, ticket, popcorn and drink for a tenner - better again.

Have to laugh at the people who blank point refuse to buy it on principle - do you smuggle cans into your local pub/club as well? The amount of people I see complaining about popcorn prices and refusing to buy it, who think nothing of spending €5 per pint on a night out, all night - far more regularly than they'd go to the cinema!

I must be one of the few who think for what they offer, most cinema's aren't as massively overpriced as they're made out to be.

Shiraz 4.99

FutureGuy wrote: »

Cinemas make almost no profit on ticket sales. Shame on all of you.

:rolleyes: My sympathy meter is still reading zero despite this information

Packrat

FutureGuy wrote: »

Cinemas make almost no profit on ticket sales. Shame on all of you.

So fcuking reorganise your business model. Charging 4-5 euro for a bottle of water which I can buy in the shop for 1.20 is bullsh1t and I'm never going to pay you that for it.

IrishAlice

I used to work in a cinema and we never had an issue with people bringing in their own food. I do it all the time myself.

I draw the line at takeaway and alcohol though.

OP's wife was right not to give in to him and buy him food in the cinema. Then all the other kids would have wanted it from there too and it would have cost a fortune. It's expensive enough just to buy the tickets without having to fork out for the overpriced food too.

BlaasForRafa

Cinema popcorn is just way better than store-bought stuff, who knew that apparently it's positively decadent to eat cinema popcorn now.

Saying that though, the soft drinks prices in cinemas are ridiculous

Macavity.

I usually buy a coke and a popcorn. The drink will be chilled and the popcorn is nicer.

anncoates

Don't really go that often so when I do, I just buy something in there if I'm hungry rather than trying to save a few quid by smuggling in bags of cheap sweets stuffed down my jocks.

Shiraz 4.99

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

The 'let him go hungry bit' there - Jaysus, he's only a child. Ostracising him for the sake of a few extra quid is a bit harsh imo. Granted it's pretty full whack to buy food in the cinema but she could have purchased him something, the cheapest thing on the menu even. Despite the glaring oddity from the little fella he still shouldn't have been excluded.

Should have seen the look on his face when we told him he was being sold to the traveller family & that's why he was in our car, oh the fun we had at his expense.
Kids can cry for an amazingly long time before they pass out due to lack of fluids.

endacl

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

But what about the signs that say



Surely nobody would disobey such a clear instruction

I suppose you think people shouldn't photocopy cinemas either?

:mad:

2 stroke

I treat the nephews and nieces to the cinema once a year, I'd do it more often but it costs a bomb. wtf cant they share a large popcorn and drink. When I was their age, it was a bottle of orange and 5 straws.

anncoates

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Have to laugh at the people who blank point refuse to buy it on principle .

I can just picture them on a date persuading their date to smuggle a pack of fun-size twix bars down their jocks to save a fiver.

Mousewar

My uncle makes a point of overtly and proudly displaying the contraband he's bringing with him as he passes the ticket checker. The signs are merely perfunctory. The teenager checking the ticket ain't stopping nobody.

Anyway, I don't go to the cinema anymore. Too many gobshites there nowadays annoying me.

Chunners

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

I'm not sure if you're actually serious. How many films are you going to see?

Just going to see one and I'm totally serious

osarusan

I haven't been to a cinema in years, but I'd have no problem bringing in 'contraband.'

Unless I was with my kids though, I wouldn't be bringing anything.

Mousewar

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Have to laugh at the people who blank point refuse to buy it on principle - do you smuggle cans into your local pub/club as well?

No. I go to the pub to drink. Bringing my own drink would undermine the entire point of going there. However, i don't go to the cinema to drink or eat. I go there to see a movie. My drinking and eating are ancillary to that and I've no interest being held to ransom over it.

Sinister Kid

Neyite wrote: »

He was only doing what he was taught by his parents. If your parents teach you something is very wrong and you try to be good and not do that thing, how is he a brat?

Its the parents who are morons here. And they should have given the kid pocket money going to the cinema to get treats. So not only are they morons, but they are stingy too.

You have a very fair point there, the kid was just doing as his parents thought him & the parents are morons. I didn't look at it from that angle.

I still think the OP's wife did the right thing, TBH what annoys me about this is the cheek of the situation, when I was a kid if any adult brought me out for a day, they were in charge and I did as I was told. I said please & thank you and treated them with respect.

Sinister Kid

Sinister Kid wrote: »

You have a very fair point there, the kid was just doing as his parents thought him & the parents are morons. I didn't look at it from that angle.

I still think the OP's wife did the right thing, TBH what annoys me about this is the cheek of the situation, when I was a kid if any adult brought me out for a day, they were in charge and I did as I was told. I said please & thank you and treated them with respect.

What cheek?
Would you like popcorn from the shop? No thank you

?!?

If the adults told you to *actually* go in and steal stuff I doubt you'd have been so compliant - because your parents taught you it was wrong

Hooked

I'm 36, not exactly skint... But I f-ing hate paying stupid prices for cinema grub (or anything for that matter) that can be got elsewhere for a fraction of the price.

We rarely go to the flicks nowadays, unless it's a 'big screen' type of movie. But when we do, we go on the discounted day, and stop in tesco for munchies. Usually it's a pick of what's new on the XBMC box.

This past week I've bought parts for the car on eBay for 20-30% of what the dealer would charge.

Bought a scanner that will read all fault codes for less that the cost of ONE scan at the dealership.

Taken the links off the OH's new Michel Koors watch (bought online for half what it is here).

Fixed the das car radio (thanks google for the info).

Took delivery of 2 months of dog food from Germany. Again, half what it is here!!!

My point?


People know the 'value' of stuff these days - and are very reluctant to hand over hard earned cash for products and services that are on par with, but far more cost effective... elsewhere.


Or maybe I'm just a tight Cnut.

john the one

Help!!!! wrote: »

Don't some cinema's check bags for such stuff?

They still doing cavity searches?

exiledelbows

Tasden wrote: »

Best part of going to the cinema is the warm popcorn drenched in butter.

Used to work in one. The 'butter' is Stork. Enjoy!

azzeretti

We usually hit Tesco for the PixNMix and popcorn and never pay the high prices in the Cinema - food in the Cinema is part of the treat of going there for the kids.

However, now that I think of it; how is this different from bring a bottle of vodka to a pub or even food into a pub. You'd be fecked out pretty quickly.
Still, I won't be paying Cinema prices anytime soon.

Sinister Kid

bluewolf wrote: »

What cheek?
Would you like popcorn from the shop? No thank you

?!?

If the adults told you to *actually* go in and steal stuff I doubt you'd have been so compliant - because your parents taught you it was wrong

Did the child not expect expensive cinema popcorn bought for him?
I may be picking it up wrong? but if he did I would find this quite cheeky.

If it was, as you say - Would you like popcorn from the shop? No thank you. That's absolutely fine.

I understand why the child refused but to refuse and expect something else that is more expensive, in my book is cheeky (even if intentional)

Neyite

Sinister Kid wrote: »

You have a very fair point there, the kid was just doing as his parents thought him & the parents are morons. I didn't look at it from that angle.

I still think the OP's wife did the right thing, TBH what annoys me about this is the cheek of the situation, when I was a kid if any adult brought me out for a day, they were in charge and I did as I was told. I said please & thank you and treated them with respect.

I dont know if it was said in a bratty way though. A kid that young would likely blurt it out innocently. In his mind, this is a Bad Thing We Are Not Allowed To Do, so it was probably shocked innocence. Much like when I was young, swearing was forbidden in our house - even saying words like 'feck' because they were so like the word they were subsituting. So when I would hear a friend say 'feck off' to their sibling and not get into trouble, I was a bit shocked. I probably would have said that 'feck' was swearing, because that's what I was taught. I didnt know any better, and I was never a smartarsed child, always polite and mannerly to adults.

Another point to consider is that its very bad form to change a parenting preference without consulting the parent first - that could be on a range of things, for instance, if you had a toddler and have a no-sweets rule, you'd be pretty pissed off if Granny stuffed them stupid with cakes, fizzy drinks, and chocolate bars behind your back. Or if you are rearing them as vegetarian and someone insists on feeding the child a burger. Or bringing the child of an atheist to church. Parents all have different house rules and values and as bonkers as they may be to another, you try to abide by them, even if you cringe inside.

This would have been a non issue if the parents gave the child a fiver to get popcorn and a drink instead of expecting the hosts who were probably paying for the cinema ticket and transport there. In fact, if it were my child, I'd be giving him enough cash to treat the other children to a bar or ice cream too as a way of thanking the parent for bringing them to the cinema

RobYourBuilder

Sinister Kid wrote: »

You have a very fair point there, the kid was just doing as his parents thought him & the parents are morons. I didn't look at it from that angle.

I still think the OP's wife did the right thing, TBH what annoys me about this is the cheek of the situation, when I was a kid if any adult brought me out for a day, they were in charge and I did as I was told. I said please & thank you and treated them with respect.

Little dude was just doing what his parents told him. That said, his parents should have given him the few bob so he could at least offer to pay for the ticket and get some cinema munch in.

Ste-

azzeretti wrote: »

However, now that I think of it; how is this different from bring a bottle of vodka to a pub or even food into a pub. You'd be fecked out pretty quickly.
Still, I won't be paying Cinema prices anytime soon.

You go to the pub to mostly drink tho it would be more akin to going to a restaraunt and bringing your own food.
Or if you watched your own film in the cinema.

Tasden

exiledelbows wrote: »

Used to work in one. The 'butter' is Stork. Enjoy!

You think that's gonna stop me gorging on the stuff?! :pac:

Its delicious

cerastes

Chocolate Lions wrote: »

I think if you feel compelled to eat a bag full of crap just because you're at the cinema you need to have a think to yourself as to why. You could have a proper meal afterward for the price nearly.

You could easily have a proper meal for what's charged for popcorn, Id rather get something at least filling and half way decent, something better nutritionally than eating popcorn drenched in cheap butter.

Help!!!! wrote: »

Don't some cinema's check bags for such stuff?

It isnt an airport, they have no right to search you.

Gannicus wrote: »

If the cinema saying "only food bought on this premesis may be consumed here" then yeah that's grand enforce away but they have to have signage up to that effect. and if they want to search you they also have to have a sign up for that too..

I know If I had a cinema I'd have them up and I would be enforcing them. Cinema make next to no money on ticket sales for movies its all made via the food and to be fair everyone goes mad about the price of popcorn specifically. there's very little difference... at least not what I've noticed, between the bags of sweets and bars etc. (Pick N'Mix is a rip off absolutely everywhere). Bottles of soft drinks are a farce, price wise in cinema but a big drink in cinema and in Burger King Are comparable... i think

So if they put up a sign that they do cavity searches, that means its allowed, oh I see :eek::rolleyes:.
What kinda cinema is this, line everyone up and search them? is it a themed gestapo cinema, showing film noir stuff?
Like fook is there very little difference, theres a huge difference.

The_Valeyard

OldGoat wrote: »

We usually bring a bottle of wine and a couple of wine glasses. It makes the whole experience seem more civilised.

That's a f*cking genius idea.

Tasden

The_Valeyard wrote: »

That's a f*cking genius idea.

They sell small bottles of wine at odeon in blanch, and I know they used to sell cups of smirnoff ice in vue in liffey valley but haven't been in a while so dunno if they still do

The_Valeyard

Tasden wrote: »

They sell small bottles of wine at odeon in blanch, and I know they used to sell cups of smirnoff ice in vue in liffey valley but haven't been in a while so dunno if they still do

Probably cost your first born though.


I'll go with lidls finest.

Generic Dreadhead

Occasionally I go in and buy a popcorn and walk out without going to see ANY film at all. Enjoy my €3 and I'll enjoy my popcorn. *walks off happily*

KERSPLAT!

It's expensive but cinema popcorn is amazing! I've never brought popcorn myself though I don't see a problem with doing so, I just rather the popcorn and coke they have there so I pay, way over the odds, for it

Edit: my kids will be sharing a multi pack when I bring them though!! I'm not made of money!!

CrazyRabbit

OldGoat wrote: »

Has anyone ever been turned out of a cinema for bringing in their own sweets?

No, but I was kicked out for bringing my own movie once.

CrazyRabbit

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

The 'let him go hungry bit' there - Jaysus, he's only a child. Ostracising him for the sake of a few extra quid is a bit harsh imo. Granted it's pretty full whack to buy food in the cinema but she could have purchased him something, the cheapest thing on the menu even. Despite the glaring oddity from the little fella he still shouldn't have been excluded.

He won't starve to death in 2 hours. Sometimes standing up for your convictions can have consequences.