I’ll have a chicken wrap with a diet soda and a small, slim and light air-popped popcorn, please, and hold the butter.
Umm ... and an apple and peanut butter for dessert while I watch a two-and-a-half hour long Sci-Fi flick … at my local theater!
That’s right folks. Dinner and a movie all in one place could be in our movie-watching future. (Okay, maybe not an entire meal, but I thought I throw that out there for your consideration)
If cinema concessions managers listen to the recommendation Sony Pictures' chief executive Michel Lynton recently presented to theater owners in Las Vegas, movie menus might start to include options for health-conscious moviegoers.
"Adding healthier options to your existing menu is the right thing to do for our industry, for audiences and for our country," Lynton said at ShoWest, the movie industry's annual convention.
It's about time, too.
News concerning obesity among children being the highest it has ever been along with childhood diabetes on the rise has been all over the press lately (not that it’s the movie industry’s fault, but hey, they could help!).
Sadly, theaters have been lagging behind fast-food chains on the healthier-choice-menus trend while families are their number one customers. If McDonald's can offer up salads and fruit cups along with Quarter Pounders, why can't theaters add granola bars and baked potato chips at concession stands?
The bigger question is, why has the change in movie fare taken so long?
You don't need an economics degree to understand the astronomical margins on candy and sodas are just too fat to trim down with costlier nutritious choices. Plus, having a captive audience with nowhere else to get their treats sure puts the cha in theater concessions chaching!
Many of us have muttered under our breath, or perhaps even out loud, that theater food leaves much to be desired. Also irksome for film enthusiast is the ban on introducing outside foodstuffs leaving us little choice but to consume the expensive movie-sized items -- which we do.
Why?
Simply because food is associated with a good time; dates, parties, traditions, you name it, it revolves around a meal. Going to the movies has become quite an occasion for families these days. Heck, we handed over $52 for 4 3D tickets this past weekend, Slurpies and popcorn not included!
This definitely qualifies as a special night out in my (pocket) book.
Did you know theater chains in Mexico have been providing food choices for some time? The variety at VIP sections includes sushi, tacos and tortas as well as beer and wine brought to your seat by a server.
Could these fancy movie-rations become a reality ?
Frankly, I agree with Mr. Lynton’s challenge; it’s about time we had a wider choice of food items to select from once we’ve paid the hefty price to get in the theater and sit there an average of two hours per movie.
