A personal finance expert revealed how movie theaters actually make their money. It’s pretty surprising.
Humphrey Yang has over 3.3 million followers on TikTok, where he dishes on all things money. The financial guru broke down how big and small theaters earn revenue. It turns out that movies are only a small piece of the pie for lots of cinemas.
“I was shocked to find out movie studios actually took between 80% to 100% of a movie theater’s sales revenue in the first two weeks,” Yang explained. “Then in subsequent weeks the ratio gradually becomes more favorable to the cinema, usually resulting in a 50:50 ratio.”
That means movie theaters make their revenue somewhere else: concession stands. Theaters inflate the average price of movie theater popcorn by 1275%, and around 70% of movie patrons buy snacks at the theater, Yang found.
According to Which, small theaters make 80%