Via Hacking NetFlix, “Theater Economics” points to an article at Slate about the economics of running a movie theatre: The Popcorn Palace Economy – The thirsty moviegoer fuels the business. By Edward Jay Epstein.
The studios made films for theater chains that they either owned or controlled, and they harvested almost all their revenue from ticket sales. Then, in 1948, the government forced the studios to divest themselves of the theaters. Nowadays, the two are in very different businesses. Theater chains, in fact, are in three different businesses.
Interesting reading.