KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It can be expensive to take your family to the movies, but one Michigan man says that he has had enough of the high prices and is taking his fight to court.
According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, Joshua Thompson of Livonia, Michigan, has filed a class-action lawsuit against his local AMC theater because the theater refused to allow him to bring in his own soda and candy in an alleged violation of Michigan’s Consumer Protection Act.
Both Kansas City-based AMC and the National Association of Theatre Owners declined to comment on the story.
The lawsuit is winning sympathy from like-minded moviegoers, who are being charged a big markup for soda, popcorn, candy and other concessions during a recession, but the Free Press reports that some legal experts have doubts as to whether the lawsuit will get very far in court.
“It’s a loser,” said Gary Victor, an Eastern Michigan University business law professor. He told the Free Press that state Supreme Court decisions in 1999 and 2007 exempted most regulated businesses from the Michigan Consumer Protection Act.
According to a report in the Hollywood Reporter, a financial analyst with Morningstar Equity says that out of every dollar spent on candy and soda in movie theaters, 85 percent is pure profit. Another review of the business showed that just $30 of raw popcorn can net movie theaters as much as $3,000.
