The candy offering is absolutely distinct. You can find some of it at standard stores, but not all of it, and not necessarily next to a theater. The popcorn is of course an iconic part of the experience. And if you want your Twizzlers and popcorn, why not just buy the $6 soda to make life simple?
But all that aside, the process of going to the theater and standing in line and getting your overpriced junk food does add to the experience for many people, even if just due to nostalgia. Waiting in line to buy an overpriced sandwich at the airport is not an experience many people crave or are nostalgic for.
EDIT: I don't know what to tell you all. The specific set of junk food at movie theaters in the US is a culturally significant phenomenon. Like most cultural phenomena, it is not universal, but it is universally known (or close to it by anyone who grew up in the US). And for some people, sneaking food into theaters, in response to those high prices, is a culturally meaningful experience! The point being, food and theaters have a cultural history that is meaningful and nostalgic for many Americans. Not so with airports - where hungry people buy shitty food at outrageous prices because they have no choice.
$6 soda? That was the price 15 years ago. Now they're at least $10. I've seen popcorn, soda, and candy combos go for over $20 now. You can count on spending $100 to go to the movies with a family of 3 (2 parents and a child), including tickets and one of those combos for each person.
Why is popcorn "an iconic part of the experience?"
Of course it isn't. You're not going to enjoy a movie more just because you're shovelling puffy sweetened carbs into your face - unless you've been Pavlov'd into it.
Airport food is different, because there's a good chance some of the people who buy it genuinely need to eat.
Popcorn is "an iconic part of the experience" because the theaters have been pushing it for nearly a century.
The theaters don't make their money showing new movies (most of that goes to the studio) - they make most of their money on high margin concessions, mostly popcorn and soda.
Well, when it comes to justifying choices people can pretty much justify anything. For airport it can be simply said the kind of people who travel so much and often have to eat at airport a 15 dollar sandwich is very very low in term of consideration. Further frequent travelers usually pay through expense accounts.
And for infrequent traveler like me, I had no problem in eating airline food when I am coming home from long distance travel or eating outside after leaving airport when there is no food served in plane. If am starting from home its not too much of hassle to wrap a few rolls or sandwiches to carry.
Now for concession food to have authentic movies experience looks more of what marketers would say. I think besides streaming another reason cinema theater attendance is slimming is outrageous price of that authentic experience for large majority of people.
>The popcorn is of course an iconic part of the experience.
I've long had the "conspiracy theory" that they promote popcorn as part of the authentic part of the experience because it's an item that's most difficult to smuggle in -- with the butter, you'd have to pack it down tight, which would ruin it, and yet it's cheap to make at the theater. Plus they can afford to spend more on a machine than the average person would.
There is no conspiracy - theaters will just straight up admit that the prices of soda, popcorn, and candy are what they are because they make (at best) pennies on each ticket sold and make up for that by making a high margin on concessions.
I didn't say otherwise. My theory is just that some foods are more vs less conducive to policing, and theaters benefit from a strong preference for one particularly easily-policed food. That goes beyond the general economic logic of concessions markets that you repeated here.
But all that aside, the process of going to the theater and standing in line and getting your overpriced junk food does add to the experience for many people, even if just due to nostalgia. Waiting in line to buy an overpriced sandwich at the airport is not an experience many people crave or are nostalgic for.
EDIT: I don't know what to tell you all. The specific set of junk food at movie theaters in the US is a culturally significant phenomenon. Like most cultural phenomena, it is not universal, but it is universally known (or close to it by anyone who grew up in the US). And for some people, sneaking food into theaters, in response to those high prices, is a culturally meaningful experience! The point being, food and theaters have a cultural history that is meaningful and nostalgic for many Americans. Not so with airports - where hungry people buy shitty food at outrageous prices because they have no choice.