Interesting post. I'm not too sure I can agree with number 3 though, perhaps it's a generation under me :P

Number 4 is definitely true, as refreshments are marked up to extremely high margins (have you ever been to a Carmike's?), and this is because of #5 – competition.

In class, one of my teachers is a leading expert in entertainment marketing, and we learned that theaters have a sliding-scale profit scheme with movie producers. This means that the theaters don't get ANY of the revenues for the movie during launch week – it all goes to the production company (who spends huge $$, almost 2/3 of budget solely on marketing)

As if this isn't troubling enough for the theaters, competition like Netflix or Redbox are encroaching into their territory with earlier DVD releases (so production company gets royalties quicker), therefore forcing movie theaters to jack up prices. I wouldn't be surprised to see a consolidation of theaters in the future.