The Popcorn Conundrum: When Movie Theaters Reopen, Will They Ban Concessions? (Column)

Ever since the ’50s, when the motion-picture industry felt existentially threatened by the rise of television (much as forces within it today feel existentially threatened by the rise of streaming), the movies have found ways to entice people into theaters with added benefits.

3D was the original P.T.

Barnum attraction, and the return of 3D in the mid-2000s — it rose up from the dead as improbably as the beast in a “Creature From the Black Lagoon” sequel — was a sign of the tremors of economic anxiety that were starting to rumble through the industry.Apart from “Avatar,” the 3D revival was always an annoying scam — a transparent way to jack up ticket prices, since what you were getting, in movie after movie (from “Journey to the Center of the Earth” to “Kung Fu Panda 2” to “Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert”), was a sea

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