Actually they’re doing very well. They tend to be smaller theaters so they don’t need as high a ticket sales. And since in the opening weeks the distributor takes most of the ticket money loss of seats isn’t much loss of revenue. Theaters have always made the bulk of their money on refreshments, these theaters have simply decided that instead $1 candies and selling them for $5 to actually make their refreshments good and worth the money.
In the end they really don’t even make things more expensive, the one by me prices run about the same as any other mid-range bar/restaurant. And they make the wise move of having the lobby open to the non-ticketed as an actual restaurant, so you don’t even need to go to a movie for them to make money on you (the wife is quite fond of a couple things on their menu, we’ve gone for lunch without a movie multiple times). You can spend $20 per person for crappy refreshments at a regular theater or $20 per person for good food and drink at the upscale place.
They’re actually growing the industry (their subsection of it anyway) very well. They’re attacking some of the major complaints people have with the theater experience, and positioning themselves to be profitable if current trends continue.
Or stay home in your comfy jammies with the dog curled at your feet and watch something for pennies.