Has anyone asked for water and received one of those tiny conical cups? They don't hold much water and you can't set them down without spilling. I'm often high at movies when I go to see them, so I get cotton mouth (though, for this criticism to work in principal I could simply be a thirsty sober person). If I don't go with a girlfriend who can sneak a bottle in in her purse, there's three obvious options to avoid a distractingly dry mouth: 1. pay $3.50 for disposable bottled water, one of the most needless items in existence; 2. hold a tiny conical cup until I inevitably finish it or spill it, which (also) leads to; 3. distract other movie goers and miss parts of the movie because I stand up and leave for the water fountain due to my throat feeling like sun-baked rubber.
The cost of paper cups is literally less than one cent for a movie chain that buys in bulk, and slightly more for the thicker soda cups stocked behind every concession counter. I will buy overpriced concessions for the sole sake of supporting a struggling theater that shows great esoteric films, and I accept the price of theater concessions if I want them. But for a big chain to adopt the policy of "No, you can't bring in your own tap water and we won't spare less than one cent of your $9.00 movie ticket--that you sat through 15 minutes of Mountain Dew and Levis ads for--to give you fucking tap water for the sake of sparing others a distraction when, parched, you inevitably get up to visit the drinking fountain (now pay us an exorbitant amount for something wasteful that you don't want), seems cold.