The principle he is looking for is called the scarcity principle. By falsely limiting his amount of "available" popcorn, its value increased.
Since the time between his decision and the movie was relatively short, his need for popcorn never reached the point where it was equitable with the increased value of the single handful of popcorn.
Since the time between his decision and the movie was relatively short, his need for popcorn never reached the point where it was equitable with the increased value of the single handful of popcorn.
Nevertheless, cool hack.