AMC Theatres offers cheaper tickets for
worse seats, while raising prices for
the middle
Los Angeles Times,
by
Anousha Sakoui
Original Article
Posted By: NorthernDog,
2/7/2023 9:48:50 AM
AMC Theatres has introduced a new pricing program, offering cheaper seats for movie fans who don't mind sitting in the front row, in the latest attempt to increase attendance and profits after the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S.' biggest cinema circuit on Monday said its new pricing initiative, called "Sightline," will be expanded to all its domestic locations by year end, including dine-in cinemas, after having already rolled out at some AMC theaters. (Snip) Those who want the best seats will have to pay a premium. "Preferred" seats — typically in the middle of the auditorium — will cost more than the standard
Reply 1 - Posted by:
jimincalif 2/7/2023 9:57:26 AM (No. 1397258)
Last time we saw a movie in the theater, might have been the Churchill movie, they had a new system where the system assigned your seats during the ticket purchase process. It was a multiplex theater, this made the ticket line go out into the parking lot, we barely got to our seats in time for the start, no time to buy overpriced snacks, and there were maybe a dozen people in our particular theater, all jammed together in one row, and people didn’t want to move from their seat assignments. Haven’t been back.
8 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
marbles 2/7/2023 9:59:33 AM (No. 1397260)
Business must be really bad to put is place.
4 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
ThreeBadCats3 2/7/2023 10:04:40 AM (No. 1397264)
Surprising that anyone still goes to a movie theater, to walk on a sticky floor, sit in a probably nasty uncomfortable chair, listen to too loud sound over awful sound systems, and as often as not with talkative people surrounding you. All at an unbelievable cost. Not that there aren’t a few older nicely resurrected theaters.
10 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Debrawr 2/7/2023 10:05:57 AM (No. 1397265)
Movie theaters going the way of the dinosaur.
16 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
hershey 2/7/2023 10:06:23 AM (No. 1397266)
One time, when I was dating back in the 60's, I took my date to see a new 007 movie and had to sit in the front row...it was the worst experience at a movie I can ever remember....the only good thing was we had a quick exit after it was over....
8 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Saryden 2/7/2023 10:30:01 AM (No. 1397291)
No problem... have been to only one movie (American Sniper) in the past 25 years... I said NO to Hollywood and their interference in our politics (where they are so ignorant). I do appreciate the very few conservatives in Hollywood, though.
4 people like this.
#3 mentions sticky floors. Our local AMC solved (i.e., hid) that problem with carpet. And at least the concrete floor could be easily swept and mopped under the old-style, fold-down seating. Those new, heated comfy seats are a nice touch, but my wife once dropped her phone which slid under the seat. She reclined it after the show while I got on my hands and knees to peer beneath. Believe me, you don't want to know...
6 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
AltaD 2/7/2023 10:38:05 AM (No. 1397300)
Decades ago I sat in the front row of a tiny art-house theater to see 'Stop Making Sense'. It was an amazing experience but one I'd only recommend for a concert film.
4 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Axeman 2/7/2023 10:44:59 AM (No. 1397302)
I swore off going to the movie theaters wokes ago, just like NFL and BB&B, etc.
I did go see Top Gun. But I've gone from going 10 or 12 times a year to maybe once a year.
Anything Disney is repulsive to me now. I've never gone back to Select Comfort since they bowed to the fascists. I forgive but I demand proof of repentance and most of the reprobates have doubled down on their offensiveness.
FJB and his allies.
'Who is John Galt" is not a question.
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Sanchin 2/7/2023 10:46:21 AM (No. 1397304)
Imitating the Losing model of the Airline industry. The difference is people usually have to be somewhere BUT no one has to go to he Movies.
9 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
nordlander 2/7/2023 10:50:10 AM (No. 1397313)
Nothing new here. Until the advent of multiplexes theaters used to upcharge to let you sit in the Loge section, more comfortable premium seating in the prime real estate in the middle of the theater.
2 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 2/7/2023 10:53:40 AM (No. 1397319)
How to drive even MORE people away from theaters.
9 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Mcscow sailor 2/7/2023 11:29:27 AM (No. 1397367)
The American movie experience is so last century. So AMC is moving the seats on their Titanic. It is their business to sink as they wish
5 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
ramona 2/7/2023 11:49:25 AM (No. 1397400)
I rarely go to movies but there are some films that must be seen on the big screen. The ones I like usually don't have big crowds. The live opera performances from the Met Opera are wonderful - you get close-up views of everything, great intermission interviews with the stars and also people who work on costumes, sets, etc. You even get to watch the sets being moved. And for $25.00 - what a bargain. The Regal Cinema near me, where I go to watch the Live HD performances is now closed. Thankfully there is another site nearby. We are fortunate in the Buffalo area to have several art movie houses that show foreign films and occasional classic old movies, another real treat. I wasn't allowed to go to movies as a kid and I'm glad for the great ones I've been able to see now. But I sure stay away from the ones that attract noisy, messy crowds.
I hate the system of having assigned seats but you can order tickets online and usually get a decent selection. Never a problem getting a good seat for the opera - so few people go. I do remember as a young adult on my own that the theater was just a fun place to go for entertainment.
Ramona (the Pest)
2 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
stablemoney 2/7/2023 11:55:11 AM (No. 1397404)
How to you enforce seating in an empty theater?
7 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
GustoGrabber 2/7/2023 11:57:54 AM (No. 1397405)
Does anyone contemplate how their actions and decisions dehumanize other people?
Whether its a cruise ship, disneyworld, or the movies. have we become so willing to take what were once egalitarian activities and replace with a class system?
Between an unresponsibe government, a populace divided by marxist community organizers by race, sexual deviancy
The one one institution that was common among all, believers and non believers, was that the values of human dignity and self determination and mutual respect, derived from our Judeo Christian foundations, worked for all equally.
now we have this.
5 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
cartcart 2/7/2023 12:04:20 PM (No. 1397411)
Single mothers and people of color hurt most.
3 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
WV.Hillbilly 2/7/2023 12:10:56 PM (No. 1397416)
How do they plan on enforcing this? The last time I went to the movies, I think there was one teen aged zitster taking tickets for every movie in the place. Are they actually going to hire a guard for each separate theater?
If I go, I sit were I want.I'm not paying extra for it.
4 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
RWPollock 2/7/2023 1:29:11 PM (No. 1397468)
Are people still going to movie theaters?
3 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
broken01 2/7/2023 2:12:16 PM (No. 1397494)
The last time I went to the movies was to see Top Gun Maverick. Before that it was Transformers: Dark of the Moon which came out in 2011. Over ten years ago. That's how long it's been. I saw Top Gun at the newly built Cinema Cafe and having never been it was an experience. Food and booze along with reclined seats and online ticket sales with assigned seating. People cheered at the good parts (who doesn't like a noble hero like Optimus Prime?) No one spoke and no cell phones went off. Contrast that back in 1992 when I saw Malcom X at a regular theater in Oakland CA. Long lines to get in, regular seats that had only cup holders, just the standard theater food, people taking at the screen but no cell phones yet. Truth be told I love movies and going to them. It's just there's nothing good being made, the cost is not worth it and people have become rude. That and the many streaming services out there people aren't going like they used to. This latest dumb move by AMC will further erode the "butts in the seats" movie theaters count on.
3 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
SweetPea3 2/7/2023 2:51:55 PM (No. 1397532)
Movie houses took a huge hit with the covid hoax. Add in streaming services which hurt attendance as well. Sounds like a brilliant plan to get backsides back into theater seats...charge more. /s
2 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Kate318 2/7/2023 3:20:45 PM (No. 1397563)
Here’s a thought. Produce better movies. That will bring them into the theater.
2 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
YorkieMom 2/7/2023 4:56:01 PM (No. 1397622)
Hollywood hasn’t figured out it’s on life support right now. Decent movies would help, but they don’t know how to make them any more.
2 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 2/7/2023 7:57:38 PM (No. 1397765)
I will have to agree that most movies suck today with a few exceptions but we can stream the handful that appeal to us. The last one I saw in a theater was “Apollo 13”. The preview commercials were ear splitting loud even to me with diminished hearing. We didn’t buy any of the outrageously overpriced snacks. Good movie but I haven’t been back since. Too easy to sit in my comfortable chair with a nice libation and the bathroom a few steps away. You may see a few screens survive for date night teens and the juveniles who like the CGI comic book dreck but it’s a dying business.
0 people like this.
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We rarely go to movies anymore. But when we did, getting there early and choosing a good seat was part of the experience. I wonder how this will be enforced.