Ariana Baio
Feb 06, 2023
content.jwplatform.com
AMC movie theater-goers will have to decide whether they'd crane their neck to to save some money, and people are not happy about it.
The movie theatre chain announced on Monday they would be introducing “Sightline” which will determine the value of movie tickets based on viewers’ view of the screen.
Now, tickets will be priced into three tiers: Standard Sightline, Value Sightline, and Preferred Sightline.
Standard seats are “the most common in auditoriums” and available without additional cost. Value seats are “primarily in the front row” and ADA seating. These are available at a slightly lower cost than standard seating.
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It should be noted that Value Sightline pricing is only available to AMC Stubs members.
Preferred Sightline is “typically in the middle of the auditorium” and will cost “slightly more” than Standard Sightline.
The new initiative will go into effect starting Friday at select locations in New York, Chicago, and Kansas City. But all domestic AMC locations should be implementing it by the end of the year.
But moviegoers did not take kindly to the announcement and mocked AMC for introducing the new initiative.
\u201c@Variety Seats will be sold through Ticketmaster\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1675698300
\u201cMe watching Barbie this summer at AMC\u201d— soapy\ud83e\uddc3 (@soapy\ud83e\uddc3) 1675711285
With movie theater tickets already costly in the US, many insulted AMC and wondered why the movie theater would make it even more expensive to enjoy a movie.
People compared it to Netflix changing their password-sharing rules.
\u201cAMC saw Netflix doing something astronomically stupid that will hurt their business and decided to try their hand at it too\u201d— lebbertoxd (@lebbertoxd) 1675701264
\u201c@Variety Dumb.\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1675698300
\u201c@DiscussingFilm They're calling it "Stepping On Our Own Dick" pricing and they expect it to be a huge success.\u201d— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) 1675701530
Some compared the new tiered seating initiative to buying seats on an airplane.
\u201cSorry this is so funny. You\u2019re not an airplane https://t.co/R8DicEpnzi\u201d— cassidy xcx (@cassidy xcx) 1675699021
\u201c@AMCTheatres girl you are NOT Delta \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\u201d— Thanks for coming to chinatown (@Thanks for coming to chinatown) 1675717190
\u201cYou mean to tell me I can get economy seats even at the movies?\n\nhttps://t.co/FrktU1rU0l\u201d— Lemonhead \ud83c\udf4b (@Lemonhead \ud83c\udf4b) 1675717132
\u201camc exec: aw man, we're out of methods for driving people away\n\nguy who invented plane seating: *kicks door open* or are you\u201d— Adam Cerious (@Adam Cerious) 1675717087
In their press release, the CMO of AMC said the new initiative targets movie-goers who are specific about where they want to sit.
“Sightline at AMC more closely aligns AMC’s seat pricing approach to that of many other entertainment venues, offering experienced-based pricing and another way for moviegoers to find value at the movies,” Eliot Hamlisch, CMO of AMC said in a press release.
However, many pointed out that the new system will only incentivize people to stay home and not go to the movies.
\u201c@CNN And this is supposed to make us want to go to movies?\u201d— CNN (@CNN) 1675705506
\u201c@WSJ My couch has been, and will remain, free. My popcorn is cheaper, and better, on top of it all.\u201d— The Wall Street Journal (@The Wall Street Journal) 1675709106
The new pricing system will not affect AMC A-List members.
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