Elijah Wood scolds AMC cinemas for 'penalising people with lower income'

AMC cinemas are set to change their ticket prices based on seat location – and film fanatics including actor Elijah Wood are upset.

The cinema chain announced the new initiative 'Sightline' on Monday (6 February), calling it the "next evolution of value pricing". Seat prices will be split into three tiers: Standard, Value and Preferred.

Standard seats, which are the "most common" will be on sale for the traditional price and Value tickets will be a little cheaper – but only available to AMC Stubs members.

Meanwhile, the more desirable "Preferred" seats located in the middle will be slightly more expensive.

"Sightline at AMC more closely aligns AMC’s seat pricing approach to that of many other entertainment venues, offering experience-based pricing and another way for moviegoers to find value at the movies," said Eliot Hamlisch, AMC’s chief marketing officer.

"While every seat at AMC delivers an amazing moviegoing experience, we know there are some moviegoers who prioritize their specific seat and others who prioritize value moviegoing. Sightline at AMC accommodates both sentiments to help ensure that our guests have more control over their experience, so that every trip to an AMC is a great one."

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While one of the biggest movie chains in America remains positive about the move, others weren't so thrilled and took to Twitter to express their outrage.

Actor Elijah Wood said the initiative penalises people for lower income and offers a "reward for higher income."

The tweet was met with hundreds more who disagreed with the rollout.

"Perfect summary of how f***in dumb this is," one person said while another added: "It sucks ass. Thanks for speaking up about it."

A third humoured: "Me: An avid movie theater go-er. / Me now: You know what waiting for streaming ain't that bad."

"Until your tweet, I hadn’t even thought about it from this POV. Goddamit, you’re 100 per cent correct. Movie theaters aren’t stadium concert tickets," another tweeter wrote.

Others, however, begged to differ with one person saying they didn't feel that way at all.

They continued: "This will really help consumers identify the best position in the auditorium to watch a movie. Filmgoers most interested in this “preferred sightline” will find value in having these seats made more available by the cost premium."

Indy100 reached out to AMC for comment.

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