AMC theaters revealed Feb. 7 that it is implementing a $1 and $2 price increase for many seats in the middle and even upper sections of the auditorium, according to a review of various seat maps by The Hollywood Reporter. The front-row, however, will be discounted by $2. Moviegoers will pay different prices based on their proximity to the movie screen within the auditorium. That will put seats in Value Sightline, Standard Sightline, and Preferred Sightline sections. Standard sightline seats will be the most common in auditoriums and available for the traditional cost of a movie ticket. This is not an unprecedented structure. It was tried about 15-20 years ago and failed miserably.
I cannot understand the WHY. Theaters are not full. Movie watchers are not returning to theaters in any great numbers. In fact, other than the Chicago International Film Festival, I have not been to a movie since Covid restrictions were lifted where the auditorium had more than half-full. In my opinion, this move is idiotic. I am with those that predict the program will dampen movie attendance even further.
Read Michael Philips diatribe against the AMC policy. I follow him on Twitter, and it’s in the Trib as well.
And the Indiewire box office guy (on their podcast) did a diatribe how stupid a policy it was.
In Chicago, we are lucky, we have Landmark, Music Box, Siskel and the new Alamo theatre in Wrigleyville that are to quote Michael “drawing customers by providing a quality film viewing experience”