AMC charging $1 more for The Batman

[Frank Cox]

I see several news articles saying that AMC will be charging $1 more than the regular admission price for The Batman, as the start of a new policy to charge higher ticket prices for bigger movies.

[Martin Brooks]

There is an argument to be made that a longer film (The Batman clocks in at almost three hours) or a film with a higher budget should charge more. Why should a film with a $200m budget cost the consumer the same as a $40m film?

Having said that, there could be some unexpected effects. I can see a parent bringing a few kids to a movie, seeing the higher price for a given film and then choosing to see a different film. On the other hand, we already have the precedent of large screens, IMAX, Dolby and 3D charging higher prices. And of course back in the roadshow days, there were different tiers of pricing depending upon where one sat, although in today's tiny auditoriums, that probably wouldn't make sense.

[Lyle Romer]

I understand the philosophy behind it but doesn't it mean you need additional staff to make sure people don't buy tickets for the cheaper movies in a multiplex and go see the higher priced movie?

[Harold Hallikainen]

I understand the philosophy behind it but doesn't it mean you need additional staff to make sure people don't buy tickets for the cheaper movies in a multiplex and go see the higher priced movie?

That could be reduced with reserved seating. Maybe also somehow prevent people from sitting in non-reserved seats by tying them into the POS system and making them "unsittable" until the seat has been reserved.

Harold

[Carsten Kurz]

Maybe they charge more for Batman because they have to pull up light levels and thus use more expensive energy with that dark and dull flic...

[Martin McCaffery]

There are 3 AMC's here, the only one charging an extra buck is the "discount" house.

[Mike Blakesley]

We toyed briefly with doing a price increase (not just for The Batman but in general) thanks to all the inflation going on, but decided to hold off, mainly because we raised prices when we put our new seats in after the pandemic closure -- although that's been like 18 months. Still, with all the bad press this AMC news is sure to generate, I'm glad we stayed the course. All of the closest theaters to us are AMCs.

[James Wyrembelski]

I think April 1st we'll be getting rid of different pricing levels and going to a flat general admission for all ages and all showtimes.

Our regular adult is 7.00 with Child and Matinees being 5.00. It'll just go to a straight 7.00 for admission. Still seems a touch low, but I'm sure more price increases are headed our way for all of us.....

Unfortunately prices just need to go up across the board for everything. We already did so for concession items. (And just in time for Pepsi to raise prices yet again)

The 1.00 extra for Batman seems fair given the length of the title. Not sure why it matters that much. Plenty of places did that for the Spider. People either go or they don't.

[Bobby Henderson]

Apparently AMC is not applying this $1 "blockbuster" surcharge to all theaters. Our AMC "Classic" theater in Lawton has The Batman set at pricing no different than other movies. Pricing details for Sunday March 6:
4:00pm IMAX $11.89, 8:00pm IMAX $15.29
Discount shows at 3:00pm, 3:30pm & 4:00pm - $7.89 - (4:00 show already sold out)
Regular priced shows at 5:00pm, 6:30pm, 7:00pm & 7:30pm - $11.89
The non-IMAX pricing is the same as other shows in the theater.

[Marcel Birgelen]

There is an argument to be made that a longer film (The Batman clocks in at almost three hours) or a film with a higher budget should charge more. Why should a film with a $200m budget cost the consumer the same as a $40m film?

Having said that, there could be some unexpected effects. I can see a parent bringing a few kids to a movie, seeing the higher price for a given film and then choosing to see a different film. On the other hand, we already have the precedent of large screens, IMAX, Dolby and 3D charging higher prices. And of course back in the roadshow days, there were different tiers of pricing depending upon where one sat, although in today's tiny auditoriums, that probably wouldn't make sense.

Flat-fee pricing tiers is something I largely know from the heydays of the multiplex, where you never knew whether your movie played in the big house or in a shoebox a 15 minute walk down a dark corridor from the lobby.

I don't mind tiered pricing too much, as long as it's fair, consistent and clearly indicated what I can expect in return.

I can somehow understand why a theater wants to implement a higher charge for an extra long movie like this, but on the other hand, a movie with such exorbitant running times (almost twice that of a short action or kids flick) should automatically command an intermission. A proper intermission will almost certainly lead to more concession sales, so I'd say that an increased ticket price isn't really warranted for such a case.

[Carsten Kurz]

Is that 1$ surcharge in these AMCs on top of an extended runtime fee that they charge anyway? Extended runtime fees are pretty common nowadays in nearly all german theaters,

[Jack Ondracek]

Our economy (NW Washington) is generally referred to as being "hot". That said, the local evening price for Batman is $16.29. Online convenience fees bring the total up to $19.19, before popcorn..
They are charging the extra $1 here.
Batman is the only show pulling any kind of audience this weekend. Those theatres that can are running starts every 15, 30 or 60 minutes, depending on time of day, and sold out many of those times on Friday and Saturday. I doubt you could keep the doors open on what other current titles are drawing.

[Mike Blakesley]

This kind of thing always brings out the "greedy movie theatre owners" people. I have told more than one online idiot that we're not greedy people, we just charge what we have to to stay afloat. I don't understand why people can't be made to get that. You never hear gripes about the $9 beers at football stadiums, or $8 cocktails in Vegas.

[Jon Dent]

This kind of thing always brings out the "greedy movie theatre owners" people. I have told more than one online idiot that we're not greedy people, we just charge what we have to to stay afloat. I don't understand why people can't be made to get that. You never hear gripes about the $9 beers at football stadiums, or $8 cocktails in Vegas.

I think because they truly don't understand the logistics of operating a theater or just how little money they actually make on ticket sales. Hell I didn't either until I got involved with the finances at our theater.

[Lyle Romer]

This kind of thing always brings out the "greedy movie theatre owners" people. I have told more than one online idiot that we're not greedy people, we just charge what we have to to stay afloat. I don't understand why people can't be made to get that. You never hear gripes about the $9 beers at football stadiums, or $8 cocktails in Vegas.

I think this attitude comes from the fact that they can watch the same movie at home for a much lower price and they don't comprehend that they are paying for the presentation and experience, not just the picture and sound appearing in front of them.

With sports, while they can watch on TV, it stands out as something different when they are there. Similar (although people complain about prices) to how you can watch concert videos on youtube for free but being there live is considered to be completely different.

Next time I'm in Montana, I'll have to stop by your estate. Maybe I can hop on your private jet for a quick trip somewhere. Somehow that's the picture of movie theatre owners that people have.