Sightline - AMC's New Ticket Pricing

[Bobby Henderson]

Is the staff going to enforce the seating? What stops someone from changing seats after the lights go down and the movie starts?

I don't think most AMC locations will have the staff numbers needed to enforce seating assignments or resolve conflicts when a customer finds someone else sitting in the seat he had to pay extra to reserve. I can easily imagine fist fights (or worse) breaking out.

Whenever I go to the movies I absolutely never go late. I'm always there at least a good 20 minutes before show time. I like having the extra time to relax and clear my head of any stress. I also prefer getting there early, that way I know I'm going to have my seat and there will be no chance for some jackass to take it. In the off chance someone is already sitting in my reserved seat I will ask him nicely -only once- to move. If he gives me some line like, "can't you sit somewhere else," I'll have no problem creating a loud, angry as hell scene. I'm not putting up with any seat hopper bullshit.

There is an easy solution for the consumer. Stay home, wait a month or so, and watch it at home.

And that's one of the reasons why AMC's seat pricing ploy is so unbelievably stupid. They're giving people even more of an incentive to just stay home. Skipping a movie's theatrical release has never been more easy -and penalty free- than it is today.

I'm wondering if some of the executives at AMC are even up to date at all with how watching movies at home has changed. Do they think we're still in the 1980's or 1990's, when movie theaters had real quality leverage over home viewing? 20+ years ago there was a real quality penalty to suffer by skipping a movie's theatrical release. The comparison was no contest between a 35mm (or 70mm) film print versus playing a VHS rental tape on a modest sized, square shaped CRT screen. We had mono and "hi fi" stereo sound. Back then watching at home might have involved a wait time of a year or even more after the movie debuted in cinemas. Even with DVD the movie theaters still had considerable leverage. We might have had better image quality and 5.1 surround sound, but many of us were still watching on modest sized, standard definition TV sets.

Today the home viewing experience is vastly different. Giant sized HDTV screens are very affordable. Big displays with entry level feature sets can be had for well under $1000. Big UHD displays with outstanding image quality can be had for under $3000. I still remember those hulking rear projection boxes in the 1980's and 1990's, with prices running over $5000 in some cases. Discrete digital surround sound has been available to the home since the mid 1990's. Today it's possible to configure a respectable Atmos-capable system in the living room.

Most movies are shot using digital cameras, post produced digitally and projected digitally -in what I consider a glorified version of TechniScope. There is very little perceptible difference between a letter-boxed digital image projected on a cinema screen versus the same digital image letter-boxed on a home HD/UHD panel. Today, I can skip a movie's theatrical release, watch it at home and not feel like I missed anything at all.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I don't think most AMC locations will have the staff numbers needed to enforce seating assignments or resolve conflicts when a customer finds someone else sitting in the seat he had to pay extra to reserve. I can easily imagine fist fights (or worse) breaking out.

Today the home viewing experience is vastly different. Giant sized HDTV screens are very affordable. Big displays with entry level feature sets can be had for well under $1000. Big UHD displays with outstanding image quality can be had for under $3000. I still remember those hulking rear projection boxes in the 1980's and 1990's, with prices running over $5000 in some cases. Discrete digital surround sound has been available to the home since the mid 1990's. Today it's possible to configure a respectable Atmos-capable system in the living room.
[/B]

I agree on the fist fights, or worse, shootings happening especially in the Hood locations!! Oddly the AMC that's closest to me here in Nashville got rated as the best theater in Nashville to see a movie at. That is how pathetic the theaters are around here in spite of the mold in the men's rest room. Just imagine what it's like behind the candy counter. The people in this neck of the woods simply do not know what a good movie theater is.

On Big Screen TV's... I did exactly that in 2001,just in time for that years Super Bowl. And a year before the2002 Winter Olympics. I bought a 5k dollar Mitsubishi 65" rear screen and separate High Definition tuner. It turned out to be a really reliable set and the HD stuff on it was great. I got about ten years out of it before the CRT's started going soft.

[Jon Dent]

I am holding out for the other chains to advertise that all seats are the same price.

That's actually not a bad idea....

[Mike Blakesley]

The theater industry's mistake was having all-seats-the-same-price in the first place. They should have started out with the "best" seats costing more, then nobody would care. In my own theater it used to cost more to sit in the balcony. That went away sometime before I was born, though -- probably for the same reason....they didn't want to bother checking peoples' tickets when they went up there.

It is kind of odd, though, that we are about the only industry that charges by patron age. All or most of the other industries that "sell seats" charge by the seat location, not by age.

[Bobby Henderson]

The movie-going environment today is very different from how it was 40 or more years ago. During the era where 70mm road shows were somewhat common there was far more in the way of single screen cinemas with fairly enormous seating capacities. It was more feasible to divide seating areas at different price levels, sell reserved seating, etc. They could almost market the show in the same manner as a live stage play. Some of those old movies sort of "felt" like watching a stage play too.

Lots of newer multiplex auditoriums have very puny seating capacities and modest sized screens. Dividing those limited number of seats into different pricing tiers could do just as much to invite jokes as they do inciting anger. They might want to add a rope barrier and night club bouncer to guard that "VIP seating area."

Overall, I think this ploy from AMC is a sneaky way for them to pass along a new level ticket price hikes. Usually when ticket prices would be hiked the cost increases would be flat, across the board. With them doing this on different seating areas, making the overall price picture more complicated, it might make it easier to pass along other ticket price hikes in the future.

[Allan Young]

Lots of newer multiplex auditoriums have very puny seating capacities and modest sized screens. Dividing those limited number of seats into different pricing tiers could do just as much to invite jokes as they do inciting anger. They might want to add a rope barrier and night club bouncer to guard that "VIP seating area."

Indeed. Here's the seating plan for one of the screens at my local Odeon. Five rows of seats and they expect customers to pay extra for the fourth row. Ridiculous.

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[Martin McCaffery]

Will they charge more for a seat that is not on a sticky floor?

[Jon Dent]

Will they charge more for a seat that is not on a sticky floor?

If it's AMC that likely doesn't exist.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The theater industry's mistake was having all-seats-the-same-price in the first place. They should have started out with the "best" seats costing more, then nobody would care. In my own theater it used to cost more to sit in the balcony. That went away sometime before I was born, though -- probably for the same reason....they didn't want to bother checking peoples' tickets when they went up there.

It is kind of odd, though, that we are about the only industry that charges by patron age. All or most of the other industries that "sell seats" charge by the seat location, not by age.

For some road shows like Cinerama, the prime seats were a buck or two more. But I think that scared patrons from buying the off center seats as eventually all seats were the same price. Todd-AO was also the same price from the get go.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

If I read the article correctly, if you are a member of their loyalty "STUBS" plan, then you get these perks included. It would appear that if you are in a wheelchair, you can be in the premium section at the lesser price...seems discriminatory. They should be required to have ADA accessibility in all of the various pricing tiers so everybody gets to choose.

Steve, The only wheelchair seating in any Stadium Theater I've been in are on the main cross aisle and in front of the upper section. Hardly what I'd calm premium seating.

[Lyle Romer]

Will they charge more for a seat that is not on a sticky floor?

Or give you a credit if you mop it?

[Eric Thuemmel]

.. I am holding out for the other chains to advertise that all seats are the same price.

Michael Moore's STATE Theatre in Traverse City Michigan did that the very same week. "All seats the same low price!"

[William Kucharski]

Done going to AMC, as if their ever-declining exhibition standards and theaters that never get fixed weren’t enough.

I believe Cinemark already sent out something that said “all seats the same price.”

BTW, AMC Flatiron Crossing isn’t really bisected with glass, that is a separator between stadium seating rows that’s maybe three feet high and is well below your sight line when seated.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The newest AMC in Billings, MT is the "Shiloh 14" which they call an AMC Classic. It has a "4 star" out of 5 Google rating, but the bad reviews are REALLY bad. You would think they'd want to work on their cleanliness/presentation issues before charging more money for certain seats.

Mike, Usually an AMC site that is labeled "Classic" is a site that was originally built by another chain. A few sites I worked on in Wisconsin back in the 90's became AMC Classic sites, Johnson Creek comes to mind. I am pretty sure the Shilo site was originally a Carmike. I rember when it was built, and it would also explain why it's so dismal. Carmike was always the very bottom of the barrel.

[Geoff Jones]

BTW, AMC Flatiron Crossing isn’t really bisected with glass, that is a separator between stadium seating rows that’s maybe three feet high and is well below your sight line when seated.

Don't take my word for it. Check out Google reviews:

There was glass in front of our seat that obscured 20% of the screen (at bottom) and was extremely annoying. The only way you maybe watch normally is if you sit as tall as possible in your seat without reclining. The reason I pay for movie tickets is to have a nice screen that I can't have at home. What is the point if I've got some stupid line from the glass blocking part of the screen? That is honestly absurd for a movie theatre. You really need to move your screen higher so this isn't an issue. I consider it a major problem and do not want to come back now. What a disappointment.

Theater 14's top row has a glass railing that obstructed my view of the movie.

However, DO NOT get a seat in the very back of some of the theaters. There was decorative glass on the divider between the back two rows, which can interfere with viewing the screen when the seat is in full recline.

The worst part is the glass barriers in front of the seats. It creates a distraction while trying to watch. It obscures the bottom of the screen. They need to remove them or make sure they're not obstructing the view.

But there are some areas where, if you're reclined low, the top part of the glass on the rail in front of the seat slightly obscures the very bottom of the screen.

I'm totally upset that I just spent an entire 3D movie trying to sit on my knees so I could see the screen. There is extremely poorly placed glass that cuts the screen in half if you were to sit comfortably. What is the purpose of this glass? Nothing. There is no reason other than to ruin a movie for the entire row of movie goes. If you do choose to do so I suggest parking in the back of theatre near Red Robin.

The one complaint I have is the glass that partially blocks the view of the screen.

The small panel of glass running along the row of seats was distracting and obstructed the view of the movie.

If your not sitting ground level they have a annoying glass on the little wall in your vision in front of you.

We sat more towards the top and there was this glass that obstructed the screen with this black line through it.

I watched a movie with the bottom fifth of the screen covered by a glass railing with fingerprints all over it.

My two gripes are the glass barriers between the rows of seats that make it harder to see the movie and the other members of the audience (which isn't really a fault of the theater, but it's worth noting

Good theater but I wish they would remove the glass between each level separator. When you recline the seats the glass partition partially obstructs the screen.

Comfy seats but when you recline in the back row the glass in front of the row splits the screen. I don't understand this design. You have to either sit upright to see over the glassor recline and deal with the rop edge of the glass splitting the bottom third of the screen.

There is glass dividing the rows, which blocks the screen as you are trying to watch the movie.

Its amazing the seats recline back just a button on the seat at 4th row and above threes glass that reflects the movie which is pretty bad so 3rd row is the best and rember the seats are like beds but you have to get the tickets a few days early its not a walk in seating u choose before and some people get seats a week before

The worst was the glass shield that obstructed the movie even if you are not reclined. Extremely distracting.

(Emphasis mine)

The seating not very good. There is glass that blocks the screen. We will never come back and I don't recommend anyone coming here.

Glass blocks part of the screen and teenagers are abundant.

Loved the seats and the space but that glass divider thing is a drag for shorter people

That glass railing in the top row of theatres is really annoying if you try to fully enjoy the recliner seats.

Theater 7 and I don't know what others, have silly glass barriers that block the screen. Very annoying

Glass partition impeding some of the view of the screen. Who thought that would be a good idea?