AMC Theaters to Charge Extra Depending On Your Seat in the Theater

As if Netflix trying to stop users from sharing passwords hasn’t gotten the internet riled up enough.

AMC Theaters has now found themselves in the middle of internet scrutiny after they’ve announced that they will be changing ticket prices in their theaters based on seat locations. Variety reports that AMC will be charging audiences for three different kinds of seats.

The Standard Sightline are described as “seats that are the most common in auditoriums and are available for the traditional cost of a ticket,” and will cost the regular amount. The Preferred Sightline are described as “seats in the middle of the auditorium and are priced at a premium to standard sightline seats,” and will be the more expensive seats. The cheapest seats are called the Value Sightline which are seats at the front of the auditorium as well as other selected seats that are not considered to be the optimal viewing positions in theaters.

Regardless to say, people are not happy about the news. Here’s what they’re saying about the change online:

I'm an @AMCTheatres A-List member. I saw 30+ movies at AMC theaters last year, and already 7 in 2023. And you know what? The vast majority of movies I've seen had 10-20 people in a theater that holds 150. They're EMPTY.

But go on, shoot yourselves in the foot, AMC. https://t.co/5LXwGc84bZ

— Lauren Miller (@laurenm) February 7, 2023

AMC Theaters after people refuse to pay for premium seating and $20 for popcorn and a drink pic.twitter.com/uFYFzQS1Jh

— JSWilliams1962 (@jswtreeman) February 6, 2023

The movie theater is and always has been a sacred democratic space for all and this new initiative by @AMCTheatres would essentially penalize people for lower income and reward for higher income.

— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) February 6, 2023

Though I would understand that the seats at the terrible parts of the theater should be cheaper, charging higher for seats that are just in the middle of the auditorium feel like a cheap cash grab.

For now, the initiative has been set in place in AMC theaters in New York, Chicago, and Kansas City, but the company plans to have all theaters operating this way by the end of the year.

With the online backlash having pushed Netflix to remove their anti-password sharing model, fans are wondering if AMC is going to allow being cyberbullied into changing their minds.