AMC Charging More for ‘The Batman’ Tickets, Just Like Spielberg and Lucas Predicted 9 Years Ago
variety.comZack Sharf AMC Theaters CEO Adam Aron dropped a bombshell this week by announcing the exhibition chain will charge more for tickets to “The Batman” as part of a variable pricing experiment.
Tickets to the Robert Pattinson-starring comic book tentpole will be “slightly higher than the prices… for other movies playing in the same theaters at the same time,” Aron said during an AMC earnings call.
According to Entertainment Weekly, AMC is charging an extra $1.50 on adult tickets for “The Batman” in Los Angeles.“This is all quite novel in the United States, but actually, AMC has been doing it for years in our European theaters,” Aron said. “Indeed, in Europe, we charge a premium for the best seats in the house, as do just about all other sellers of tickets in other industries — think sports events, concerts and live theater, for example.” While “The Batman” marks AMC Theaters’ first notable use of variable pricing in the U.S., it’s a concept many blockbuster directors have been predicting for nearly a decade.
Speaking at a 2013 panel at the University of Southern California, George Lucas shared his belief that moviegoing would eventually resemble Broadway or sporting events in that theaters would have different price tiers for different kinds of films.“What you’re going to end up with is fewer theaters,” Lucas said in 2013 (via The Verge). “Bigger theaters, with a lot of nice things.
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