The Batman Movie Tickets Cost More At One Favored Chain
The Batman is set to officially release this Friday, but a certain theater chain has been reportedly charging more for the movie.
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The Batman is set to release in theaters on Friday. It is one of the most highly anticipated films of 2022. While there have been fans able to see the film early due to the “fan first” event, the rest of the world can start seeing the film as early as tomorrow due to the midnight showing release. However, with these early screenings, there has been something a bit odd being reported by fans and the media. Long-standing theater chain AMC is currently charging at least a dollar more for screenings of the new Batman film.
AMC announced that they are rolling out this price increase as an experiment in the US. In fact, the chain has been doing this in their UK-based theaters for quite some time. The price difference in these theaters is in relation to the “premium seats” that are said to be the middle seats. That makes sense considering the middle of the rows is usually where people buy their tickets first. According to the CEO for AMC, Adam Aron, “Currently, our prices for The Batman are slightly higher than the prices we are charging for other movies playing in the same theaters at the same time.” He added, “This is all quite novel in the United States, but actually AMC has been doing it for years in our European theaters.” While this slight increase might not seem like a lot to the public, it could be a result of the chain nearly going out of business.
AMC was hit hard during the pandemic and nearly went bankrupt because of people not heading to theaters throughout most of 2020 and into 2021. While the chain was attempting to find ways to stay afloat, they became part of the “meme stock” craze that took over Wall Street. Thanks to Reddit and the random occurrences for trading in stocks, a ton of college students and more invested heavily into companies like GameStop and AMC, effectively making them highly valuable when they weren’t necessarily supposed to be. Due to this random happening, AMC was able to stay afloat until the world began to sort of reset. Charging more for The Batman would also make sense considering the excitement surrounding the film. If the theater chain can get away with charging a dollar more for this film, they stand to make a ton of money in the process. Again, this could be a response to nearly going bankrupt.
While we are not necessarily condoning this price increase, it also makes sense in relation to how live concerts are treated. The closer the seats are to the stage; the more money is charged. That is just the way of the world. So naturally, if you want more premiere seating in the middle of the theater, you are to be charged more. Again, this is not in any way acceptance of what AMC is doing, but it makes sense. However, AMC could be playing with fire in this experiment. While people might enjoy the theater chain more, they could be turned off by this price increase when they learn about it, leaving them to choose the cheaper route.
Regardless, everyone is excited to see The Batman when it officially drops this weekend. Whether or not AMC is charging slightly more at their theater might make no difference at all, due to Batman fans flocking to see the film regardless. We can’t wait to see the newest Dark Knight adventure either, but we might stick to another theater. A dollar goes a long way towards some Raisinets.
