Be prepared to cough up some extra cash if you want to snag your favorite seat in a theater at AMC.
The hit theater franchise has unveiled “Sightline,” their new plan to charge more or less depending on where you want to sit in the theater.
Essentially following in the footsteps of airplanes, Broadway shows, concerts, and sporting events, Sightline is broken up into three different tears of pricing options.
Standard Sightline, Value Sightline, and Preferred Sightline offer three different price points, ranging from the standard movie ticket price to $2 off for discount seats and $2 more for preferred seats.
The pricing initiative will roll out in some theaters this Friday and expand to their nearly 600 US theaters by the end of the year.
AMC has unveiled ‘Sightline,’ their new plan to charge more or less depending on where you want to sit in the theater
AMC moviegoers now have the choice between Value Sightline, Standard Sightline and Preferred Sightline seats in their theater
The pricing initiative will roll out in some theaters this Friday and expand to the US’s nearly 600 theaters by the end of the year.
When buying tickets, moviegoers will be asked to choose between Standard, Value and Preferred Sightline seats, AMC officials say.
Standard Sightline is described as the “seats most common in auditoriums and available for the traditional ticket price.”
Value Sightline is considered the “front row seats of the auditorium, as well as select ADA seats in each auditorium, and are available at a lower price than standard sightline seats.”
Preferred Sightline are the “seats in the center of the auditorium and are priced higher than standard sightline seats.”
This is the new format for movie theater screens at some AMC Theater locations
Another look at how some theaters will organize the different tiers of tickets
According to a press release on AMC’s website, the new plan only applies to movies that start after 4 p.m.
Sightline also does not apply on Discount Tuesdays when all movies cost $5.
Value Sightline is only available to AMC Stubs members.
AMC Stubs is the theater’s free membership that gives moviegoers access to perks like free popcorn refills, a birthday gift, and reward vouchers.
Members of AMC Stubs A-List, the theater’s paid subscription service, can reserve seats in the Preferred Sightline Section at no additional cost.
Seats in the middle of the middle rows are considered “Preferred”, while some seats around and other seats close by are considered “Standard” or “Value”
Sightline will first be unveiled on February 10 in theaters in New York, Chicago and Kansas City.
A Twitter user who lives in New York shared screenshots of the layout for a theater with the seat color-coded by price.
The theater holds only 15 Value Sightline tickets, compared to the 77 Preferred Sightline seats and the more than 100 Standard Sightline tickets.
“Sightline at AMC better aligns AMC’s approach to seat pricing with that of many other entertainment venues, offering experience-based pricing and another way for moviegoers to find value at the movie theater,” said Eliot Hamlisch, executive VP and CMO at AMC Theaters. .
As the plan rolls out in the US, theaters are expected to update their seating charts to reflect the different pricing options.
“While every seat at AMC delivers a great movie theater experience, we know that there are some moviegoers who prioritize their specific seat and others who value moviegoing,” said Hamlisch.
“Sightline at AMC is addressing both these sentiments to ensure our guests have more control over their experience so that every trip to an AMC is a great one,” the CFO continued.
However, the plan was not well received on social media.
Users took to Twitter within minutes of the announcement going public to share their contempt for the plan.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s no company that hates its customers more than movie theater chains,” said one user.
“Sorry, this is so funny. You are not an airplane,” another wrote.
Twitter had a field day with the news, sharing their disbelief and discontent
“AMC saw Netflix do something astronomically stupid that hurts their business and decided to try it too,” one person said, referring to Netflix’s recent plan to crack down on password sharing.
Guidelines have been posted on the streaming platform’s website stating that users must connect to Wi-Fi in their primary location, open the Netflix app or website, and watch something at least once every 31 days.
Each Netflix account is linked to one ‘Netflix household’ – the bill payer’s home and Wi-Fi network – and anyone living there can log into it using any device.
But under the new guidelines, the account must be logged in every 31 days by a device in the Netflix household to make it a “trusted device.”
This Twitter user mocked AMC for ‘doing something astronomically stupid’
The details have been removed from the US and UK websites, but they remain on the FAQ pages for Chile, Peru and Costa Rica.
The plan was quickly criticized by many who pointed out that the move could spark a mass exodus among streaming platform users.
