AMC Charging Extra for The Batman Movie Tickets at Theaters
If you're planning to see The Batman at an AMC Theatre this coming weekend, you best be prepared to pay a little more than you're used to. Tuesday, AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron announced the chain will begin experimenting with "variable pricing" beginning with the Robert Pattinson vehicle this week. In a statement released by the exhibitor, variable pricing is a model that's been in practice for quite some time in Europe, and they hope to slowly roll it out to its locations stateside.
"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," Aron said during AMC's earnings webcast. "This is all quite novel in the United States, but actually AMC has been doing it for years in our European theaters. Indeed, in Europe we charge a premium for the best seats in the house — as do just about all sellers of tickets in other industries — take sports events, concerts and live theater, for example."
The executive didn't add any specifics to just how much more variable pricing tickets would cost, though a quick search seems to suggest just a dollar or so increased for the latest film to feature the Caped Crusader.
In the same call, Aaron seemed to suggest AMC is looking to acquire more businesses in a plan to grow the company's portfolio of holding.
"We are going to look at candidates to diversify our risks away from pure movie theaters, to capitalize on our knowledge of food and beverage, of entertainment, of selling tickets to things, of running buildings that are far apart from each other, dealing with landlords with hundreds and hundreds of leases — this is all experience that AMC has that is needed in other industries too," Aron added.
The Batman will see Pattinson bringing about an entirely new take on the character, with a cast that also includes Colin Farrell as The Penguin, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Kravitz as Catwoman, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson, Jayme Lawson as Bella Real, Barry Keoghan as Officer Stanley Merkel, and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth.
The Batman is currently set to be released on March 4th.