AMC Theaters is changing its ticket pricing

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business

AMC Theaters is changing the way it charges for seats.

America’s largest movie chain announced that the prices of a ticket will now be based on seat location, meaning seats in the front will be cheaper while more desirable seats in the middle will now cost more. The ticket pricing initiative, called Sightline at AMC, will roll out at all of its roughly 1,000 movie theaters by the end of the year.

Three pricing tiers will soon be offered. For example, the highest-end “Preferred” tier are in the middle of the theaters and will be priced at a “slight premium” compared to its “Standard” tier, which the theater chains says will remain the most common choice and will be sold for the “traditional cost of a ticket.” The third tier is called “Value,” which are seats in the front row of theaters and will cost less than than its “Standard” tier.

“Sightline at AMC more closely aligns AMC’s seat pricing approach to that of many other entertainment venues, offering experience-based pricing and another way for moviegoers to find value at the movies,” said Eliot Hamlisch, AMC’s chief marketing officer, in a press release.

AMC said a seating map will show the adjusted prices and Sightline will only be used on showings after 4 pm.

Live theater, such as Broadway, has long been using a similar method of pricing for seats (although front-row there can fetch top price). Movie theaters outside the United States also have similar location pricing standards that remain uncommon for American movie theaters.

Sightine also provides customers with an incentive to sign up for AMC’s MoviePass-like subscription program, called Stubs A-List, because members of the monthly program can access the “Preferred” seating at no extra charge.

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