Riddle me this, filmgoer: How much are you willing to pay "The Batman" on Friday night?
This weekend will see the release of Warner Bros.’ heavily anticipated new film “The Batman.” Well, unless you live in Russia, that is.
But fans of the Caped Crusader may be in for somewhat of sticker shock if they plan to see the film at their local AMC (AMC) theater.
AMC has begun experimenting with variable pricing, which means that tickets for “The Batman” will be more expensive than for any other film starting this weekend, and will also cost more on the weekend than in the middle of the week.
“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,” said Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Entertainment, during a webcast that followed the chain’s recent quarterly earnings call, which we recently live blogged.
AMC has previously experimented with raising prices on the weekend at some of its locations, and it would seem that is going to be the policy going forward.
Aron did not elaborate on exactly what that means, and the exact price a consumer will pay for a ticket will vary by which city they live in.
But as an example, tickets for “The Batman” cost $19.49 at New York City’s AMC 34th Street 14 on Saturday night, while a ticket for “Dog” on the same evening costs $18.49.
A ticket for “The Batman” costs $19.08 on a Saturday night at New Jersey’s AMC Newport Centre 11 on Saturday night and $18.01 for an evening showing on Tuesday.
“This is all quite novel in the United States, but actually AMC has been doing it for years in our European theaters,” said Aron during the webcast. “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.”
Warner Brothers
AMC Is Taking A Page From Disney
To channel the energy of the Batman villain Two-Face, who’s not in “The Batman” but will likely turn up in one of the inevitable sequels, there’s two ways of looking at this.
The first is that AMC is trying to make up for the revenue it lost during the pandemic, as the total box office gross fell by 81.4% in 2020.
Theaters everywhere have have been dealing with the film-going audience’s migration to streaming services for everything but superhero films, franchise installments and big-budget blockbusters, which don’t happen every weekend.
This change in viewing habits has been eating away at AMC for a while, as it reported a net loss of $13.5 million in 2019, even as total revenue was up 2.4% to $1.44 billion from the year before.
Last year, AMC struck a deal with Warner Bros. (T) requiring a 45-day window before its films can hit HBO Max, which had simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases for blockbusters such as “Dune,” “The Matrix: Resurrections” and “The Suicide Squad”, thus ensuring it would have a superhero film in the first quarter of 2022.
“The Batman” is its first big capes and tights film since the runaway success of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” and AMC sees opportunity to make money off of the hardcore, gotta-see-it-right-away crowd.
But another way of looking at it is that Disney has been experimenting with variable pricing at its theme parks since 2018, charging more on the weekends.
This move is partially a way to get guests to visit during the middle of the week, when attendance is generally much lower than on the weekend. Perhaps AMC, like Disney, knows there’s plenty of popcorn to sell on Tuesday, so they are nudging budget-conscious fans in that direction.
AMC Is Seeking Multiple Revenue Sources
Aron sounded optimistic on the earnings call, and in a press release the company said it just had the “strongest quarterly results in two full years.”
Revenue was at $1.17 billion, and he continued to sound bullish on AMC’s expansion into selling popcorn.
“[We plan to] diversify our risks away from pure movie theaters,” he said, “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 said.
What that means exactly is unclear, though more food options, such as plant-based Impossible Nuggets, are on the way.
And, as always seems to be the case these days, the subject of NFTs came up.
After giving away NFTs in conjunction with “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” AMC now has plans to begin charing for the collectible tokens and also to take payments in cryptocurrency, including doge and shiba inu.
It also plans to move more aggressively into merchandising, including a six-inch tall Batman-head popcorn holder that will launch this weekend.
Holy diversified revenue stream, Batman.
