Major theater chains charged a premium to watch The Batman

Last week, AMC Theatres was the source of a lot frustrations after they announced that they would be increasing ticket prices for The Batman. CEO Adam Aron reasoned that it was normal for “European theaters” to increase prices for especially buzzworthy movies and that it happened in the U.S. for stuff like concerts and sporting events, so why shouldn’t the same hold true for movies?

While Aron isn’t wrong, it still doesn’t feel great to have to dish out more dough after waiting through several delays to finally see The Batman. We’ve suffered enough, haven’t we!?

Despite the fact that most of us were not happy about the price hike, it did pay off for The Batman. The movie made a ton of money over opening weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter, AMC was very excited to brag that its theaters made up 29% of The Batman’s market share. That’s more than usual, although it’s unclear exactly how much more.

AMC absolutely benefitted from their experiment, and we had absolutely no say it in. But hey, at least The Batman is a good movie.

AMC Theatres and others charged more for The Batman, Spider-Man: No Way Home

If you thought AMC was the only place charging more for hot movies, then you’d be wrong. THR reports that Cinemark and Regal Cinemas also increased their prices for The Batman, but they didn’t have the decency to tell anyone. Oh, and they did the same thing for Spider-Man: No Way Home and apparently no one noticed!

It’s wild to think that AMC Theatres was on the brink of bankruptcy not that long ago. How many times did we hear during the last two years that they were barely hanging on and were likely going to shut down? Now the tune has completely changed, with Aron saying that this was the “third-biggest weekend for AMC in more than two full years.”

You’re welcome, AMC. You are welcome.

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h/t The A.V. Club