AMC Theaters cancels its plan to change their pricing model, deemed the Sightline initiative, which would have charged viewers more for better seats.

AMC Theaters cancels plans to change their seat pricing model in their theaters. The movie theater chain had announced a new pricing system—called the Sightline initiative—that would have charged audiences more for better theater seats. The model would set reduced prices for “Value Sightline” front-row seats, elevated prices for “Preferred Sightline” middle of the auditorium seats, and a regular fare “Standard Sightline” option for the remainder of the seats.

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As reported by Variety, AMC has walked back their plans to introduce the Sightline at AMC program. After piloting the program in select cities, AMC realized that there was not enough interest in the differential prices to warrant a rollout of the plan. The pilot cities will see the Sightline pricing be taken away from their locations, and the nationwide dispersal of the new model has been called off. With the cancelation announcement, AMC also stated that they would plan to develop enhanced front-row seating by the end of the year.

Why AMC Was Looking to Pivot Its Seating Model

When AMC initially announced their new pricing model in February, it was poorly received. Detractors bemoaned how the plan could diminish the moviegoing experience. Actor Elijah Wood slammed AMC’s plan shortly following its original announcement, claiming that AMC’s plan “would essentially penalize people for lower income and reward for higher income.”

AMC’s plan came after it experienced a major setback experienced by theaters nationwide: revenue loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020 alone, AMC lost $4.6 billion as a result of theater closures and lower sales. Since then, AMC has been looking for ways to make major structural changes in order to gain back their revenue. One such change–controversial in its own right–was to increase prices for The Batman tickets, a decision which AMC Adam Aron staunchly defended.

Though AMC has canceled the Sightline model, the concurrent announcement of improvements from row seats shows that the company is not done making changes to their operations. While the better quality seats will not necessarily generate the same immediate revenue as something like the Sightline model, AMC’s hope is likely that any quality increases will drive people back to the theaters who may have been slow to come back during the pandemic. With a big blockbuster summer still in full swing–including the upcoming releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer as well as the recent release of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning–AMC Theaters has a chance to see their numbers inch gradually up to where they once were.

Source: Variety