Elijah Wood explains AMC’s new tiered ticket pricing: movie theaters have always been ‘a sacred democratic space for all’

Actor Elijah Wood is not a fan of AMC Entertainment’s latest foray into ticketing, which includes different prices for different seats in theaters.

“Cinema is and has always been a sacred democratic space for everyone and this new initiative through @AMCTeaters will essentially penalize people for lower incomes and reward people for higher incomes,” the actor tweeted on Tuesday after learning yesterday from the world’s largest theater circuit that it would charge higher prices for seats with the best “line of sight” to the screen.

Less attractive locations, such as the first row, are cheaper.

The world’s largest exhibitor is already doing this in an undetermined number of cinemas and will continue the rollout this year.

With the theater industry still shaky in the wake of the pandemic and the box office slowly recovering, this is one way to boost revenue and attract people to the AMC loyalty program. The new prices do not apply to AMC Stubs A-List members or most theaters in mostly smaller markets that do not have reserved seating. The chain has reserved spots at most major markets.

The program is called Sightline AMC and applies to all showtimes after 4:00 PM except on Discount Tuesday. Seating options in an auditorium are now in the Value Sight Line, Standard Sight Line or Preferred Sight Line sections. Standard Sightline, the most common, adheres to the traditional ticket price. The company said the initiative “better aligns AMC’s approach to seat pricing with that of many other entertainment venues, offering experience-based pricing and another way for moviegoers to find value in the movie theater.”