This past Sunday I had plans to finally see Ayo Edebiri in the new film “Opus” (2025) at my local AMC. In preparation for this venture, I made sure to stop by the convenience store to spend my last pennies on my favorite sour snacks, hop on the Green Line extra early and queue up a great playlist for the roughly half-hour journey. Half an hour later, my train was frozen between the East Somerville and Lechmere stops. Soon, my playlist ended, my candy now seemed unappealing with a screaming toddler a few seats down and the trailers for “Opus” had definitely already begun. By the time we made it into Lechmere, the film had already started and I still had several stops to go.
My first thought was a common one: cancel my ticket and buy another one for the next possible showtime of a new release so I could write 500 words on whatever AMC was showing. However, it was too late to get a refund, and due to AMC A-List policies, a new A-List ticket could not be purchased until after the current film had finished.
My next thought was much less common: simply buy another ticket so I can get the content I need before the night is over. So, with much reluctance for my bank account, I reopened the app and navigated to the next showing of “Snow White” (2025). After selecting a seat and proceeding to checkout, my jaw dropped. Almost $25 for a ticket.
Perhaps if you only go to the movies one or two times a year, $25 is the right splurge for a big release. Growing up, my family would only attend the theaters when a new Marvel project dropped and between six tickets and snacks, my parents were not eager to attend more screenings. However, as a self-proclaimed film reviewer, I watch between two and ten movies every week, several being at AMC. So $25 per ticket is slightly ridiculous. Again, that doesn’t even include snacks! So, instead of seeing “Opus” or “Snow White,” I turned myself around and headed right back home.
When movie theaters first became an entertainment pastime, viewing experiences cost only a nickel — hence the phrase “Nickelodeon.” Ten years ago, one could expect to pay $8.70 to see “Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” (2015). To see “Mickey 17” (2025)? Roughly $17 — and no, that is not in 3D.
While part of this can be attributed to better screens and a more diverse viewing experience, from Dolby Cinema to Laser at AMC, these prices are almost as frustrating as recent egg prices. But no worries, if you are not interested in paying upwards of $24.95 per movie ticket, starting early May you can instead pay upwards of $27.99 per month for AMC’s current A-List plan. That’s only about a 12.2% increase — incredible.
The question we have to ask ourselves is, are the movies still worth going to when it’s not huge blockbuster, award-winning content? Well, it should be. Movies are meant to be experienced in theaters, but as prices continue to rise and movie-goers are forced to choose what to spend their last pennies on, several wonderful experiences are lost. Ticket prices, streaming prices and all subscription prices for media consumption continue to rise, prioritizing profits over people. But what else is new?
So, AMC, if you’re reading: stop the nonsense so we can experience movies the way they were meant to be experienced.
