Moviegoers at AMC Theatres are in for a rude awakening starting next month.
A few commercials and coming attractions before a movie begins are expected — however, soon enough, AMC Theatres will be delaying the start times of movies even more.
On July 1, AMC Theatres — the largest theatre chain in the U.S. and Europe — will be adding one additional commercial on top of the many that they already play after upcoming movie trailers and before the start of a movie.
And people are not happy about this news.
The news comes as part of a new deal with American cinema advertising company National CineMedia Inc., according to Bloomberg.
It’s an opportunity for AMC to make some dough — as the movie theater chain will get a cut of the ad sales, as reported on by the outlet.
“While AMC was initially reluctant to bring this to our theaters, our competitors have fully participated for more than five years without any direct impact to their attendance,” AMC said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“This is a strong indication that this NCM pre-show initiative does not negatively influence moviegoing habits.”
The deal is a win-win for both AMC and NCM, as it serves as an opportunity for each company to earn back some of the revenue they lost during the pandemic, when all theatres were shut down.
“For the past five years, AMC has sought out crucial revenue that is not reliant on the increase of base ticket prices,” said an AMC rep in a statement to Deadline.
“We’ve done this through more and better moviegoing enhancements like our significant expansion of PLFs, a greater selection of food and beverage offerings, and the introduction of movie-going merchandise like popcorn buckets and other collectible concession vessels,” the statement explained.
Although this news isn’t the end of the world — and frankly, could be worse — people on X (formerly Twitter) are acting like it is.
“I show up to every movie 30 minutes after the ‘start time’, and it is always exactly as the movie is starting. That’s already excessive,” said one person.
“How could they possibly run more?” a grumpy X user wrote.
“Gee, great! So, more people will arrive 30 minutes after ‘start’ time and climb over people in the dark, at the beginning of a film, to avoid the trailers and additional ads! This is why I treasure my aisle seat. I will be arriving much later now,” quipped someone else.
“Glad my area only has Regals,” commented another unhappy person.
