AMC A-List & other theater subscriptions (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

I knew there was only one AMC and it had an imax. At the time I signed up, they were showing JW2 in 3D on the imax with several showings to choose from. I assumed that would continue. I was wrong.

Were you not familiar with the showtime patterns at your AMC before signing up?

Our single AMC IMAX here currently has Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2D. Even if they show a film in 3D, which is much rarer now than it used to be, almost nothing stays in IMAX format for more than a couple weeks because they're always swapping out for the next big blockbuster in the premium formats. The Last Jedi stayed in IMAX for a month and i think that was the last one to maintain a foothold that long. Even Infinity War, which was shot exclusively with IMAX cameras, only lasted three weeks in that format before ceding most or all of the screens to Deadpool, and then Deadpool gave them to Solo. This is just how things work with IMAX having so few auditoriums and predates the existence of the A-List program. Similarly, even for regular titles, the older a film gets, the more likely it is to appear in 2D only, as 3D showtimes are programmed for newer titles. That's how it works at all my local theaters, AMC or not.

Did you sign up for A-List just to be able to see JW a bunch of times in IMAX? Because that's what it sounds like. Like Robert, I'm not trying to gang up on you, but trying to understand what you thought you'd be able to do when you signed up for the program. Limited availability in IMAX happens now that they're booking more and more movies because they just don't have the number of screens to support several films at once.


A-List is obviously a great deal for people who like the offerings at their local AMC, or who have more than one AMC in their market. But it is designed to encourage loyalty to that theater, so you have to like what AMC is providing in way of the experience at their theaters in order to value it.

Please let us know if they actually let you cancel. I hope they will, bu you might have to ride out the 3-month commitment because the argument they will make is that they are offering what you signed up for. They didn't even cancel me out of the AMC Stubs program when I asked to be removed from the free one on principle. I'd love it for you to get what you want and be let out of A-List early, but I doubt it.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

A-List is obviously a great deal for people who like the offerings at their local AMC, or who have more than one AMC in their market. But it is designed to encourage loyalty to that theater, so you have to like what AMC is providing in way of the experience at their theaters in order to value it.

Yup. I'm very happy with A-List because I have an AMC five minutes from my house and plenty others within half an hour or so, many of which offer IMAX and Dolby Cinema.

Just seeing "Ant-Man" IMAX 3D last Thursday "paid for" one month of A-List - the ticket would've been $22 or something like that.

Of course, if I didn't have A-List, I would've either a) not seen the movie IMAX 3D or b) gone on "discount Tuesday", but it's still a great deal for me. I saw "Skyscraper" 3D yesterday, so that's $38 of tickets for 2 movies that only cost me $20 - and that ignores the other movies I already saw under my 1st month of A-List.

So it pays off like crazy for me, but it'd be a terrible deal if I didn't have so many AMCs - and so many good AMCs in my area. Not sure why someone would sign up if their AMCs are limited or crappy!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

BTW, I have to say my favorite aspect of A-List so far is the "freedom" it confers. I don't feel the need to go to matinees unless I want to or go on "discount Tuesday" unless I want to. I can see IMAX if it suits me without giving two hoots about the price. I can see Dolby Cinema without consideration of cost. 3D surcharge? Who cares?

It's all very liberating to be able to see whatever version I want whenever I want without giving consideration to cost. Used to be I'd think "is it worth the extra $X for IMAX/3D/etc?" but now I just go "yippee-ki-yay, mother-effers" and watch what I want!

 

[Johnny Angell]

Were you not familiar with the showtime patterns at your AMC before signing up?

Our single AMC IMAX here currently has Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2D. Even if they show a film in 3D, which is much rarer now than it used to be, almost nothing stays in IMAX format for more than a couple weeks because they're always swapping out for the next big blockbuster in the premium formats. The Last Jedi stayed in IMAX for a month and i think that was the last one to maintain a foothold that long. Even Infinity War, which was shot exclusively with IMAX cameras, only lasted three weeks in that format before ceding most or all of the screens to Deadpool, and then Deadpool gave them to Solo. This is just how things work with IMAX having so few auditoriums and predates the existence of the A-List program. Similarly, even for regular titles, the older a film gets, the more likely it is to appear in 2D only, as 3D showtimes are programmed for newer titles. That's how it works at all my local theaters, AMC or not.

Did you sign up for A-List just to be able to see JW a bunch of times in IMAX? Because that's what it sounds like. Like Robert, I'm not trying to gang up on you, but trying to understand what you thought you'd be able to do when you signed up for the program. Limited availability in IMAX happens now that they're booking more and more movies because they just don't have the number of screens to support several films at once.


A-List is obviously a great deal for people who like the offerings at their local AMC, or who have more than one AMC in their market. But it is designed to encourage loyalty to that theater, so you have to like what AMC is providing in way of the experience at their theaters in order to value it.

Please let us know if they actually let you cancel. I hope they will, bu you might have to ride out the 3-month commitment because the argument they will make is that they are offering what you signed up for. They didn't even cancel me out of the AMC Stubs program when I asked to be removed from the free one on principle. I'd love it for you to get what you want and be let out of A-List early, but I doubt it.

Our only AMC and only imax had been closed for nearly a year after AMC bought it from the previous chain. I forget the name of the previous chain, but when open, I had no trouble seeing 3D on the imax. AMC took close to a year refurbishing it with reclining seats (but not in the imax). When A-List was announced the schedule showed ample 3D showings on the imax, got to see it twice that way. I assumed it would be the same for other movies, at least the big ones, which I thought Ant Man was in that category.

Not true, no 3D at all in imax. Two 3D showings a day on smaller screens that we couldn’t get to. So I had little track record to go by, but what was there said 3D on imax.

Yup. I'm very happy with A-List because I have an AMC five minutes from my house and plenty others within half an hour or so, many of which offer IMAX and Dolby Cinema.

Just seeing "Ant-Man" IMAX 3D last Thursday "paid for" one month of A-List - the ticket would've been $22 or something like that.

Of course, if I didn't have A-List, I would've either a) not seen the movie IMAX 3D or b) gone on "discount Tuesday", but it's still a great deal for me. I saw "Skyscraper" 3D yesterday, so that's $38 of tickets for 2 movies that only cost me $20 - and that ignores the other movies I already saw under my 1st month of A-List.

So it pays off like crazy for me, but it'd be a terrible deal if I didn't have so many AMCs - and so many good AMCs in my area. Not sure why someone would sign up if their AMCs are limited or crappy!

So AMC will so Ant Man in 3D on the imax. You’re probably in bigger market than Little Rock.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Our only AMC and only imax had been closed for nearly a year after AMC bought it from the previous chain. I forget the name of the previous chain, but when open, I had no trouble seeing 3D on the imax.

I'm assuming you are referring to the Chenal 9? It looks like at one time it was a Dickinson, then it was purchased by B&B until being purchased again by AMC.

 

[Wayne_j]

My IMAX is showing 3D only at 10:10PM.

 

[Chris Will]

I'm in a smaller market and we have 2 theaters, one AMC and one called New Vision.

Our AMC showed Ant-man 2 in IMAX 3D for the first week of release, ever since it has only been in 2D. It looks like M:I 6 is only going to be in IMAX 2D but, I honestly don't mind that and really prefer 2D.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I could live with one week of 3D. But in imax, we’re not getting that.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I'm assuming you are referring to the Chenal 9? It looks like at one time it was a Dickinson, then it was purchased by B&B until being purchased again by AMC.

Yes, you are right.

 

[Jake Lipson]

AMC took close to a year refurbishing it with reclining seats (but not in the imax). When A-List was announced the schedule showed ample 3D showings on the imax, got to see it twice that way. I assumed it would be the same for other movies, at least the big ones, which I thought Ant Man was in that category.

This sounds like the same thing they did here. Apparently the IMAX was excluded from the remodel because IMAX corporate won't let reclining chairs in their auditoriums

JW was in IMAX 3D here but that is an exception to the rule; most of the time it is IMAX 2D. It seems like your mistake was in assuming that their offerings would be consistent with what was offered for JW.

 

[Johnny Angell]

This sounds like the same thing they did here. Apparently the IMAX was excluded from the remodel because IMAX corporate won't let reclining chairs in their auditoriums

JW was in IMAX 3D here but that is an exception to the rule; most of the time it is IMAX 2D. It seems like your mistake was in assuming that their offerings would be consistent with what was offered for JW.

My mistake, but I also feel a bit mislead. I’ll probably try to make the best of the three months and then decide whether to stay in the program.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Sometimes it is the theater's choice to do IMAX 2D or 3D and sometimes it is the distributor's. You could maybe also call the theater and say that you like having the IMAX 3D option and perhaps that feedback will be taken into consideration?

That being said, IMAX as a corporate entity has stated they are seeing a clear preference for 2D as far back as a year ago, which is why you're seeing this trend: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/n...-tentpoles-2d-citing-clear-preference-1024590.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

So AMC will so Ant Man in 3D on the imax. You’re probably in bigger market than Little Rock.

Yeah, I think DC is a bigger market than Little Rock!

Even though the DC market is huge, we still only had a couple of AMCs that went with 3D IMAX. The one 3 miles from my house just had 2D IMAX, so I had to go to Tysons Corner - about 30 minutes away - for 3D.

The Tysons AMC dropped the 3D after 1 week, too - "Ant-Man" is still IMAX there but it's 2D.

According to the app, AMC no longer shows it IMAX 3D anywhere within 50 miles of here!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I used MP yesterday to see "Sorry To Bother You" and I'm feeling very misled by the Moviepass explanation of surge pricing vs. the reality of it.

In their emails and other communications, they made it appear that peak pricing requiring a surcharge might show up for new release movies in their opening weekend, with a warning that a showtime was close to being at peak demand before actually getting there.

When I arrived at the theater yesterday, every single movie except for Sorry To Bother You, Three Identical Strangers and Jurassic World were showing as peak, for every single showtime. I expected this to be a possibility for Hotel Transylvania 3 and Skyscraper since those were the two new release movies for the weekend, though I was a little surprised to see it for Skyscraper since that movie underperformed at the box office. But peak pricing was also being added to Ant-Man And The Wasp and The First Purge (in their second weekends), and to some other titles that had been out even longer, like Sicaro: Day Of The Soldado. And as I was saying, it wasn't just for the next showtime, it was for every single showtime that day for those titles. While I can believe that perhaps Ant-Man was popular on Sunday afternoon, I find it extremely hard to believe that there was such demand for an 11pm showing on a Sunday night.

Of the three movies that didn't have surcharges, two of those titles (Sorry To Bother You and Three Identical Strangers) were movies that Moviepass has been aggressive about promoting in the past week.

I was going to see Sorry To Bother You anyway, so it worked out just fine for me, but I'm extremely frustrated with the constant bait-and-switch and the flat-out lying coming from MP.

edited to add: And I'm someone who wasn't initially opposed to the idea of peak showtimes, that's not the issue. The issue is that once again, MoviePass has told its customers one thing, and then done something else instead. I think they could have actually rolled out peak showtimes in a graceful fashion that didn't alienate customers, but this isn't that.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Of the three movies that didn't have surcharges, two of those titles (Sorry To Bother You and Three Identical Strangers) were movies that Moviepass has been aggressive about promoting in the past week.

You called this yourself last week:

Anyhow, I suspect we're going to see surge pricing on movies from studios that haven't played ball with MP and at theater chains that don't play ball with them, but that we won't see surges for titles where MP has partnered with the studio or at chains where MP has a deal with them. MP will then try to steer customers away from the surcharge titles and locations towards titles and locations with no charge, and then use that as leverage to get the studios/titles were surcharges were imposed to give MP better terms. It is extremely unlikely to work. But I'd bet that's the plan.

Presumably, if the MP app has been promoting Sorry to Bother You and Three Identical Strangers, they must have a deal with those distributors (Annapurna and Neon, respectively.) Movie Pass has said repeatedly that their customers see more indie films because they have Movie Pass than they would if they didn't, and it makes sense that smaller distributors like Neon and Annapurna would be happy to strike a deal with them in hopes of driving more business to those films.

A company like Disney knows that people will come to see their event films like Infinity War and Incredibles 2 whether Movie Pass exists or not. Three Identical Strangers looks great but it is certainly not a must-see-on-the-biggest-screen-possible event, by the nature of what it's doing, so it's exactly the type of film that would benefit from people thinking, "I'm already paying for Movie Pass anyway so might as well go see this." I'm sure Neon knows that, which is why they have a deal with Movie Pass and Disney doesn't.

I was going to see Sorry To Bother You anyway, so it worked out just fine for me, but I'm extremely frustrated with the constant bait-and-switch and the flat-out lying coming from MP.

I suspect it has nothing to do with how much demand there is for a given showtime. Theoretically, you could be the only Movie Pass user in the auditorium, with everybody else paying regular price for tickets from the box office, and it would still show up as peak pricing. The surcharge doesn't even help them break even on your ticket because they still have to pay the theater chain 100% of every ticket, so they still lose money on your admission even if you pay the surcharge.

It has to do with Movie Pass wanting to deter you from seeing movies where they don't have deals in place with the studio providing them additional perks for getting those films seen. I suspect this will continue as long as Movie Pass has an unsustainable business model.

The bait-and-switch and lying which you are describing is why I have never signed up for this, even though I certainly go to the movies often enough to benefit from a service like this. I simply don't trust the company.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I suspect it has nothing to do with how much demand there is for a given showtime. Theoretically, you could be the only Movie Pass user in the auditorium, with everybody else paying regular price for tickets from the box office, and it would still show up as peak pricing.

That's about what it seems. And that would be fine, in and of itself, if that's what they had disclosed ahead of time. But it was not.

I simply don't trust the company.

Nor do I. Not in the slightest. But the service does work in a limited fashion, and I am saving a fortune with it - I'm seeing about 5 movies a month for $9.99, instead of about $16.50 each. Truth be told, were it not for MP, I'd probably just skip those movies. So I'm getting something that's almost free, but realizing that something isn't something I'd pay for otherwise. But I'll enjoy it while it lasts. And I also have much greater trust in my credit card company. When MP becomes too much of a hassle, if I have any difficulty at all in canceling the membership, I'll call up my credit card company and let them deal with it - my credit card company in the past has been good with stopping recurring payments when other services stopped being responsive. I hope it doesn't come to that. But I'm not worried about charges sticking when I decide to opt out.

 

[Jake Lipson]

That's about what it seems. And that would be fine, in and of itself, if that's what they had disclosed ahead of time. But it was not.

I agree with you. But "We want you to pay a small surcharge for new movies at poplar times" sounds better to the average consumer than "We want to stop you from seeing movies where the studios won't cut us in on a deal." So I completely understand why Movie Pass phrased it the way they did. They're counting on people not questioning it and just going along with it.

Even if you pay the surcharge, Movie Pass has to pay the theater 100% of your ticket cost, so they're still losing money on every ticket you buy -- except perhaps for ones where thee studios have agreed to a deal and they're going to get that money back in advertising dollars.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I signed up for AMC A-List.

It was announced that The Dark Knight would be returning to my local IMAX in 70mm film. I knew I'd want to see that. One month of A-List is less than a single IMAX ticket, and I was hoping to see it more than once. Plus, I wanted to see Mission Impossible in IMAX next week, so I figured it made sense to give it a shot for now.

Had no problem reserving my Mission Impossible ticket, but it wouldn't work on Dark Knight. I'm guessing that it's being considered a special event rather than a regular screening. Bummer! But all I have to do is see one IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and/or RealD movie per month and it's paid for itself, so it's probably still worth it, even with me already having MoviePass.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I signed up for AMC A-List.

It was announced that The Dark Knight would be returning to my local IMAX in 70mm film. I knew I'd want to see that. One month of A-List is less than a single IMAX ticket, and I was hoping to see it more than once. Plus, I wanted to see Mission Impossible in IMAX next week, so I figured it made sense to give it a shot for now.

Had no problem reserving my Mission Impossible ticket, but it wouldn't work on Dark Knight. I'm guessing that it's being considered a special event rather than a regular screening. Bummer! But all I have to do is see one IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and/or RealD movie per month and it's paid for itself, so it's probably still worth it, even with me already having MoviePass.

Make sure you still use your A*List when you buy your Dark Knight ticket as between the $19.95 monthly fee and the price of the ticket, you'll be close to a $5 reward already.

I think you'll find yourself pleasantly surprised with how smooth A*List works. They did a great job making it extremely user-friendly.

 

[Sam Posten]

I look forward to never using this.
https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/amc-theatres-facebook-movie-ticket-purchases-1202878250/

Equalizer 2 in IMAX tonight. Don't think I will see Mama Mia 2 in DV, will see. Possible I will see Unfriended at some point.