AMC Theatres, as well as its major cinema chain competition, is reopening the doors to hundreds of locations beginning later this month. In doing so, the company has promised that there will be increased safety procedures including heavy sanitization and new protocols that the staff will have to follow to ensure people don’t get sick while watching “Tenet.” But those new protocols come with a price. And you didn’t think AMC would be taking that hit for free right?
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Speaking on a recent investor’s call (via Variety), AMC CEO Adam Aron confirmed that the chain is opening its doors again this month. And yes, the cinemas will all go through rigorous training to make sure all of the employees are following the rules. This is all going to lead to more costs than usual and combined with the fact the company is basically on financial life support since the pandemic has lasted several months, there’s not a lot of money in the bank to cover those costs. That means someone else will have to pay for it.
Aron said that the added costs for all these safety procedures will be “passed on to the consumers.” He didn’t elaborate on what that means, exactly. However, it’s clear that AMC customers can likely expect higher prices for tickets and/or concessions when they venture back to the theater.
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Adding higher costs to items isn’t necessarily the best way to entice folks to spend money to sit in an enclosed space for two hours with potentially sick people that are taking off their masks to eat overpriced concessions. That being said, AMC is facing an existential crisis and is looking for ways to come back from the company’s worst year in…well, ever. Recently, it was announced that the chain is working with Universal on a deal that would allow the studio’s films to only play for three weekends in theaters before arriving on PVOD. But when they do hit PVOD, AMC is getting an undisclosed cut of the revenue.
As we begin to see what the “new normal” is for theaters post-pandemic, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on more changes to prices and procedures at the big chains. Will they be able to operate at a profit with reduced capacities? Will there even be enough people willing to go back to the cinema? And obviously, if the money doesn’t come rushing back in, what other changes with AMC and its competition have to make?
Those are a lot of questions with no real answers right now.