'The Batman' Tickets Will Cost More Than Other Movies At AMC: Could Demand Help Boost Margins?

One of the year’s most anticipated theatrical movie releases may cost more to see than other movies.

What Happened: One of the largest movie theatre companies in the world is experimenting with variable pricing and using the highly anticipated “The Batman” as a test.

AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE: AMC) will charge more for tickets to see “The Batman” at select theatres, CEO Adam Aron said Tuesday.

“Currently, our prices for ‘The Batman’ are slightly higher than the prices we are charging for other movies playing in the same theatres at the same time,” Aron said.

Deadline reports a search for the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square, New York revealed a price of $18.99 for “The Batman,” which is $1 more than tickets to other newly released movies.

AMC is giving away non-fungible tokens of “The Batman” to those who purchased a ticket by Feb. 14 and see the movie by March 6 at an AMC location.

Aron said on the company’s earnings call that bookings for “The Batman” were “very strong.”

The company is also selling a 6-inch tall Batman-head popcorn holder to coincide with the release of “The Batman” in theatres on March 4.

“I am hoping that will sell out,” Aron said.

Related Link: AMC Entertainment Q4 Earnings Highlights: Highest Quarterly Revenue In 2 Years, Strong Batman Bookings And More

Why It’s Important: AMC previously experimented with variable pricing by charging more for weekend tickets than for midweek shows.

AMC’s European theaters have been doing variable pricing for some time, Aron added.

“Indeed, in Europe we charge a premium for the best seats in the house — as do just about all sellers of tickets in other industries — take sports events, concerts and live theater, for example,” Aron said.

AMC has used a portion of the cash it raised to acquire movie theaters in strong markets. The combined strength of being able to charge more in bigger cities along with being able to charge more for blockbuster movies could provide increased margins for the company in the future.

“The Batman” from AT&T (NYSE: T) unit Warner Bros. is the most anticipated movie for 2022 based on searches on IMDB, a unit of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN).

With heightened demand for the movie, this could be the perfect time for AMC to experiment with variable pricing.

AMC Price Action: AMC shares were down 0.87% at $18.16 Wednesday morning. 

Photo courtesy of AMC.