It has been announced recently that, in addition to the usual Tuesday discount ticket prices (that applies to many movie theatre chains), AMC Theatres will be instituting an additional discount day on Wednesdays in which ticket prices will be 50 percent off. AMC offers lower ticket prices during the day, but the new half-priced plan will apply to adult ticket prices in the evening. Premium theatres such as IMAX, Dolby and Prime screens will continue to have a luxury/large screen upcharge, but it will be added on to the 50 percent base pay.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, AMC’s CEO, Adam Aron, would approach this deal with the film studios late last year. Ever since then, the plan has been in discussions before finally announcing the strategy being implemented this summer. Studios have been lobbying for the idea of discount Wednesdays with many exhibitors for years, but Aron is the one who is finally ready to meet their requests and test the waters of attracting more movie-goers. AMC will start offering half-priced tickets starting in the heart of the summer movie season on July 9, as films like Superman and Jurassic World: Rebirth will be hitting screens.
This move can come as a surprise after the slew of underperforming titles and movie houses struggling to compete with streaming. Sony Pictures movie chief Tom Rothman had urged theatre owners at CinemaCon to keep their prices intact, should they want to stay in the fight against digital streaming platforms. However, Aron said in a statement,
Realistically, we could not afford to have made this change to our ticket pricing strategy until the box office showed true signs of sustained recovery. But in April and now in May, the box office has been booming, and the remainder of 2025 appears poised to continue that upward box office trend. The introduction of Discount Tuesdays several years ago has turned Tuesday into one of the best-attended days of the week, in part because there is a segment of the moviegoing audience who looks first for a great value in their moviegoing.”
Wednesday is the slowest-performing day of the week, but Steve Buck, of the research firm EntTelligence, is curious to see how AMC’s experiment will move the audience needle. Buck stated, “It’s exciting to see further market experimentation with ticket pricing to engage consumers. Tuesday has historically seen a bump in foot traffic, and it will be interesting to see what type of an impact Wednesday discounts will have.”
