I bet you and I have this in common. You see a huge movie coming out, maybe The Odyssey or Spider-Man or Dune 3, and you log on to get tickets early. But those tickets and desired showtimes are hard to get because demand is so high.

Then, later, you see a news story about tickets on eBay going for a ton of money, and it annoys you because it means real fans are being extorted.

Well, as it turns out, that stuff annoys Adam Aron, the CEO of AMC, too.

So he's doing something about it.

In a statement posted to social media, Aron made it clear that the nation's largest theater chain is taking active steps to shut down markups and protect film fans from inflated prices.

Let's dive in.

The Statement

In a powerful move that left no room for scalpers to continue to buy tickets en masse and flip them for a profit.

Aron confirmed that AMC’s internal teams are actively monitoring resale platforms to track down unauthorized listings, and I was happy to see he would revoke their benefits as well, as that's the easiest way to book a ton of tickets.

Why Movie Ticket Scalping Is Surging Now

Well, we have a whole industry built on scarcity in movies now. There are only so many IMAX screens and only so many 70MM projectors. So tickets to see that are in high demand, and with shorter theatrical windows, they have become a hot commodity.

Diehard fans competing for prime center-row seats on opening night create artificially high demand windows, and studios are yanking movies from theaters more quickly, so people are spending even more to get into seats.

If we built more IMAX theaters, figured out how to make 70MM projectors, and extended the window. For releases, this would not be happening.

Or not at this rate.

The best thing a ticket buyer can do right now is to avoid these third-party sites and just be patient.

Also, I guess I'll write some letters to chains and IMAX asking them to open more theaters and build more projectors.

Summing It All Up

I think this is a net positive for the industry. We needed someone to call this out, and also I think this is a big sign movies are back. There's a fervor about seeing your favorite title the way the filmmakers wanted.
So let's get AMC and IMAX to work together to get more screens and projectors, and maybe other theater owners as well. The demand is there; we all love money; let's keep making these epic movies and see where this all lands.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

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