AMC Theaters' Private Movie Rentals Began as a Pandemic Lifeline
Aakash Gupta explains that AMC rents whole auditoriums for as little as $99 because most seats go unsold and projection costs are nearly fixed. He says the product began during COVID, when AMC lost $561 million in one quarter.
Original post · 1 min read
Renting out an entire movie theater costs as little as $99. AMC put it right on their website in 2020, at $99 for older titles and $149 to $349 for new releases, whole auditorium, up to 20 guests.
Split with 10 friends, that's cheaper than everyone buying their own ticket in LA.
The reason theaters sell this so cheap is the fun part. Close to 9 in 10 movie theater seats in America go unsold across all showtimes, and on a weekday afternoon auditoriums run around a quarter full. The projector is digital, the staff is already on shift, the AC is already running. Playing a movie to an empty room costs the theater almost the same as playing it to a full one.
So a guaranteed $349 for a room that might have held a dozen strangers is a great trade. Even better, buyout groups hit the concession stand together, and popcorn carries a markup north of 1,000%. Concessions are where theaters make their real money, since studios take most of the ticket revenue in a film's opening weeks.
AMC only started selling this to regular people because COVID nearly killed them. They lost $561 million in a single quarter of 2020 and began renting empty rooms to anyone with a credit card just to survive. The margins were so good they kept the product after the pandemic ended.
Celebrities were the beta testers. A private screening used to signal you were a studio mogul with a theater in your basement. Now it's a birthday party option that costs less than dinner for six.
Split with 10 friends, that's cheaper than everyone buying their own ticket in LA.
The reason theaters sell this so cheap is the fun part. Close to 9 in 10 movie theater seats in America go unsold across all showtimes, and on a weekday afternoon auditoriums run around a quarter full. The projector is digital, the staff is already on shift, the AC is already running. Playing a movie to an empty room costs the theater almost the same as playing it to a full one.
So a guaranteed $349 for a room that might have held a dozen strangers is a great trade. Even better, buyout groups hit the concession stand together, and popcorn carries a markup north of 1,000%. Concessions are where theaters make their real money, since studios take most of the ticket revenue in a film's opening weeks.
AMC only started selling this to regular people because COVID nearly killed them. They lost $561 million in a single quarter of 2020 and began renting empty rooms to anyone with a credit card just to survive. The margins were so good they kept the product after the pandemic ended.
Celebrities were the beta testers. A private screening used to signal you were a studio mogul with a theater in your basement. Now it's a birthday party option that costs less than dinner for six.
keeno @ayekeenoKylie Jenner shows how she has to rent out entire movie theaters when she goes to watch a movie with her friends in LA because of how famous she is 👀🍿
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