In the Great Depression of the 1930s, people found an escape from the bad news of the day by going to the movies. In fact, I can’t count how many movies… Sullivan’s Travels, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Matinee, Cinema Paradiso, just to name a few – these are people who go to the movies for entertainment and escape. People lined up and hurried to get their favorite seats; first come, first served. Are you part of a couple that earns comfortably six figures? Are you paying off a college loan or trying to pay it off with your Social Security benefits? It doesn’t matter. You have the right to the best seat you can compete for.
Even when theaters started selling advance reservations, it was still first-come-first-served: If you wanted to see a popular movie and were picky about your seats, you’d go online and try to reserve your preferred spot before someone else got it.
But now, at certain AMC theaters (and perhaps, in the near future, at more and more other theaters), it won’t be how quickly you claim your seat that will determine where you sit, but how much you can afford. . As of today, according to AMC, a new strategy called Sightline, according to its oddly promotional website, “continue to improve the films”. As? Charging more for the Preferred Sightline section (middle center rows), less for the Standard Sightline section (seats in the rear or side), and considerably less for the Value Sightline section (front rows).
I can understand why AMC feels the need to do this. Movie theaters are still suffering from the effects of the pandemic, and over the last three years, people have gotten used to watching movies on reasonably large screens from the comfort of their homes.
But the result is that one of the last truly democratic public institutions where everyone paid the same and had an equal chance of getting a good seat will join airplanes, live theaters, music venues, and other institutions, where what you can pay determines how well you enjoy your experience.
Maybe I’m being too nostalgic here. It’s not like standing in line on a cold, rainy afternoon to try and get a decent seat in a theater is such an uplifting experience. (Although I remember the first time I saw Star Wars at a movie theater – I got there about two hours early, was about the 10th person in line, and spent the time having a great conversation about old sci-fi movies with the people around me). And because theaters have been charging extra fees for reserving seats in advance, you could say they’ve been on this path for a while now: If you didn’t want to pay the extra fee, you had to take what was left.
Years ago, I was visiting London and went to a theater to see a musical. I had balcony seats, and during the intermission, I tried to go downstairs just to see what the orchestra’s line of sight was like. But when I tried to find the orchestra section, I realized there was no way I could get in: the theater had been built at a time when people in cheap seats were carefully kept out of sight of those who they could pay better. seating. When I asked one of the ushers how I could get to the more expensive section just to have a look, he looked at me as if I had suddenly grown an extra head. it just wasn’t made.
Maybe that’s where we’re headed: movie theaters where people who can afford better seats won’t have to deal with lesser mortals who can’t spend as much, not necessarily because that’s something we as audience members are asking for. but because theaters will try anything to make up the slack, including creating a new class system for movies.
