By India McCarty
AMC Theaters are dealing with a major decrease in audience attendance — so why do their prices keep going up?
“Total revenues were $1,300.2 million compared to $1,348.8 million for Q3 2024,” per a 2025 earnings report from the company.
However, AMC executives said there was no cause for concern. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC, said in a statement, “Calendar year 2025 is turning out exactly as we have long predicted. Due primarily to the timing of major studio film release dates, a weak first quarter was followed by a blazing hot second quarter, which then was followed by a softening third quarter. We continue to expect that the year will culminate in what we hope will be quite a strong year-end in quarter four.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn61Y7Vmg90
Related: Can Theaters Keep Moviegoers Coming?
In a November earnings call, Aron doubled down, telling investors, “We expect that the fourth-quarter North American box office will turn out to be the highest-grossing fourth quarter in six years. We also continue to believe that the size of the 2026 box office will be dramatically larger than that achieved in 2025.”
Aron also acknowledged that AMC has raised ticket prices “substantially over the past several years” due to “the laws of supply and demand.”
AMC’s earnings report revealed they raised ticket prices to $12.86 — higher than the $12.19 average it reported in 2024 — and food and beverage prices to an average of $8.55, up from $8.49 last year.
Aron shared, “It goes back to your very first economics class in the freshman year of college, when you learned the laws of supply and demand and the laws of charging prices in the peak, and charging different prices in the so-called off-peak, charging more in periods of high demand than charging less in periods of low demand. So we have not been shy in taking prices up at those theaters with the most demand. Have not been shy in taking prices up on Friday and Saturday nights when demand for our theaters is at their peak.”
“I always say one has to be prudent in not taking prices up too quickly,” he continued. “But I don’t feel any price limitation from our clientele.”
However, RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino told TheStreet that this doubling-down on price hikes could hurt the theater chain in the long run.
“When AMC hikes ticket prices under the guise of pure supply-and-demand logic, they’re effectively betting the house that moviegoers will keep showing up regardless,” Miserandino explained. “But the quarter’s data tell a different story: rising prices, fewer blockbuster hits, and an almost 10 % attendance drop in the U.S. is not looking good.”
Aron seems confident his proposed price increases won’t negatively impact AMC’s ticket sales, but it seems as if audiences are prepared to forgo movie theaters to save some money.
Read Next: What AMC’s Plan to Run More Commercials Before Movies Means for You
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