AMC Theatres will soon set ticket prices according to where you choose to sit

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Some other news - you might soon have to pay even more to watch a movie in an AMC Theater. The company announced a change this week to its ticket prices. They want to charge based on where you sit, like in a live performance theater or an airplane. Not everybody's pleased.

TOM NUNAN: My initial impression was that this was a horrible idea by AMC and that they'll probably live to regret it.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

That's Tom Nunan. He's the founder of Bull's Eye Entertainment and a visiting professor at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. He thinks AMC's new Sightline pricing system, where front-row seats cost less and seats in the middle of the auditorium cost more, will ultimately do more harm than good for moviegoers.

NUNAN: It just seems like an unnecessary obstacle in an already challenging experience.

INSKEEP: AMC sees it differently. Company executives say the move will give customers more control over their film-viewing experience and say the most common seats in their theaters will still be available for traditional prices.

FADEL: Nunan admits there's a chance the new pricing system could work.

NUNAN: There's a world where the next generation of moviegoers - teenagers, young people in their 20s - that if this new pricing tiered system becomes the rule, that new generation may just accept it on face value and just say that's the way things are. I'm going to keep going to the movies.

INSKEEP: Although what if I change my seat? Anyway, the new initiative is already in select theaters and will roll out to all of AMC's theaters in the U.S. by the end of this year - coming to a theater near you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.