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Medicine Movies

AMC Movie Theaters Will Reopen On Aug. 20 With 15-Cent Tickets (fortune.com) 118

schwit1 writes: Moviegoers will have to pay only 15 cents for tickets at AMC cinemas on Aug. 20, when the chain starts to reopen amid the coronavirus outbreak. The cheap tickets will be available at more than 100 theaters across the U.S. The deal, a throwback to the price the company charged when it was founded in 1920, is intended to lure customers who may be worried about venturing into a theater because of the risk of contracting COVID-19.
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AMC Movie Theaters Will Reopen On Aug. 20 With 15-Cent Tickets

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14, 2020 @07:31PM (#60402743)
    Spread my gifts widely and proudly, my children!
  • by tannhaus ( 152710 ) on Friday August 14, 2020 @07:32PM (#60402749) Homepage Journal

    But being in a closed room with a bunch of other people for an hour and a half is just insane during a pandemic and no, I'm not paying 15 cents to contract COVID

    • Same here. I really never liked the theater experience any way ... no pause button. Bring intermissions back and I may go again AFTER the pandemic has passed.
      • ... no pause button.

        Can't change the channel either.

        When my wife and I watch movies at home, I often lose interest and open my laptop. She is ok with that as long as I stay and sit beside her. This doesn't work in a theater.

        I will be happy to never go in another theater. Ever.

        • by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

          As a licenced "some dude on the internet" I'd say if you can't concentrate on a whole movie, then in a best case scenario you should demand more input in choosing the movies or you might have a dopamine resistance.

          Hoping for the former but you might want to look into the latter.

          • or you might have a dopamine resistance.

            Or they might just be shitty movies that fail at holding our attention.

            • by aevan ( 903814 )
              That would fall under ’more input in choosing the movies’...with the old-man caveat: ’aint been no good movies since The Duke passed on’

              Something something, the only winning mov(i)e is not to play
              • That would fall under ’more input in choosing the movies

                This is like suggesting that someone from a terrible home "should have picked better parents".

                How do you know in advance that the movie you choose will turn out to be good? You don't.

                Sometimes I pick a movie I think will be good (or at least fun to watch) and it turns out to be shit. That can't be my fault 100% of the time.

        • I will be happy to never go in another theater. Ever.

          For once we agree on something 100% with no qualifying factors.

        • I'm with you man. I'll take my big plush sofa and oversized flat screen every time. My wife is the same. As long as I'm in the room it counts as quality time. We aren't always into the same kinds of movies so when that happens the other one just tunes out and does something else. It's all good.

      • For intermissions to come back weâ(TM)d need to go back to movies longer than 90 minutes.

    • But being in a closed room with a bunch of other people for an hour and a half is just insane during a pandemic

      Note how a lot of the locations participating in the AMC promo [businesswire.com] are in states where coronavirus infections are still high: Georgia, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, etc.

      • by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Friday August 14, 2020 @08:14PM (#60402827)

        But being in a closed room with a bunch of other people for an hour and a half is just insane during a pandemic

        Note how a lot of the locations participating in the AMC promo [businesswire.com] are in states where coronavirus infections are still high: Georgia, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, etc.

        But being in a closed room with a bunch of other people for an hour and a half is just insane during a pandemic

        Note how a lot of the locations participating in the AMC promo [businesswire.com] are in states where coronavirus infections are still high: Georgia, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, etc.

        Note how humans love to double-down on their stupidity and ignorance these days. It's as if suddenly humans love to smell farts coming from every asshole on the planet.

        Because of the popularity of that shit, companies are open, and offering COVID infections for only 15 cents in confined areas during a global pandemic.

        Remember when numbers coming out of New York were enough to shut down a city? Yeah, for a brief moment people actually listened to Common F. Sense. Not anymore.

        • companies are open, and offering COVID infections for only 15 cents

          Those fools! Don't these people know they can get COVID for free just by riding the subway?

          • Or visiting an NYC old folks home where a sizable portion of lethal cases were because they shipped infected people to them?
          • by porges ( 58715 )

            Like they used to say in old books: "That and 15 cents will get you a dose of the covid".

      • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Friday August 14, 2020 @08:25PM (#60402845)

        I suspect those locations were chosen with substantial consideration given to regional political mindsets.

        I have a lot of issues with the timing of this... but even setting aside any concerns about COVID-19 - I doubt I’d even be tempted. I’ve just gotten too used to having a pause button for those times I need to use the bathroom or decide I want a snack. Also, it’s bloody convenient being able to rewind fifteen seconds to re-hear the dialog I missed because my wife was asking me “Who is that? Is that the same girl from earlier or is it someone new?”

        Disclaimer: we watched a long movie last night, and all of those came into play.

        • by Bigbutt ( 65939 )

          Agree. Mine can’t stand waiting for the movie reveal so there are a lot of questions that would be answered in 5 minutes.

          [John]

          • by porges ( 58715 )

            I've had this conversation:

            Other: That's stupid! I don't understand why something-something-something
            Me: The show's not over and they're explaining it right now if you'll just listen.

      • by c ( 8461 )

        Note how a lot of the locations participating in the AMC promo are in states where coronavirus infections are still high

        That makes a lot of business sense; they wouldn't get many customers in states that aren't overrun with fucking idiots.

    • $.15 to enter, but a chance to win a fortune in lawsuits!

    • by Vskye ( 9079 )

      I totally agree. Besides, they won't give a discount on the overpriced soda or popcorn anyways. ;)

    • by Cylix ( 55374 )

      More room for me.

      I already had the weak ass virus and not surprisingly I didn't die. Stay in your closet.

    • But being in a closed room with a bunch of other people for an hour and a half is just insane during a pandemic and no, I'm not paying 15 cents to contract COVID.

      You're going to get COVID from being in a very very large mostly empty room where people are not only forced to sit apart but also forced to be quiet and not talk to each other?

      Man if you're that afraid of COVID-19 then you've already got it. Probably beamed to you via 5G.

      • by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Saturday August 15, 2020 @08:28AM (#60403745) Journal

        You're going to get COVID from being in a very very large mostly empty room where people are not only forced to sit apart but also forced to be quiet and not talk to each other?

        Why not? That's typically how you catch every other kind of virus, by being in enclosed spaces with other people eating and talking. That's a classic transmission route, so I don't see why you think this is so outlandish.

        But you're right- no one ever caught a cold or flu sitting in a theater. No one ever.

    • insane during a pandemic

      You mean, like the flu? Or strains of the common cold? Those are pandemics as well you know.

      All the word means is "prevalent over a whole country or the world" (like the flu or cold). The current hype is to make the word a terror laden cudgel.

    • Maybe not a stupid as sending kids back into classrooms in September but it's not that far off. Can we please call it the AMC Theatres-spike(TM) in the media? Their Chinese owners won't be happy.
    • Okay, you're not paying 15 cents to contract COVID-19, we can certainly understand that. But what if it was only 10 cents?

    • by cusco ( 717999 )

      If I wanted COVID19 it would have been enough to go clean our cottage after the bitch held her frelling wedding reception there over the weekend in spite of the Airbnb listing that clearly said no visitors and no parties. Reserved for 4 people for the weekend, had 7 stay, had over a dozen there getting ready for the ceremony, and then a couple dozen for the reception afterwards. Not a mask to be seen anywhere. We had to wait three days before we dared go into the house, to find a literal pickup load of t

  • The Virus Free® section costs fifty bucks.

    • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      Let's see...

      • One movie ticket? 15 cents.
      • One month in intensive care? 127,000 dollars.
      • Getting to see Back to the Future in a theater in 2020? Priceless.

      There are some things money just can't buy. For everything else, there's someone stupid enough to do so.

      • One month in intensive care? 127,000 dollars.

        Is that all? oof! At that price I can catch it twice!

        • One month in intensive care? 127,000 dollars.

          /quote>

          There's nowhere in the US where you can spend a month in ICU for only $127K. You might squeeze a week out of that (barely) but a month? No way.

          America: Home of the "No Insurance Company Left Behind Act"

          • Still time to change it, but not a lot. Good luck to all

            • Still time to change it, but not a lot. Good luck to all

              If the Gropenfuher gets another 4 years, we're well and truly fucked. This country won't be worth living in.

              • Even if he doesn't win, civilization cannot withstand the support he gets. To have such vile people anywhere in the government is a bad reflection

                • Even if he doesn't win, civilization cannot withstand the support he gets.

                  Maybe, but I say let's boot his ass out and then go about cleaning up the mess he's made, both at home and abroad. It'll take decades to erase the stain he's left on this country.

                  To have such vile people anywhere in the government is a bad reflection

                  He and his cronies, errr, I mean "best people" are a cancer upon the nation and the world.

                  • He and his cronies, errr, I mean "best people" are a cancer upon the nation and the world.

                    Don't forget the 63 million that made it all real...

        • One month in intensive care? 127,000 dollars.

          FAR FAR too low an estimate. My wife was in ICU for 5 DAYS, and the "explaination of benefits" from her Medicare advantage plan showed $325K was paid via medicare, and since she'd been in one hospital or another for most of the time between April of this year and November of last year, we'd made the annual deductable and this last stay in ICU was 100% covered. Of course, I couldn't see her, other than thru a closed sliding glass door and at the end of those 5 days, she passed away due to Covid-19, as she wa

  • no way that tenet will be $0.15 more like $15.99 with AMC getting 0.01% of each sale

  • by thegreatbob ( 693104 ) on Friday August 14, 2020 @07:46PM (#60402773) Journal

    I might consider it if the following conditions are met:

    • I get to buy all the seats in the theater. I'll even buy like $20 worth of concessions.
    • First showing of the day.
    • The place was hosed down with bleach or quat(ernary ammonia cleaners) in the mean time.
    • The theater's air circulation is independent.

    Back in reality: i just don't enjoy the theater experience - I'm even guilty off having been using the pandemic as an excuse not to go with people since around March, long before things were even remotely bad where I'm at. Does this make me a bad person?

    • by tannhaus ( 152710 ) on Friday August 14, 2020 @07:51PM (#60402785) Homepage Journal

      I'm even guilty off having been using the pandemic as an excuse not to go with people since around March, long before things were even remotely bad where I'm at. Does this make me a bad person?

      No, it just means you're in the proper demographic to be commenting on Slashdot

    • by Tree131 ( 643930 ) on Friday August 14, 2020 @07:52PM (#60402789)

      So, $150 - $250 for the whole room? Bring 10 of your bubble friends. Each one chips in $15, and you get the whole showing to yourselves.

    • Some movie theaters are actually letting you buy out all of the seats. Alamo Drafthouse [variety.com] started a program, it's $150 for the theatre and $150 minimum food purchase, capped at 30 guests. You get to pick the movie from a limited slate, unfortunately no new releases. A quick search online shows a few other theaters trying it out too, including North Carolina [newsobserver.com], Texas [click2houston.com], and Pennsylvania [thecolonialtheatre.com].

      I wonder if you'd have to pay a corkage fee for BYOB (bring your own bleach)? Maybe circle yourself with large diameter fans to p

  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday August 14, 2020 @07:56PM (#60402797)
    along with restaurants, Churches & Schools Movie theaters are pretty much a Super Spreader event waiting to happen. This plus the schools should overwhelm our ICUs nicely in about 2-3 months.
    • along with restaurants, Churches & Schools Movie theaters are pretty much a Super Spreader event waiting to happen. This plus the schools should overwhelm our ICUs nicely in about 2-3 months.

      You left out the Sturgis motorcycle rally that's taking place from Aug 7, 2020 to Aug 16, 2020 in South Dakota

  • by ktakki ( 64573 )

    $6.00 gets you 40 seats. It's a steal.

    k.

  • Have the theater and the movie all to yourself and your extended family. :D

    -Load up the family bus, we goin' to the movie.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    They still have a chance! Moviepass stock's going to the moon!

  • 15 cents in 1920 to amounts to $1.94.

    Looks like they have really high operating costs now than a century ago.

    • by xlsior ( 524145 )

      15 cents in 1920 to amounts to $1.94.

      Looks like they have really high operating costs now than a century ago.

      A century ago they didn't have air conditioning, no minimum wage for employees, no social security taxes, and the chairs were half the size.

    • Almost all of the cost of movie tickets goes to the studios, which charge theaters a per-person licensing fee to be able to show the movie. Theaters make money only on concessions, which is why the food costs so much.

  • Like convenience stores, most of the profit at a theater comes from items ancillary to the 'main business,' namely snacks and drinks. So, they are betting on their customers removing their masks for a portion of the movie, mostly in unison / at the beginning of the movie, in a confined area, and eating. I'll pass on that coronafest. Further, while I am used to wearing masks for my job and gladly wear them out in public, I rather enjoy taking it off when I'm relaxing and entertaining myself, and I don't find
  • The bigger question is, where will they get the .85 cents for change? Here in Norcal, almost every where you go has no change available...
  • by jargonburn ( 1950578 ) on Friday August 14, 2020 @11:38PM (#60403109)
    I've risked my life for less.
  • 15 cents put the value of the ticket close to what most of today's movies are actually worth.

    Rumor has it there a nickel theater showing a double feature of Green Lantern and Justice League.

    Popcorn is $127.98 before tax.
  • Since Inslee said he would have his state police beat them to death. He is really mad at movie theaters. He even had his WSP beat people that saw Avatar in 3D.

  • And no, I'm not going to the movies. Neither should you. The chances that at least one person in the theater has the severely infectious COVID-19 is very high today depending on where you are in the country.
  • Just imagine if Americans all started cooking their own meals, baking their own cakes, watching movies with the family at home and keeping their private lives private? Theyâ(TM)d finally have freedom. New Zealand is looking both safe and free right now with a well-educated public recognising their role in supporting a very responsive, well-educated government. Companies out there are doing much better than in the US, UK and most of Europe because they recognise that responsible citizens govern the cou
  • Here locally the Cinema is about the most socially distanced place you can be. Max 2 people with 2 people gaps with only odd rows and the inability to go to the bathroom during the showing. The cinema is filled in a way to prevent people from walking near other people, you have to book ahead, you're not handed paper tickets, restricted sessions that leave large gaps between viewings (viruses don't survive long on dried surfaces), then they spray the seats with disinfectant anyway, etc.etc.etc.

    At this point

    • Six feet is not enough. People will be taking off their masks to eat. And two seats between is fuck-all.

      • Six feet is plenty. Don't be a fear monger.
        • Six feet is plenty. Don't be a fear monger.

          Droplets can be transmitted over distances of more than twenty feet, and you think that six feet is plenty? Maybe outside in full sunlight when the wind isn't blowing.

          Six feet is a minimum, not a guarantee of safety.

          • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

            by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

            Oh no a droplet! The point is not to prevent 100% of infections 100% of the time. 6ft is more than enough when the other party isn't projectile sneezing with they're top line capacity.

            Don't be a fear mongerer. 6ft is more than enough for you to not have to freak out unless you're a crazy germophobe.

            • "he point is not to prevent 100% of infections 100% of the time"

              Straw man

              "6ft is more than enough"

              6 feet is the minimum distance. It's not more than enough by definition. The most you could conceivably say is that it is enough.

              "when the other party isn't projectile sneezing with they're top line capacity."

              What do you base that on? Answer, you made it up. Air circulation systems will carry droplets produced while breathing, eating, laughing etc. much further than six feet.

              "Don't be a fear mongerer"

              Don't be a

              • Straw man

                Not at all. Fundamentally the point. You are scared of your own shadow. Grow a pair and take reasonable measures. Or do you also not cross the road at the green light because there's the off chance someone else may not stop for red (another safety measure made in your name).

                • Not at all. Fundamentally the point. You are scared of your own shadow.

                  Please do tell me all about how I feel, because you clearly know more about it than I do. I am amazed at your psychic powers! You win TEH PRIZE!11!

      • It's not an airline. 2 seats is over the requisite 1.5m and the reality is I've not had anyone sitting the 3rd seat over from me either.

    • I share a stairwell with the dirty dirty neighbours.

      What, are they fucking in the stairwell or something?

  • 25% full theaters- max.

    Anything over that- isn't worth the risk. I'm 59.5 with co-morbidities.

  • I have news for them- most people won't risk their life for 15.

    They couldn't pay me to sit in a movie theater right now. Offer me $1000 to sit through a movie in a public theater, and I'd say "No thank you."

    (I never really liked the whole "movie theater experience" anyway, but this seals the deal for me.)

  • Most people have "large" tv screens at home, many have sound bars too. Spend the time GETTING to a theater, stand in line for tickets unless you pre pay, stand in line for WAY overpriced snacks, find a seat (unless they have assigned seating you can pick), put up with people that won't turn off their phones, yacking and what not, then fight the line getting out, traffic to get home. OR...stay home, wait for it to hit streaming, watch it when you want with your whole family, own snacks. It isn't like it was

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