AMC Plans to Reopen With 15-Cent Tickets

In 1920, with America recovering from a pandemic, the Dubinsky Brothers opened a cinema in Kansas City, Mo., and charged 15 cents a ticket. AMC Theaters, the chain their cinema spawned, plans to charge the same price when it reopens theaters next week. The company says it will reopen around 100 locations Aug. 20 in cities including Atlanta, Dallas, and Miami, with 15-cent tickets on opening day for legacy titles including Black Panther, Ghostbusters, and The Empire Strikes Back, Variety reports. AMC says that under its phased reopening plan, it aims to have two-thirds of its 600 or so locations nationwide open in time for the Sept. 3 release of Christopher Nolan's Tenet.

In an email to "A-List" subscribers, the company said it plans to "significantly limit seating capacity" and customers "can expect continuous extra cleaning and disinfecting of high traffic areas," the Verge reports. Cinemas have not been cleared to reopen in cities including New York and Los Angeles, but "the remaining AMC locations will open after we get further clearance from state and local authorities that it is safe to do so," the company said. From Aug. 21, AMC plans to charge $5 for older movies and $10 for the few new releases on offer, including The New Mutants. (In June, the chain backtracked after saying masks would be optional when cinemas reopened.)