Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | May 12, 2026
I haven't been to the movies in over a month. But AMC still got my money. I'm an A-List subscriber (no big deal), and a big reason is that if I see at least two movies in New York (or Jersey) City a month, the subscription more than pays for itself. However, if my schedule gets too busy (which happens more than I'd like) and I don't go, I'm essentially flushing money down the drain. I try to make it work as much as I can, and don't cancel out of fear that I'll stop trying to go to the movies. Because I love going to the movies.
And, honestly, the last time I went, I paid for my family of four, as well as my wife's parents, and it came out to a little under 50 bucks. To be fair, we were in Oklahoma, so it was inherently cheaper, and my ticket was "free," but I got a bunch of points, which I will try to use before they expire, and a bunch of fees were waived; All of that stuff. It definitely made the experience worth it, but I shouldn't have to jump through hoops and maintain a subscription I may not use enough to make movies more affordable.
I should be able to just go on Instagram and tell folks that movie tickets are going to be cheaper, as Nate Bargatze did, but I guess I need a movie I'm releasing first. And, ya know, the fame of Nate Bargatze. The comedian wrote and directed a family-oriented comedy called The Breadwinner that hits theaters at the end of May, and he made a plea with theaters to price the film at a discounted rate, called the Nate Rate, as was done for 80 for Brady (a film that my mother, who has to be dragged into movie theaters, saw twice on the big screen).
This is a fun idea, and The Hollywood Reporter claims that AMC theaters have already agreed to price the film like a matinee, and Cinemark may offer discounts of 25 percent. The question is, will it get butts in seats? The discount didn't help 80 for Brady too much (it only made around 40 million against a budget of 28 million), but that film also came out in early 2023, when people hadn't fully returned to movie theaters yet. Bargatze certainly has pull, but he'll also be going up against the second week of Baby Yoda's big screen debut. However, Mandalorian and Grogu being an affair for the whole family is debatable (at least in my house it is).
This is one of those situations where a discount makes me think that the movie is already in trouble and/or tracking low. You should probably only lower ticket prices if you are trying to get people to come back. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was hot garbage, but my kids loved it, and so did plenty of other kids, because it has made almost a billion dollars. People are still going to theaters. Studios have mostly trained them to show up for big franchises, but they're going. Lowering ticket prices is a great idea, but I'd be surprised if it gives this movie a particular boost. But, if it does, hopefully we see more discounts in the future.
