The $2 Test

How movie subscriptions are searching for your ceiling. An article by Will.

So, AMC is at it again. They’ve managed to hike the price of AMC Stubs A-List twice in just fourteen months. Back in May 2025, it jumped 2 bucks with plans going up to $27.99. Now, starting July 15, it’s going up another 2 bucks up to $29.99. I lucked out, my state is staying at $19.99 for now, but for most of you, the bill is getting heavier.

Here’s the thing about these subscriptions: they totally change how you spend your Friday nights. Without a pass, you’re asking, “Is this movie worth $18 plus parking?” Most of the time, the answer is a hard no. But with a subscription, the question becomes, “Am I doing anything better tonight?” Suddenly, you’re sitting in a mid-budget thriller you never would’ve paid for. That’s the trick. It doesn’t make you love movies more; it just makes sure the couch doesn’t win.

For the theaters, an empty seat is a waste. They’ve got bills to pay whether there are four people or four hundred in the room. Every subscriber who wanders in on a Tuesday is pure upside. Concessions are where they make the bulk of their profits. They’re buying full-price popcorn, since subscriptions rarely discount the snacks, and they keep the lights on for those indie films. It turns casual viewers into regulars, and regulars are what keep theaters from becoming just another empty building with a big screen.

Netflix has been playing this same game for years. Remember when the premium plan was $11.99, after the latest hike in 2026, it’s $26.99. They just nudge it up what it feels like every year to see who actually leaves. It’s a classic move: raise it, wait, and repeat.

But man, I’ve seen this go horribly wrong before. Remember MoviePass? In 2017, they offered a movie a day for ten bucks a month. It was insane. I signed up immediately and dragged all my friends in. I was seeing a legit 4-6 movies practically every week. We all asked, “How are they making money?” Spoilers: they weren’t. Within about 10 months, they started capping movies, blacking out blockbusters, and literally running out of cash. I finally bailed at that point. By 2019, they were toast. It was a beautiful, chaotic disaster. (it’s technically back but uses a completely different way to watch movies)

AMC clearly took notes on that crash-and-burn. They didn’t want to be a cautionary tale. While MoviePass was chasing a high it couldn’t sustain, AMC built A-List for the long haul. I was a loyal member for years because they only promised what they could actually deliver. But here’s the shift: raising the price last May felt like a fair trade for what we were getting, so they added a fourth movie a week. Raising it again this July with zero new perks, that’s just a bet that you’re too hooked to quit.

Think about the power users. If you see four movies a week, you’re paying about $1.60 a ticket. Great deal, right? But it ruins your sense of what a “fair” price is. After a year of $1.60 movies, an $18 ticket feels like a personal insult. If the price gets too high, people won’t go back to paying full price; they’ll just stay home. The couch is patient, and with movies hitting streaming in about a month now, waiting is easier than ever. That’s the real competition: the month-long wait, not the box office.

Let’s be real, the people on A-List were already movie nerds. They were the ones spending over $100 a month before the plan existed. AMC didn’t find a new customer; they just gave their best customer a massive discount.

So, where does this stop? MoviePass hit its ceiling by accident because it couldn’t survive its own success. AMC is looking for its ceiling on purpose, two dollars at a time. At what point do you actually hit ‘cancel’? If the answer is “not yet,” what does that say about the price we were paying before?

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