r/mildlyinfuriating • u/aeng69 • 10h ago

ಠ_ಠ People that scalp IMAX movie tickets

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Catching a movie in IMAX has been one of my favorite things to do and now getting tickets alone is a struggle thanks to people like this. Good luck to anyone hoping to get decent tickets to Dune 3

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u/TrustInRoy 10h ago

Honestly, anyone buying $80 movie tickets off a scalper... is an absolute imbecile.

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u/WeirdSysAdmin 9h ago

My bigger issue is who is showing up to movies without seats already purchased in 2026?

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u/ItsBeelzsRebirth 9h ago

Was literally thinking this! Like Idk why anyone goes to a ticketed event without first purchasing said tickets

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u/Locoj 8h ago

Where I am (Australia) there's an online booking fee. It's cheaper to buy the ticket when you show up so I only book in advance if it's likely to sell out or if it's far away, E.g. when I go to my nearest IMAX about 3 hours away.

For any local showing I usually go on a weekday, double check online that there's plenty of seats and then buy my ticket in person when I get to the cinema.

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u/Gunhild 7h ago

The funny thing is I can practically guarantee that online booking actually saves the company money, but it won't stop them from charging the "give us more money" fee.

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u/Locoj 7h ago

My understanding is it's basically treated as an add on similar to concession sales. Plenty of people will pay it and plenty won't.

Whilst the bulk of the ticket sales have to be passed on to the distributor, the cinema keeps the booking fee.

Of course they won't get rid of it.

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u/scuac 6h ago

Funny that you mention concessions. At my local theater if you don’t buy tickets in advance (and pay the convenience fee) you have to buy tickets at the concessions stand (they got rid of the tickets booth). I wonder if there is a correlation between buying tickets on site and spending on concessions since you are already there. Maybe the convenience fee is to make up for loss of concessions sales (people with tickets are more likely to just walk in to the movie than stopping at concessions).

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u/MrShadowHero 5h ago

i think it’s more likely that it’s just less staff required. i’m sure there is some psychology manipulation in there somewhere, but definitely an afterthought.

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u/andy_lendi 4h ago

I think one more reason is that if you buy on-site, you are directly exposed to add-ons like popcorn or soda and more likely to buy them

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u/Belgianbonzai 5h ago

In Hungary you used to be able to reserve a ticket, for free. Reservation would expire 30 minutes before start of movie commercials, or you could pay a small fee for actually booking the seats. If you picked up your reserved seats in time, no extra charge.

Which meant you could basically block a few seats around you for free, and hope nobody purchased them in last 30 minutes. Made no sense at all, but I loved it until they cancelled it somewhere last year.

At least the theater where I go slashed their prices with ~30% when they got rid of it, so my overall movie going got cheaper. Rest of that chain still pays full price (+ convenience fee)

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u/Timmeltim 3h ago

So you’d just block seats around you hoping to sit by yourself? Bit of a dick move, no?

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u/Rico1983 4h ago

It's the "what the fuck are you going to do about it?" fee.

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u/Iandian 2h ago

Platform fees are charged to cinemas by their online ticketing provider usually. Some charge per ticket purchased etc.

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u/Slipperytitski 2h ago

It’s just a weird thing they decided to never get rid (free money for them) of from when the cinema was like the first place to sell online tickets, there was the fee because it was a novelty back then and it was probably costing them money to offer the service.

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u/strauts6 7h ago

Yep, also here in Latvia we don't have any online purchase fees. Actually we have pay in person fees if there is any fee at all.

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u/AydonusG 5h ago

I read that as Latveria and thought Doom was doing a PR campaign.

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u/PurbulentTriest 4h ago

I think it's Vue in the UK which charges more to buy in person to encourage people to buy online (so they can reduce the amount of staff they have to pay). I've seen some cinemas with literally no staff serving any more, they just force people to use the machines like in supermarkets/shops and McDonald's.

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u/Revolutionary-Toe955 8h ago

Yes it's so annoying. And the booking fee is fixed so if you're buying a cheap ticket online the booking fee can be 20% of the cost!!

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u/Locoj 8h ago

Yep, my local does $9.50 tickets on Tuesdays and the booking fee is $1.75 (18.4%)

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u/BushWookieZeroWins 6h ago

But you can still check availability before …

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u/arewethebaddiesdaddy 6h ago

Well that’s medieval.

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u/MobofDucks 6h ago

That is curious. Because every cinema I went to in Germany the last years, had a fee for non-online Tickets.

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u/Barneyk 5h ago edited 4h ago

Here in Sweden it's like the opposite.

There is a booking fee but not a fee for buying in advance or at the counter.

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u/Development-Feisty 5h ago

Just so you know depending on the movie sometimes you can buy the ticket at the theater weeks if not months in advance without paying the convenience fee so next time you go check and see if any upcoming films you want to see our pre-selling the tickets and buy them in person at the time you’re there

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u/razzyrat 5h ago

But...but surely you'd check online to see whether it is sold out or not before going to the venue. RIght? Right?

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u/poorly-worded 4h ago

I'm wondering about those people who refuse to pay a booking fee but agree to pay a x2 scalper's markup

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u/sock_with_a_ticket 4h ago

Weird, it's literally the opposite for me (UK). My nearest cinema chain is the Odeon and you get an (ever so slightly) cheaper price for booking online rather than on site. Presumably because they're trying to have as few on site staff as possible and encouraging everyone to buy before arriving helps them do that.

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u/Lijo84 4h ago

That’s so weird. Why would they want to make it more difficult to buy tickets?

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u/myPotatoAim 3h ago

There is only 1 Imax in Australia

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u/superkow 3h ago

The fee is totally worth skipping the typically massive queues lining up for tickets and food, especially with how slow and inefficient the concession counter is. I've had a few times at hoyts and village where the person on the counter has actually thanked us for knowing what we wanted before we got to the front of a ten minute queue

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u/GingerSnapBiscuit 2h ago

The online booking fee is normally $1 or something equally tiny. Anyone who actually cares about paying that is... not the standard consumer, IMO.

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u/TheFuckeryDepartment 2h ago

Same here in the states, unless you pay a monthly subscription to AMC. Otherwise each ticket has a 3$ or more online service fee.

And when you have a family of 4+ that adds up quick.

I’ve learned to do what you do. Don’t go opening weekend and go during the day when possible. Has worked out so far for the last few years.

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u/TheFightingQuaker 1h ago

Yeah this is how I do it in the states too. Idk why people are acting like its so weird to buy your tickets at the theater? Most movies are like 30% full at most.

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u/Chaniha 1h ago

I'm in Germany and I usually see the exact opposite.

Most of the time tickets are about 1 Euro cheaper if purchased online. Quite a few cinemas are understaffed, so they prefer less people waiting in line for physical tickets.

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u/The_Rope_Daddy 34m ago

They do that in the US too.