Groupon Partners With AMC To Boost Movie Access

Groupon has announced a distribution partnership with AMC Theatres to give its users greater access to films through the movie distributor’s thousands of theaters across the United States.

“Partnering with AMC helps us bolster an already strong category for Groupon,” Brian Fields, vice president and general manager of Groupon Things to Do, said in a press release. “This integration furthers our mission of becoming the daily habit in local by connecting people with more entertainment choices in their community. Going to the movies is the quintessential local experience.”

AMC operates the most productive theaters in the United States’ top markets, including the top three markets of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The Groupon/AMC integration is expected to launch in the first half of 2019. The companies also plan to explore additional opportunities to work together in the near future.

This is just the latest new partnership for Groupon this year. The company has also made deals with Major League Baseball, CoreSource, Grubhub and American Express, among others. Overseas, it has partnered with Viator UK, Cirque du Soleil and FTD.

Those moves come as Groupon reported wider-than-expected losses in the second quarter of 2018, missing Wall Street expectations for both earnings and revenue targets.

This partnership also comes at a time of positive growth for AMC. Last month, it was reported that the company’s movie subscription service had more than 400,000 subscribers. AMC launched the service — called AMC Stubs A-List — in June, giving customers up to three movies per week, along with the other perks, for $19.95 per month.

“This is very good for AMC and very good for our movie studio partners as well,” AMC CEO Adam Aron said at the time. “While one would think that the rate of sign-ups will inevitably have to slow down at some point, enrollments now are continuing at quite a brisk pace, getting AMC to scale much sooner than we initially anticipated.”