Cineplex has made nearly $40 million from online booking fees since 2022

Annoyed with the booking fees tacked on to your Cineplex movie ticket when you buy online?

Well, it turns out that Canada’s largest movie theatre chain has made quite a profit off of it.

According to an agreed statement of facts in a case before the Competition Tribunal released last Friday, Cineplex has cashed in close to $40 million from online booking fees since it was first implemented in 2022.

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The case before the federal body was introduced by Canada’s competition commissioner in 2023. It accuses the entertainment company of “deceptive marketing practices” through its implementation of the online booking fee.

The agreed statement of facts revealed that Cineplex made over $11.6 million in the first six months after the fees were implemented in June 2022. It banked another $27.3 million through the fees in 2023.

According to the commissioner of competition, the company promotes its movie tickets to the public on its site and app at deceptive prices.

“The prices are unattainable because consumers purchasing movie tickets on the website or in its app must also pay a fixed obligatory fee (the “Online Booking Fee”) in addition to the price represented for the ticket,” reads the commissioner’s notice of application.

The commissioner goes on to argue that the fee isn’t a charge that has been imposed by law, but rather “a source of revenue for Cineplex.”

In the company’s response, it called the commissioner’s allegations “a mischaracterization of the website and app purchase process, and a misapprehension and misapplication of the law.”

Moviegoers weren’t too happy either when the company first launched the $1.50 online booking fee on June 15, 2022.

“The audacity of this corporation,” one person posted on X.

Is @CineplexMovies joking with this new online booking fee? I have to pay MORE to use the method that doesn’t require an employee do anything? The method that doesn’t even require them to print tickets? It’s a “final straw” reason to stay home & stream movies!

— Lauren Ferris (@SoulOfTwit) June 21, 2022

While members of the CineClub are exempt from the fee, it seems the additional payment has left many frustrated.

Last month, not one, but two class-action lawsuits were filed against Cineplex over its failure to disclose the online booking fee at the outset of the ticket purchasing process.

With files from Daily Hive Vancouver’s Amir Ali