Cineplex has made nearly $40M from online ticket fees at heart of drip-pricing lawsuit

Cineplex Inc. has made almost $40 million from online booking fees, which are central to a competition bureau lawsuit against the Canadian cinema chain.

An agreed statement of facts filed in the case before the Competition Tribunal shows Canada’s largest theatre owner made more than $11.6 million in the six months after the fees were implemented in June 2022. It made another $27.3 million on the fees in 2023.

Cineplex charges an additional $1.50 on every ticket purchased online, but Scene+ members get a discount and CineClub members have the fee waived.

Competition commissioner Matthew Boswell alleges the online fees are deceptive, because