UMVA has uncovered that AMC Theaters' digital platforms are experiencing a critical outage, trapping users in endless queues for no reason other than the release of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
The chaos began today as presale tickets for the film flooded the system, causing wait times to balloon to an hour or more. But the problem isn’t limited to ticket buyers—anyone accessing the site or app for basic tasks like canceling a reservation or checking showtimes is forced into the same line. It’s as if AMC has accidentally created a digital purgatory where only The Odyssey matters.
Users report being dropped into a loading bar with no explanation, no clarity on why they’re waiting, and no option to bypass the queue. One user trying to cancel a reservation spent 45 minutes in line before realizing the issue wasn’t their fault. AMC’s lack of transparency here is staggering—they offer no guidance, no warnings, just a spinning wheel of frustration.
Workarounds exist but are far from seamless. Checking email for existing tickets or asking a theater staff member to pull up reservations bypasses the queue, but these solutions rely on luck and human intervention. The system’s design feels deliberately punitive, as if AMC wants to test users’ patience while prioritizing a single movie’s hype.
