Sydney, June 25: Dendy Cinema Pty Ltd has paid a $19,800 penalty after the ACCC issued it with an infringement notice for allegedly failing to prominently show the total price, as a single figure, of movie tickets it sold online—a practice commonly known as ‘drip-pricing’.
The ACCC alleges that Dendy breached the Australian Consumer Law by not displaying the unavoidable per-ticket booking fee upfront, instead revealing the total ticket price only at the final stages of an online purchase.
“Businesses must be upfront about the total minimum quantifiable price of a product or service,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.
“Consumers are sometimes lured into purchases they would not otherwise have made when businesses display only part of the price upfront and reveal the total price only towards the end of the purchasing process.
“By initially only displaying part of the total price for a movie ticket, Dendy has reduced the ability of consumers to make an informed purchasing decision,” Lowe said.
The ACCC is also investigating whether the wider cinema industry is complying with pricing obligations under the Australian Consumer Law, particularly in relation to how booking fees are presented during online transactions.
“We encourage all businesses to review their online pricing practices to ensure they are complying with their obligations under the law, including providing the total minimum quantifiable price of products and services in their advertising and at the earliest opportunity in the booking process,” Lowe said.
The ACCC has made ‘misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs’ one of its compliance and enforcement priorities for 2025–26.
Meanwhile, at the box office, How to Train Your Dragon held its top spot for the second week, earning $4.95 million to bring its total to $13.2 million. With school holidays in some states, it’s expected to maintain its position in the top 10.
28 Years Later, the follow-up to 28 Days and 28 Weeks Later, debuted in second place with $2.6 million.
A24’s romantic drama Materialists took third with $1.4 million, reaching $4.4 million total.
Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch remained strong in fourth with another $1.1 million, climbing to $27.5 million overall. Pixar’s Elio launched at fifth with $760,000, expected to grow during the school break thanks to its stellar reviews—84 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and 91 per cent audience scoreMission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning continued its run at sixth place, adding $700,000 to reach $22.43 million, surpassing its predecessor Dead Reckoning’s $21.53 million.
Karate Kid: Legends earned $650,000 to land in seventh. New Hindi film Sitaare Zameen Par took eighth with $450,000. In ninth, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina added $440,000, totalling $4 million and is on track to overtake John Wick: Chapter 2’s $4.23 million.
Kuberaa, a Tamil/Telugu release, rounded out the top 10 with $140,000.
New releases at HOYTS this week include F1 The Movie, starring Brad Pitt as a retired driver returning to race in a fictional F1 team. Filmed during actual Grand Prix weekends, the movie is being shown in Xtremescreen and D-BOX formats.
M3GAN 2.0 also drops this week, continuing the saga two years after the original. It pits an upgraded M3GAN against a next-gen military prototype named Amelia.
Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful, a visual pop opera with 13 original songs, premieres on June 27 for a limited run under HOYTS Main Stage.
Families can catch the preview of Smurfs at all HOYTS Queensland cinemas on June 30, just in time for school holidays.
Indian releases this week include Kannappa (Telugu), Maa (Hindi), and Sardaar Ji 3 (Punjabi), screening at select HOYTS locations.
Tickets are now on sale for upcoming blockbusters Jurassic World Rebirth, Superman, and Fantastic Four: The First Steps, all set to dominate screens later this year.
HOYTS continues its discount offers with Cheap Tuesdays ($13 standard, $25 LUX) and $10 Sunday Sessions before noon—note that online booking fees and surcharges for Xtremescreen and D-BOX still apply.
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