Hundreds brawl outside Boston cinemas offering $4 tickets

Hundreds of teenagers brawled outside of Boston movie theaters offering $4 tickets — with cops reporting getting punched, kicked, and even put in chokeholds.

Two large fights — one involving as many as 400 people — broke out in the city late Sunday outside AMC Theatres offering discounted tickets for National Cinema Day.

It ended with 13 kids — from just 12 to 17 — charged with assault and battery on a police officer, disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace, police said.

Local businesses were forced to close early during the rampage that saw teens jumping on cars, cops said.

“This behavior is not kid behavior — it’s criminal behavior,” Police Commissioner Michael Cox said at a news conference on Monday.

Both incidents involved “a lot of young people, no supervision — and ultimately we have to come in and supervise with arrests,” Cox said.

In one incident, police officers also filed a complaint with state social workers, according to the Boston Globe.

The first fight began at around 5 p.m. at the South Bay shopping center in Dorchester when police say nearly 400 young people started fighting outside of an AMC theater on District Avenue.

“Officers observed the large group of juveniles causing disturbances,” police said in a press release. “Multiple juveniles failed to disperse from the area and became confrontational with officers.

“As juveniles attempted to apprehend suspects, they were met with resistance by other juveniles who began to assault officers.”

Multiple businesses in the area were forced to close early amid the melee, and a nearby Target even stacked shopping carts behind its glass doors to ensure that no one could get in, CBS News reports.

Moviegoers also said they were forced to evacuate the theater, with one woman who wanted to see Barbie telling CBS: “When we went to the movie theater, AMC, they were guarding the door.

“They said they had shut down everything and that we could get an automatic refund for our tickets.”

Ultimately, officers arrested eight teenagers involved in the massive brawl — two aged 12, four aged 14, and two aged 17.

But just about five hours later, another 150 youths crowded the streets and sidewalks outside the AMC Boston Common 19 — where one teen was seen jumping on top of a car and stomping on the roof.

Boston police said they were called in to break up “multiple fights” just before 10 p.m., but when they arrived on the scene the teenagers surrounded them, cursed them out, and attacked them.

“An officer was pushed to the ground and was continuously punched and kicked by the group,” the police department said. 

“A responding officer attempted to help, was also assaulted by the group,” the department said — with “a juvenile jumping on the officer’s back and placing the officer in a chokehold.”

Five teenagers were apprehended in that fight, including one aged 13, one aged 16, and three aged 14.

It is unclear if officers suffered any injuries in the attacks.

The fights come amid increased violence among juveniles in Boston.

There have been more than 40 juvenile-related incidents at the South Bay shopping center in Dorchester since June, according to cops.

Just last week, four teenagers were arrested there after they allegedly assaulted a person, and in another incident earlier this month, six teenagers were arrested after allegedly attacking police officers, throwing rocks, and smashing cruiser windows.