Theaters know that you can stay home and watch movies on your huge 4K TV from the comfort of your couch while eating whatever you want. To entice moviegoers to pay top-dollar to get this same experience, just surrounded by a few hundred other people, AMC is revamping hundreds of theaters to serve full-fledged meals. [More]
theaters
AMC Theaters Retiring Carmike Name, Launching New Cinema Brands
By 3.1.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Seven months after buying Carmike Cinemas, AMC Entertainment Holdings — itself controlled by China’s Wanda Group — says it has a lot going on: It will be retiring the Carmike name and introducing a few new theater brands, including a “dine-in” themed chain. The company’s top boss also says AMC is considering proposals from Hollywood studios that would allow movie lovers to watch new releases at home sooner. [More]
Booze-Serving Utah Theater Can’t Open Until Bar Is Hidden
By 9.28.16
While it’s perfectly legal to enjoy an alcoholic beverage in Utah, the state has certain restrictions that any business has to comply with before it can serve boozy drinks. That’s why a new arts center planned for Salt Lake City has to make some changes before it can open up to the public. [More]
AMC, Dolby Hope New High-Tech Theaters Will Get You Off The Couch
By 4.9.15
Future trips to the movie theater could include better picture quality and immersive realistic sound if you live near one of 100 cinemas slated for a high-tech makeover as part of a 10-year deal between AMC Entertainment and Dolby Laboratories. [More]
Of Course People Are Already Trying To Sell ‘The Interview’ Movie Posters For Hundreds On eBay
By 12.18.14
While there will be no backsides warming theater seats at screenings of The Interview in the United States (at least, not on the movie’s planned Dec. 25 release date), there is still money to be made on the bro-com starring Seth Rogen and James Franco sent on a mission to kill the leader of North Korea. At least, people are still trying to make money off the flick. [More]
This May Not Be The Best Way To Stop A Theatergoer From Using Her Phone, But It Makes A Great Story
By 5.16.13
Imagine you’ve paid good money to see a play but someone nearby won’t stop talking and using her phone. You complain to a manager during intermission, but the distraction continues. You make a comment to the woman hoping she’ll either leave or cut it out, but to no avail. So what’s next? If you said, “grab her phone and throw it against the wall,” you wouldn’t necessarily be right, but you’d make yourself a hero to some folks out there. [More]
Theater Sells Carrots For Performances Instead Of Tickets To Avoid Higher Taxes
By 11.12.12
Times are tough in Spain, with new austerity measures prompting everyone, including businesses, to tighten their belts and stretch their wallets. After the government slapped a 21% tax on theater tickets, one theater in a small town came up with quite a clever way to avoid shelling out extra cash — he sells carrots instead of tickets, and then “gives” performances away for “free.” [More]
Seattle-Area Theater Will Encourage Texting During Performances
By 11.29.11
If you’re the type of audience member who feels the need to make the performance a sideshow to your nonstop texting and social network updating, you might want to make plans to move to the Seattle area by 2014. A theater there that’s slated to open that year will embrace technological obsession rather than discourage it, encouraging customers to text during shows. [More]
Transformers Director Explains Why His Movie Is Worth Paying More To See In 3D
By 6.22.11
Although 3D movies are no longer all the rage, Michael Bay, director of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, claims that his film is worth forking over the extra $3 to $5 in order to see Autobots, Decepticons and Shia LaBeouf’s befuddled expressions pop off the screen. [More]
Movie Theaters Struggle To Sell Pre-Movie Commercial Slots
By 5.6.11
Movie theaters are finding it more difficult to find buyers for those often irritating pre-show commercials, thanks to hard times suffered by one traditional client source and the lack of a need to advertise by another. [More]
Theater Chain Fights Back Against Texting During Movies
By 9.21.10
I don’t go to the movies much these days because I’m in NYC, and I don’t want bedbugs crawling all over me like that scene in Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake. But if I did go to the movies, I wouldn’t, because the last several times I went there was always some fool texting within my line of sight. Now a theater chain based in Arizona is launching a nationwide campaign to try to get through to these self-involved types that texting in a darkened theater is wrong. [More]
Woman Sues Movie Theater After Being Arrested For Filming Twilight Scenes
By 7.6.10
A woman who was arrested last November during a screening of whatever Twilight movie was in theaters at the time has filed suit against the movie chain. She says that she only filmed two short sequences, the opening credits and a moment when her “favorite actor” took off his shirt. Wisely, she does not say in her lawsuit whether she’s Team Beefcake or Team Emo, or my niece would possibly go ballistic. [More]
AMC: No Kids After 6pm In R-rated Movies
By 3.11.10
Reader Chalicechick writes in to let us know that her local AMC has a sign up banning kids under 6 years old after 6pm in R-rated movies. [More]
AMC Theater Chain Bans All Outside Snacks
By 12.3.09
After reporting a loss in the 2nd quarter of this year, AMC is doing what it can to increase revenue. Since the business model of movie theaters is to give all the ticket sales to the studios and scrape out a living on concessions, that means forcing more patrons to buy snacks–so it’s officially banning any outside food and drink. [More]
Indie Flicks Now Come To Cable Boxes As Soon As They Hit Theaters
By 6.18.09
It used to be Steven Soderbergh who could get away with bringing indie films to cable on-demand services on their theatrical opening day
Soderbergh Subverts The Theater Experience Again
By 5.8.09
One of the hotter indie flicks of the summer, Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, debuted on Amazon’s rental service this week, way before the movie opens in theaters May 22. At $9.99 for a three-day rental, the movie is also cheaper to rent than it will be to see at many theaters.
Mystery Popcorn: AMC Theaters Turns Off Screens With Concession Stand Pricing
By 7.25.08
Care to guess how much your popcorn will cost? That’s what reader Gabriel had to do when he saw The Dark Knight the other day.
Medium Bags Of Popcorn Often Hold More Than Large Tubs
By 6.15.08
If you’re in a cinema which gives you a choice between buying a medium bag of popcorn and a large tub of popcorn, there’s a greater-than-50% chance that the medium bag will actually contain more popcorn than the large tub.
