The stadium seating auditoriums in my area have fairly steep slopes, which limits the depth that the stadium seating section can have. All stadium auditorums in my area have standard seating sections in the front of the stadium sections because the depth of the stadium section is limited by the slope.

I've often wondered why older standard auditoriums, when converted to stadium seating, are not converted to a stadium style with less of a rise from one row to the next. The rise in most stadium auditoriums in my area is about a foot per row. I visited one theatre, the Shady Brooks Cinemas in Columbia, TN, and in the stadium auditoriums, the slope was less (about 6 or 8 inches per row). It wasn't quite enough to keep a tall person sitting in front of you from blocking a bit of the screen with the top of his head, but it was enough slope for 99 percent of the movies and audiences, where showings don't come close to selling out. In both showings I attended at this theatre, there were plenty of seats to choose with nobody in the seat directly in front. A smaller rise from row to row allows the stadium section to be much larger and allows deeper auditoriums.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

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I still think that a stadium design with a less agressive slope from one row to the next is a good compromise between the two extremes.

One extreme is the auditoriums built in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Fairlane-Litchfield where one person's head can protrude into the screen area for people in seats many rows behind them. The screens are low and there isn't much slope.

The other extreme is the stadium design where each row is at least a foot higher then the one in front. A very short person can sit behind a tall person in that case with no head protrusion into the screen area. The problem is that the auditorium must be shallow or a section of standard seating must be in front of it. People in the back of the auditorium are above the screen center in some cases. Portholes must be higher (more keystoning).

With the middle ground (like Shady Brook Cinemas in Columbia, TN), a 6 to 8 inch rise per row works well in most cases. I wonder why the larger chains are not building auditoriums in this fashion. It seems to be a happy compromise.

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In a conventionally sloped auditorium, sightlines can be addressed by using optimized slope, staggered seating, greater row spacing, and raising the bottom of the screen, with reclining seats to allow comfortable viewing of the slightly higher screen.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Many of these auditoriums would have a slight bowl effect where the floor would slope down two thirds of the way and the start a gradual slope upward toward the screen area.

I have found that many of the older 55 + generation people who attend movies become dis-oriented while attending auditoriums with just stadium seats. The people of New York are fortunate in that we still have many
first run theatres that have sloped floors and these are usually single auditoriums or twins in addition to several multi-plexes that have the stadium seats.

Their are still a few that have both.

For those of you who have a combination of sloped and stadium seating, take a look out the port the next time your house is half full. See anyone sitting down front? I don't.

I originally thought safety would be a problem, but after a year and a half of running with stadium seating, we have not had a single accident to date.

I often think back to the college lectures in the old buildings that had stadium configurations (50's & 60's)and wonder why we all were not bright enough to come up with this concept sooner?

Figures don't lie. Just look what has happened to theaters without stadium seating when a competitor builds on top of them.

This is not a fad. When properly configured, stadium provides a superior venue, period. Take a look around ten years into the furure and see who has survived who
has gone belly-up.

Bottom line is fannies in the seats, guys and gals.

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Looking at the figures....when a new theatre moves into town it generally stomps all over the existing old theatre. Often the new theatre has more screens too....how can you say it is just the stadium seating?

As John said, a well designed sloped floor theatre can have all of the benefits of stadium but exhibitors just can't help themselves...gotta cram them all together.

People don't wan't obstructed vision, they don't care if it is stadium or sloped to achieve that...the perception is that stadium guarantees unobstructed vision....a falsehood in many theatres since hand rails are often in the way .

Steve

I've gradually made the transition away from sloped seating to stadium seating. As of last October it's stadium seating for me or nothing -- and I'm in my mid-40s. It's a bit easier for me to say that with all the theaters that have opened in the past 2 1/2 years. That's one thing you can thank George Lucas for!

BTW, I have had no problem reading subtitles on subtitled movies in stadium theaters.

How is George Lucas responsible for stadium seating? Many attribute the recent trend to stadium seating to AMC Theatres, or to Kinopolis in Europe. If you really go back, the ancient Greeks and Romans used it first.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion