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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Ground Level   » AMC Spending $600 Million to Remodel Theaters With Larger Chairs, Fewer Seats (Page 3)

 
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Author Topic: AMC Spending $600 Million to Remodel Theaters With Larger Chairs, Fewer Seats
Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

- posted 08-03-2014 04:19 AM      Profile for Marcel Birgelen   Email Marcel Birgelen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Personally, I don't get the deal with all those leather recliners and ultra-luxury seating. You're going to a movie, not some freakish two-hour slumber party where they also happen to play a movie...

Where's this all heading? A room of full-sized waterbeds? Free blankets for everyone and maybe also a bouncing castle in the back? A retractable roof, for when the sun is shining?

I'm all in favor for comfortable seating, just don't overdo it. Put more money into the quality and maintenance of the seats than into the gimmicks please.

For upgrades, I would focus on:
- Sufficient legroom so even tall people (like me) can stretch their legs from time to time and retracting your legs is sufficient to allow others pass by.
- Arm rests that are sufficiently wide, so you don't have to "negotiate" who's using it.
- Cup holders, I guess somewhat of a standard nowadays.
- Maybe some small kind of table tray in the front, where I can put stuff that doesn't fit into the cup holder or I can use in case both my neighbors decided the cup holder facing me is theirs.

Also, I'm not so fond of (fake) leather. I know that's easier to clean, but it feels way too clinical. I want my seat to be cuddly and huggable please.

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Mike Frese
Master Film Handler

Posts: 465
From: Holts Summit, MO
Registered: Jun 2007

- posted 08-04-2014 04:13 PM      Profile for Mike Frese   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Frese   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
quote: Buck Wilson
Well, Cinetopia is building them with couches. More or less the same awful idea as beds.
One of the single screen neighborhood theaters I manage is actually all couches. People love it, it's one of the big reasons they attend.
We had couches (and regular seats too) in 2 of our rooms and they were very popular.

My ideal theater would have both couches and nice theater seats (slightly reclining).

Funny how people who being critical of recliners and couches have never operated a theater with them.

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Buck Wilson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 894
From: St. Joseph MO, USA
Registered: Sep 2010

- posted 08-04-2014 04:54 PM      Profile for Buck Wilson   Email Buck Wilson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I never said they weren't popular, I said they were a bad idea.

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

- posted 08-04-2014 06:42 PM      Profile for Louis Bornwasser   Author's Homepage   Email Louis Bornwasser   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
If your state requires "An Occupancy Certificate," you may not be able to do some of this. In particular, seats not attached to the floor and seats where the backs recline enough to block access. I will leave the discussion of fire treated materials to another discussion.

Won't happen in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and anywhere north of Virginia on the coast.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 08-04-2014 07:04 PM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Mike Frese
Funny how people who being critical of recliners and couches have never operated a theater with them.
And I never said they wouldn't be popular either, I just said people would fall asleep in them. I base this on my own particular body, which tends to start going to sleep even if I close my eyes in a standard theater seat. If I close my eyes in my recliner at home, I'm out within 2 minutes. And a lot of our patrons are in my same age group.

There is a theater in the small(er) town of Broadus, MT which had all "couch" seating. The couches were all donated by people and they were indeed popular. The place is closed now though, or at least it was the last time I was through that town. (Never converted to digital.)

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

- posted 08-04-2014 10:52 PM      Profile for Sam Graham   Author's Homepage   Email Sam Graham   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
**has actually fallen asleep in an AMC recliner**

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

- posted 08-04-2014 11:37 PM      Profile for Frank Cox   Author's Homepage   Email Frank Cox   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I used to have a guy who would come to the show one day each week, regardless of what movie was playing. He would sit in the back row and sleep. After the show I would wake him up and he would leave.

He disappeared after a few years, though; haven't seen him in over a decade now.

I don't think he ever actually saw a movie here.

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Allan Young
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 125
From: EGHAM, Surrey UK
Registered: Jun 2011

- posted 08-07-2014 01:51 AM      Profile for Allan Young   Email Allan Young   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Mike Blakesley
People like to watch movies in bed, too. Should a plex build a special auditorium with beds in it?
It's not a multiplex, but the Electric Cinema in London removed 14 rows of seats to provide six beds in the front row...

-

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

- posted 08-07-2014 02:27 AM      Profile for Marcel Birgelen   Email Marcel Birgelen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Ah! Look, free blankets included!

I don't see the bouncing castle though? And does the roof open too? And where's the pool?

I guess London is sufficiently large to accommodate a bunch of oddball cinemas, but I sure hope this will not become the defacto PLF-premium-deluxe-whatever standard of the future.

quote: Frank Cox
I used to have a guy who would come to the show one day each week, regardless of what movie was playing. He would sit in the back row and sleep. After the show I would wake him up and he would leave.
Did you ever ask him if he wants a ticket for the next show too, so he could continue to sleep? [Smile]

Sleeping people often aren't a problem, as long as they don't start to snore. Still, I see quite a lot of people fall asleep in an upright position, so I have to agree with Mike, this will dramatically increase in a lying down position. It will probably also increase the amount of R-rated stuff happening inside the theater and not just on screen...

Maybe you could include some kind of a Taser into the seats that gives out an electric shock now and then. You could even market it as E-Shock, an added dimension to your movie experience.

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

- posted 08-07-2014 07:02 AM      Profile for Lyle Romer   Email Lyle Romer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Frank Cox
I used to have a guy who would come to the show one day each week, regardless of what movie was playing. He would sit in the back row and sleep. After the show I would wake him up and he would leave.
Many years ago in the mid 90's we had something similar where I worked. There was an elderly guy that would come to a movie every Saturday night. He would always ask to sit in the very back row and ask us to let him in early to make sure he could (we accommodated him). He would say to wake him when the movie was over.

Before the show he would talk to some of the staff and tell (likely made up) stories. I don't know how much of the movie he would watch but he'd always be asleep at the end.

I guess he was just lonely and it was his way to get out of the house and have some interaction with people.

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Buck Wilson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 894
From: St. Joseph MO, USA
Registered: Sep 2010

- posted 08-07-2014 11:56 AM      Profile for Buck Wilson   Email Buck Wilson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
As silly as the beds are, they look well executed in that venue and it would also solve the issue that plagues the front of theaters. It would be much more comfortable to stare almost straight up at a screen if you're laying down!

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

- posted 08-07-2014 02:21 PM      Profile for Frank Angel   Author's Homepage   Email Frank Angel   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
There is an inherent sanitary problem with those lounges -- how long before all the natural oils and all the gunk and grease people put in their hair is going to stain those head pillows? Do I really want to put my head on a pillow that hundreds of other people have before me? Can anyone say "head lice?" I think there will be some very real practical problems that will arise once these things have be in use for a year or two, sure they look clean and pristine now, but give it a year.

Plus, if a patron spills a soda in a regular seat, most of it usually will fall on the patron or the floor; a patrons spills ANYTHING on those plush couches and it's going to spill on that material itself. That material better be made with highly effective stain resistive material or they will get to look pretty grungy pretty fast.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 08-07-2014 02:43 PM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I'd bet 10 pounds (since it's London) that if I was to lay down on one of those beds my feet would hang off the end. Not that I would notice because I would DEFINITELY be asleep before the previews were over. Not that it would matter, because watching a movie by laying at the foot of the screen like that seems about the worst way to see a movie. And if you're far enough back that you're not looking straight up, then your neck is probably going to get tired from your head being perpendicular to your body. I know this because it happens to me at home when I watch a movie in bed.

Theater seats are designed the way they are for good reasons. The recent trend to make them wider and cushier is a good one, but they should still retain the same basic design because that design is conducive to the purpose they're built for....watching a movie on a screen.

Even those gigantic plush chairs in the picture above are sort of dopey because if you had a date, she's going to be sitting three feet away from you in the next seat and possibly with a lamp between or in front of you. How is that going to be any fun?

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

- posted 08-07-2014 04:39 PM      Profile for Sam Graham   Author's Homepage   Email Sam Graham   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Allan Young
It's not a multiplex, but the Electric Cinema in London removed 14 rows of seats to provide six beds in the front row.
That would be the best porno theatre ever.

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

- posted 08-07-2014 04:54 PM      Profile for Lyle Romer   Email Lyle Romer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Mike Blakesley
Even those gigantic plush chairs in the picture above are sort of dopey because if you had a date, she's going to be sitting three feet away from you in the next seat and possibly with a lamp between or in front of you. How is that going to be any fun?
If you have a date, you sit (lay) in the bed at the front. That's how it will be fun!

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