AMC Theaters is close to bankruptcy

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They even freaked out about two years ago worried about Concession sales by restricting the size of a backpack or purse that you could bring into the theater...no snacks or cokes in your bag.

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Luckily can fit a small flask in pocket

It's amazing how you can fit a 6-pak in a good sized goat with many pockets...and a sammich.

And see 3 movies because there were no ushers.

I guess you could say I helped bankrupt AMC.

Good news is that Mom and Pop theaters will still be a thing, offering beer/wine and food.

The ironic thing about this, especially given COVID... guess which parent corporation/nation-state owns AMC?

“ AMC Theatres was acquired by Wanda Group, a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Dalian, in May 2012. Wanda Group paid $2.6 billion to acquire AMC Theatres' 5,048 screens in 347 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.[24] The deal was finalized on September 4, 2012.[25] The acquisition made Wanda the world's largest cinema chain.[26] Wang Jianlin, CEO of Dalian Wanda Group, announced that the company would plan to spend $500 million renovating AMC locations.[25]”

I think you'll still have the dinner theaters.

People like going out to eat and they like movies.

If the theater has restaurant quality food and drinks they should be fine.

But the days of a $6 Coke and a $10 tub of popcorn and I'm good are probably over. Public demands more for their dollar now.

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If the theater has restaurant quality food and drinks they should be fine.

But the days of a $6 Coke and a $10 tub of popcorn and I'm good are probably over. Public demands more for their dollar now.

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Exactly. If anything, theaters will adjust and start shelling out for quality food and booze to be readily available at any time. Instead of that being a niche thing, it will be customary moving forward. Either that or we start seeing them lower ticket prices. But to say the day of the theater is over is just delusional.

As long as there are movies, there will be theaters. Just might be a different experience than before, just the way television has changed but not disappeared. Part of the thrill for a lot of people at the end of the week is going to the movies. The Cinemark close to me is packed out damn near every day except for Monday and Wednesday. And on Tuesday’s when they do a $6 ticket night to any movie, shite sells out fast that you can’t even get a seat.

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Soooo, spit balling here. What if theaters pretty much went away and everything went streaming. Would this not have a crippling effect on studios? How much would the revenue suffer? Just wondering if it came to pass.

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Of course it would. I mean how many people (of a household of just one or two) are going to rent a $15 movie to be viewed one time? They’re not. Fsmilies would gather together like regular and then you’d have people gather together like old school video nights or like they do HBO pay per view and watch them that way and companies would lose millions because they’re banking on people not doing that. It’s just not realistic.

Even if places lowered ticket costs to just $8.75 they would make more money that way and get more people in the door because it’s a little cheaper and they’re making individuals pay. If you go straight rent there’s no telling how much &$$ they would lose. Even if they just went straight to streaming on Netflix, Amazon or Hulu, that’s still millions and millions they’re missing out on.

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Exactly. If anything, theaters will adjust and start shelling out for quality food and booze to be readily available at any time.

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Never understood why it hasn't happened here sooner.

In the 80's, I was in Europe for the entire summer (Switzerland) foreign exchange for kids and you could go to any movie theater and get a beer.

That's why I always laughed at this Pulp Fiction quote because I knew it was true.

Vincent: All right. Well, you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don't mean just like in no paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer.

I guess because Europe doesn't give a shite about carding kids, it's easy to sell beer while we would have to be strict over here and there might be complaints about kids (theater employees) selling their H.S. buddies beer.

Restaurants charge $5-$7 for a beer, sports stadiums charge $10-$14.

People pay it. And would pay it in a movie theater captive audience setting...but they are tired of shelling out $25 for a Coke, a Popcorn and a box of Raisinetes.

I think if theaters followed the model of sports stadiums and the awesome food they're offering now, they'd make their Concession dollar.

The big theater chains need to make better deals with the big studios. They both need each other to make money. The studios could at least temporarily give the theaters a bigger cut of ticket sales until they get back on their feet.

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The day of the theater is over

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I disagree. It’s certainly different than it used to be, but not over, they need to embrace special event showing more, bring old movies back to show them more, and just adapt. But people still like going to the theatre.