In September, eight of the biggest theater chains in the country rolled out a plan to spend $2.2 billion to turn their cinemas into Dave & Busters. (Those chains include AMC Entertainment Inc., Regal Cinemas, Cinemark USA, Inc., Cineplex, Marcus Theatres Corp., B&B Theatres, Harkins Theatres, and Santikos Entertainment.) While part of that plan included “making sure that the seats are comfortable” and “great sound and great projection,” according to Variety‘s initial report, there was also at least one theater toying with the idea of adding some more, uh, extraneous stuff like ziplines and pickleball courts.
But if you’re a moviegoer who doesn’t want to listen to the “whoosh” of the zipline during Anora‘s quiet gut-punch of a finale or the precious moments of calm before Nosferatu emerges from his coffin, don’t worry. It sounds like AMC’s new screening rooms will be so big you probably won’t even hear your friend trying to chatter next to you. Today, per Deadline, the company rolled out its “GO Plan” (short for “go on offense”), a series of improvements to seating, projection, and auditorium size the company plans to implement over the next few years.
The biggest (and we mean that literally) vector of the plan is a new theater format called “AMC XL,” which will feature screens at least 40 feet wide paired with 4K laser projection. “During the last decade, we’ve seen an increasing number of moviegoers actively seek out the largest screens AMC has to offer when purchasing tickets,” AMC chairman and CEO Adam Aron said in a statement. That does seem to be true considering audiences’ recent obsession with IMAX, but this writer does wonder if the guy who went to Dune: Part Two at least 14 times is creating a bit of a Spiders Georg situation in the numbers. Either way, you can expect those extra-large auditoriums to start rolling out in early 2025 at 50 to 100 AMC locations.
Additionally, the chain is adding new seats at a number of locations, in some cases with up to four feet of additional legroom between rows. Somehow, our knees really will feel good in a place like this.
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