AMC, the nation’s second largest movie theater chain, has decided to swap many of its traditional theater seats with reclining models at 1,800 of its 5,000 locations. This switch will remove up to two-thirds of an auditorium’s seating capacity. In the next five years, AMC plans to spend around $600 million to make the renovations, which cost between $350,000 and $500,000 per auditorium. The swap will occur only in locations that need to attract more customers. Continue reading AMC Banks on Quality Over Quantity with New Reclining Seats

The new Broadway musical “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” inspired by the music of rapper Tupac Shakur who was murdered in 1996, will feature a stage where actors are within arms length of the first few rows of the audience. The play’s creators spent $200,000 to transform the Palace Theatre to create a sense of intimacy, dramatically changing the original seating arrangement to stadium style seating in the orchestra section. The new structure closely resembles that of a movie theater. Continue reading Broadway Theater Seating Designed to Create Movie Experience

Large format theaters with over-sized high-resolution screens, more comfortable seating, and better sound systems are on the rise. IMAX has traditionally been the leader in these offerings, but competitors such as Cinemark Holdings, Regal Entertainment and AMC Entertainment have started offering their own premium large format (PLF) theaters. Last year, the three chains’ 325 PLF theaters increased revenue by 31 percent to $237 million. Continue reading IMAX Has New Competition in Premium Large Format Theaters