Movie theater
Movie theaters usually sell various snack foods and drinks on concession stands. There may be a counter, self-service where one pays at the counter, and/or coin-operated machines. Sometimes the area of sale is more like a self-service shop than a lobby (it is not suitable for consuming the goods), and one pays at the check-out between the shop and the area with the screens.
The facilities for buying snacks and drinks often represent the theater's primary source of profit since most of the ticket revenue goes to the film distributor (and onward to the movie studio). Some movie theaters forbid eating and drinking inside the viewing room (restricting such activities to the lobby), while others encourage it by fitting cup holders on the arm rests (on the front side of the arm rests of one's own chair, or the back side of the arm rests in front) and selling large portions of popcorn; also in that case bringing one's own food and drinks may be forbidden. Concessions is currently a huge area of expansion with many companies in the U.S. offering a wider range of snacks, including hot dogs and nachos. The noise of people eating, including the opening of wrappers, is frowned upon by some moviegoers.
Many theaters have embraced the "brew and view" concept, serving alcoholic beverages, in addition to snacks and popcorn. Some movie theaters such as the Alamo Drafthouse offer full restaurant service at one's seat, though this is not as widespread. McMenamins is a chain of restaurant/brewpub establishments in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, many of which have full movie theaters.
The lobby may be before or after the ticket check. If it is after, sometimes entrance to the lobby is restricted to a specific time, such as half an hour before the movie starts.
It is quite common for the lobby to include an arcade game area.
Sometimes movie going teenagers throw various foodstuffs — most notably popcorn — at each other, though sometimes at other moviegoers. This is frowned upon by management. In Ireland, mobile phones have also been banned in all cinemas, with some going to the extreme of installing equipment that blocks mobile phone signals.
[
Business practice controversies
- Advertising - Many filmgoers complain about commercial advertising shorts, arguing that their absence would be one of the main advantages of going to a movie theater. Other critics such as Roger Ebert have expressed concerns that these advertisements, plus an excessive number of movie trailers, could lead to pressure to restrict the preferred length of the feature films themselves to facilitate playing schedules. So far, the theatre companies have typically been highly resistant to these complaints, citing the need for the supplementary income. Some chains like Famous Players and AMC Theatres have compromised with the commercials restricted to being shown before the scheduled start time for the trailers and the feature film. Individual theaters within a chain also sometimes adopt this policy.
- Presentation - Another major recent concern is that the dramatic improvements in stereo sound systems have led to cinemas playing the soundtracks of presented films at unacceptably high volume levels. Usually, the trailers are presented at a very high sound level, presumably to overcome the sounds of a busy crowd. The sound is not adjusted downward for a sparsely occupied theater, and some patrons employ earplugs for the trailer period. Volume is normally adjusted based on the projectionist's judgment of a high or low attendance. In response to audience complaints, a manager at a Cinemark theater in California explained that the studios set trailer sound levels, not the theater, but the validity of this claim was not authenticated.
- Piracy - In recent years cinemas have started to show warnings, before the movie starts, against using cameras and camcorders during the movie. These warnings threaten customers with being removed from the cinema and arrested by the police. This example was shown at cinemas in the United Kingdom:
-
- You are not permitted to use any camera or recording equipment in this cinema. This will be treated as an attempt to breach copyright. Any person doing so can be ejected and such articles may be confiscated by the police. We ask the audience to be vigilant against any such activity and report any matters arousing suspicion to cinema staff. Thank you.
- Some theaters (including those with IMAX stadiums) have detectors at the doors to pick up recording smugglers.
- Crowd control - As movie theaters have grown into multiplexes and megaplexes, crowd control has become a major concern. An overcrowded megaplex can be rather unpleasant, and in an emergency can be extremely dangerous. Therefore, all major theater chains have implemented crowd control measures. The most well-known measure is the ubiquitous holdout line which prevents ticket holders for the next showing of that weekend's most popular movie from entering the building until their particular auditorium has been cleared out and cleaned. Since the 1980s, some theater chains (especially AMC Theatres) have developed a policy of co-locating their theaters in shopping centers (as opposed to the old practice of building stand-alone theaters). They deliberately build lobbies and corridors that cannot hold as many people as the auditoriums, thus making holdout lines necessary. In turn, ticket holders may be enticed to shop or eat while stuck outside in the holdout line.
[
Movie theatres and chains
[
See also
- Category:Cinema and movie theatre chains
- Category:Cinemas and movie theaters
- Film
- Film screening
- Fictional film
- Home cinema
- Inflatable movie screen
- List of film formats
- Motion Picture Association of America
- Movie palace
- Nickelodeon movie theater
- Surround sound and THX
[
References
- ^ Vitascope Hall
- ^ http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0040-165X(199301)34%3A1%3C166%3ABTNESP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L
- ^ Edison Film Production - Nickelodeons
- ^ MJ Movie Reviews - Birth of a Nation, The (1915) by Dan DeVore
- ^ The Nickelodeon's history
- ^ "The love and loathing of cinema ads", BBC News website, 23 February 2005
- ^ BoomChicago.nl website
- ^ Darren Filson, David Switzer and Portia Besocke, "At the movies: the economics of exhibition contracts," Economic Inquiry 43, no. 2 (April 2005): 354-370.
- ^ The Parkway Speakeasy Theater: interior photo with sofas
[
External links
- Cinema Treasures - Database of movie theaters around the world
- Theatre Historical Society of America - official site
- Archives of Ontario Various historical photos of movie theatres in Ontario (Canada), along with brief history.
- The Open-Air Cinemas of Greece
- Australian Theatres at the National Film and Sound Archive
For more information review our copyright contact and privacy policy.