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The Loews 34th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues) is the first theater in the city to offer $15 movie seats. The Post looks at the so-called luxury seats, which have "comfy reclining seat in maroon faux leather that's about three inches wider than other seats in the same auditorium." People who shell for these seats are escorted by ushers to the seats, and ushers will apparently kick out any squatters from them as well. Some of the luxury seats also have high backs and tables for food. A throwback to the days when balcony seats at theaters were for the wealthy and the commoners sat on the ground level. (See Cinema Paradiso.)
One theatregoer grumbled, "There are very few films worth the $10 to begin with." You said it - we're not embarassed to admit we saw Dickie Roberts for $10, but $15? We'd hang our heads in shame. Theater chains are trying to look for ways to increase their revenue so here are Gothamist's suggestions: Don't let Hollywood make you put certain films on 70% of your screens. Ushers should be employed to clean up and turn the theaters over. Offer better loyalty programs. Consider assigned seating.
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Assigned seating is a good idea. There's a theater in LA called Arc Light or something and once you buy a ticket ($10) you get an assigned seat with a specific number. Then an usher takes you to it. They also have an usher talk about the movie beforehand, which I don't really need/want, but it's nice that they care.
Assigned seating is only blindingly obvious and works for like 90% of the rest of the world, so of course there's zero chance that it'll get implemented here.
My friends and I sat in the "premium" seats at the 34th St. Loews for Saturday's matinee showing of Kill Bill: when the theatre is 90% empty, apparently no one bothers to keep track of who's sitting where. Having the little tables was a nice touch, but not one that I could see handing over an extra $5 for, especially on top of Fandango's service charges.
Also: tables sort of implies the existence of food worth eating somewhere in the theatre complex. Yeah right.
Maybe if you're planning on spending a lot of time in the theatre...
wasn't there an idea like maybe 3-5 years ago to start reserving seats for an extra charge of like $2-$3? i might be imagining it, but i think it's true.
The seats are three inches wider but is there any more leg room? Doesn't seem like it, otherwise the theater would have to reconfigure all the rows. Look at the guy in the picture. He's sitting spread eagle to fit his legs in. He might be sitting on faux leather, but he's still uncomfortable.
The day a theater opens that caters specifically to people over six feet tall, I'll start going to the movies more often. At least give us a row or two. We'll pay a premium to not sit with our knees in our teeth.
The extra four bucks at L.A.'s Arclight also gets you a commercial-free screening, three hours of free parking, and the "best in sight and sound technology." Plus it's all housed in a geodesic dome. Seems like New Yorkers are getting ripped with the Loews deal.
Coolfer: being over 6 feet myself, I agree with the lack of any decent seating at NYC movie theatres (with a few obvious exceptions). Almost as bad as a coach seat on an airplane where the five foot tall person in front of you attempts to recline their seat all the way back.
Houston has almost all stadium seating theatres now. In fact, the Angelika in downtown Houston is the best of all worlds with art house movies, TRUE stadium seating (i.e. stepped), three hours free parking, and actually a decent coffee house. No, its not NYC, but for cities other than NYC, its not bad.
I don't know that I'd be willing to pay extra for "premium seating" but I've long said that I'd be willing to pay more for child free shows. Obviously with most R rated movies this isn't much of an issue but for lots and lots of PG and PG-13 movies the theater is full of unattended loud 12 year olds and/or parents who wanted a night out but didn't spend the money to get their two year old a baby sitter.
Another issue is that the Loews 34th Street Theatre is having a lot of trouble attracting paying customers. It's out of the way (9th and 34th); it's close enough to the two 42nd St. megaplexes that they lose a lot of business to those guys; and it's too far north of Chelsea to attract that crowd.
In 10-15 years, when that neighborhood has been gentrified, they won't have any trouble putting butts in seats, but right now...
Hey Theater Owners, you want to make more money? Allow luxury seats patrons to buy beer/wine. You could have them show their (say, specially colored) ticket stub and a driver's license at the concession stand.