Reserved Seating at Movie Theatres

Movie Pass really puts guys like Chris and I at a disadvantage in this new world of reserved seating as you need to be at the theater to buy your tickets. Of course it's our choice to use it, but maybe it is skewing both of our opinions a bit. I guess I'll put up with it because we are saving so much on movie tickets.

By the way, I saw an ad during the previews for a membership (wasn't AMC, forget what theater I was in) and it's silly compared to Movie Pass. You get one ticket a month for $8.99, only about $1.00 off a regular ticket, and 20% off concessions. I think they wanted $9.99 a month for that. Who thinks of this stuff? I would be surprised if a single person went for that. No wonder they hate Movie Pass...really makes their own look ridiculous.y

 

They are pushing it because many people are staying home. Obviously you’re not the target for this but many are tired of lines, bad seating and rude customers. This ain’t the total panacea but is a nice work for some.

I like previews but wanted to miss them ore the friggen tacky ads is certainly not selfish.

As I wrote earlier I usually stop in at a restaurant before a film so it’s nice knowing I have a set seat so I don’t have to rush. It’s mostly weekends though when theaters are more crowded.

 

AMC silver, and the equivalents for the Regal and Showcase chains. I assume for the other local art house chain Landmark as well, but we almost never go to their locations because they're not convenient to us and the movies they play usually also play at the Coolidge, which is the theatre nearest to our house. They're sold at the human resources office of my wife's workplace for $5 as an employee perk.

Referring to a theory as paranoid and calling a person paranoid are by no means the same thing. I assumed you knew this, and thereby withdraw the term.

Because a problem doesn't exist for you does not mean a problem doesn't exist for everyone. You keep claiming "the normal theater seats are perfectly comfortable." I assume that this means that when you sit in a normal theater seat, your knees are not jammed up against the seat of the person in front of you, making that person uncomfortable and making yourself barely able to walk for several minutes after the movie. That is awesome for you. Kudos. However, I cannot say the same. Reserved seats allow me not only to not have to stand up to let someone pass on the way to or from the washroom or the concession stand, they allow me to see a movie without being in literal physical pain by the end. This clearly means nothing to you, but I assure you it means a great deal to me.

And refusing to acknowledge that people who feel differently might have valid reasons for doing so.

I repeat: because of the wider aisles in a reserved seating theater, anyone who arrives late simply walks past my seat in front of me. I do not have to untangle myself from a tiny and wedged-in seat to stand to let them past. It's no different than if someone walks past the screen while I'm watching TV at home: literally a non-event. So...would I rather someone arrive late to a reserved seating show or a general admission show? You tell me.

Addressed more than once, you just didn't like my answer. At least in my local theaters, none of them have switched wholly to the remodeled rooms with the wider seats and the recliners: each still has some rooms in the original configuration, and big movies play in both reserved and GA rooms. Therefore, the situation already exists that the theaters could introduce tiered pricing: see it in the general admission room for $14 or see it in the reserved room for $17. (And yeah, movie tickets in Boston cost about $14, which is why we use the hell out of those $5 passes.) Given that moviegoers are already familiar with the concept of paying more to see movies in 3D or on IMAX screens, the theaters could literally start doing this this afternoon.

It's been three years locally, and they haven't. (Longer than that on a national level -- this thread is coming up on six years old!) And with every passing day, the window closes further on their ability to make this change without losing the customers it brought in. It's basic retail economics: it's easy to introduce a better experience and then quickly charge a premium for it, but once expectation for that better experience is baked in, the pushback against a price hike becomes worse. That's why the pusher's mantra is "the first one's free," not "the first three years' worth are free." Given that in-seat food and beverage service has already proven to be a failure in the local market (only one or two theaters still offer it, and then only in one or two rooms, down from the several that attempted it when the concept was first introduced), I just don't see my theaters attempting to introduce a new premium for reserved seating. It would not make economic sense for them.

 

Interesting the observation about the in seat food and beverage concept apparently failing. We have a brand new theatre that just opened in Colorado Springs and I believe that is their niche. They are promoting lots of small theaters with 150 seat capacity offering this service, and they are touting how it's the same price as all the theaters around them (I'm wondering if we are approaching saturation with theaters in our market). Anyway, it's a small mom and pop chain from what I've read. Sounds like I better rush over before they discontinue the service. I noticed a poster mentioning they love the service. Seems like it would be a real distraction, and I think I would feel a bit silly eating around others who are not. But, I think I have to try it once!

 

Reserved seating - I will now return to the movies!!! (Kinda like when the post office invented stickers (self-adhesive stamps).

 

Not a fan of the food m thing but I do line the cocktail portion

 

You went back to the movies after they invented self-adhesive stamps?

 

I've said this repeatedly. Others have said it repeatedly. Theaters need ways to make the movie-going experience more pleasant, and reserved seating is one of those methods.

But Chris refuses to accept this possibility and views reserved seating a) as a scam for movie theaters to bilk customers and b) as a scam for lazy bastards who don't get to the theater early to steal good seats from hard-working Americans.

Man, I never thought anyone would get this angry at something as simple as reserved seating!

 

Yes but even though I’m s fan of reserved seating I get where he’s conung from. He and his wife see counties numbers of films and they know what works for them. They have no issues and know their theaters and how they each work. .

But lots of folks dint go to the movies as often as we’d like to or used to. I remember going to 3-4 films a week. Now it’s that per month maybe.

When I’m going out I love to know that a specific seat is waiting for me. I know how to choose my preference from the seating charts at most theaters near me.

My favorite theaters are not the ones closest to where I live so I want a guarantee of a perfect seat. Pre booking and reserved seating gives me that comfort.

 

That's fine - I know that sometimes I'm less than excited to go to a reserved theater because it does make last minute decisions more difficult. There's been an adjustment period to the whole practice - used to be you worried just that a show would sell out, but now you have to worry that you get your seat in time so you're not stuck in the front row.

I just don't get the anger and the refusal to accept that some people like the process for reasons other than pure selfishness - especially because either side can be viewed as "selfish".

There just seems to be an odd sense of absolute good vs. bad in these posts that I find perplexing...

 

That was always a concern, reserved seating or not, for a nearly-sold-out show.

One of the reasons I love reserved seating so much is because it guarantees, if I purchase my tickets early enough, that me and my friends will all get seats together. It's great to be able to have (a non-rushed) dinner and get to the theater and not have to worry that there only be scattered single seats with horrible views.

 

Oh, I agree - reserved seating just shifts the issue.

In the past, you'd worry you'd get a bad seat if you arrived at the theater too late.

Now you might get a bad seat if you access the app or website too late!

 

Sorry for resurrecting this thread. Just had to vent from my recent experience having to snag a reserve seat after my remodeled 12 screen cinema went reserved seats only.

Similar to the "Subway" thread about smartphone technology making "First Come, First Served" a lot more complicated, the theater remodeling made this even more a PITA. For some unfathomable reason they reduced the number of seats almost in half especially the smaller ones. In those the screen is so close I always have to choose the farthest back row which now makes choosing the seat from an overly simplified diagram much more difficult.

Since these diagrams don't show the entrance which greatly shifts all the seats farther away in relation to the centered screen, it can make the difference between my head turned at an annoying angle vs just a slight angle on the opposite side of center.

I always try to get center back row seats but realize that's now going to be impossible all the time when I arrive 30 minutes early like I always do and did before. I found if I knew which side the entrance corridor is on, I can choose seats off center toward that area which isn't so bad a view over having to choose the opposite side of center. This is why I don't reserve online because its diagram isn't up to date as when I arrive in person 30 minutes early where I can check in person and walk back to the ticket booth to change my seat.

Now there's another issue that doesn't make a lot of sense in that when I finally choose the entrance side from the diagram at the ticket booth showing most of the center section made unavailable from those reserving online, those patrons never showed up. So all those seats remained empty throughout the entire movie. WTF?!

 

I’ve been finding that happening in theaters around here too, with less popular films. Many of the choice seats in the theater are unavailable for purchase and then no one shows up to sit in them. It really bugs me.

 

Same

 

Thanks for the confirmation. I'm going to ask the manager if those that paid for those seats and didn't attend get their money back or another movie selection at a later date.

Didn't want to commit a reserved seat for the 7:30 showing of "Godzilla, King Of The Monsters" two days ago because even showing up 30 minutes early had the simplified diagram having only two available seats in the back row and very few in most of the others in the larger theater. I didn't know what to trust. I told the ticket booth lady I'll see it another time and went to my local park to mingle and brush the shedding hair off my two wild deer pets which made it worth missing the movie.

 

Forgive me if this has been asked, but what exactly is reserved seating in the US? Do you mean allocated a seat on purchasing the ticket? or like people putting something on the seat to "reserve it" for them (like holiday makers putting their towels on sunbed at the crack of dawn to reserve it for when they get their after lunch)?

In the UK nearly all cinema's either allocate or allow you to choose where you want to sit when purchasing the ticket and that is your seat, the only cinema chain I knew that had Free-For-All seating changed over to allocated seats some years ago. If its allocated seats being discussed, count me in as a fan. I usually book online the week before (having to then arrange child cover) as I wont sit anywhere but as far back from the screen as possible, as is my preference

 

You have to pick the numbered seat in the theater from a simplified diagram of the seat locations viewing the ticket booth computer display or if reserving/choosing a numbered seat online (smartphone or home computer) buying tickets ahead of time and not at the ticket booth.

 

If you don't show up to occupy your chosen seats that you've booked due to some circumstance, do you get your money back? Or do they give you an option to attend another movie at a later date?

What happens in the US at least at my theater is the seats remain empty which could've been used by others if the original purchaser notifies the theater which doesn't happen. What if another group wanted to attend but couldn't because the diagram shows the seats taken when they are really empty. The owners of the theater don't lose, the locals wanting to attend do.

 

Now the other multiplex near me (Regal) has switched to reserved seating but at least they haven't put in those capacity reducing leather recliners yet.

 

Just tried the recliners in my newly remodeled 12 screen cinema. They're really nice and comfortable fully extended but now the top of my feet slightly overlap the bottom of the letterbox screen.

That thought was short lived when I considered sitting this way next to some stranger on both sides where we would be touching elbows because we each share an armrest. Things could get quite intimate sprawled out like that next to a pretty woman or god forbid one that has really strong perfume or B.O. It would get creepy for me if there was a man on both sides. These seats are just too close together.

The one seat buffer is a must but won't happen if it's pre-chosen allocated seating.

 

So its the same then, I think I attended a film in the US on holiday once but I dont recall how the seating worked. If i buy online (and i always do) I select the seats i want and those are mine, but its more pratical for me as per the reasons in my initial post. I guess if i didnt turn up, i've wasted the money as i have no idea if there is a cancellation on them or not, it probably differs between chains but I wouldnt buy a ticket if I didnt think we'd make the film. But it is my seat for that film, whether i turn up on time or 10 mins into the film or not at all, although I imagine if we didnt turn up that someone would pinch it lol.
I did have someone once who was adamant my wife & I was sitting in their seats and got quite aggressive about it and showed me their ticket as they too booked online, same seat # same row#, but they had arrived 24hrs early lol, although they didnt apologies

 

The last remaining AMC near me with good old non-reclining stadium seating just switched to reserved seating a couple of weeks ago. PITA.

 

Count me out as a fan.

As we are retired, it is a pain to go through the extra steps of allocated seating at 1:00 pm on a Wednesday to find that there are but four other people in the theater. We will sit wherever we wish, notwithstanding that our tickets have specific row and seat numbers on them.

I specifically avoid any theater with allocated seating, if possible.

 

Yeah, my local AMC is now reserved. We'd been reserved only with IMAX and Dolby Cinema but now it's all the auditoriums!