[Ed. note: I experienced AMC’s Cinema Suites offerings earlier this week and will have my thoughts on in-theater dining and more tomorrow…MS]
I’m not sure how I feel about this. In the tradition of the Alamo Drafthouse, AMC is setting up “dine-in” theaters all across the country with locations open or opening in Atlanta, Olathe, Kansas City, West Orange and Dallas with more to come.
It’s divided into two tiers of in-theater service with the $10 “Fork and Screen” package having you served at regular reserved seats and the $15 “Cinema Suites” which gives you a more luxurious setup and more menu choices. Whatever you order is deducted from that extra ticket price, but the cost for the items themselves seems to be reasonable, for a movie theater. Check out the Fork and Screen menu here and the Cinema Suites offerings here.
You know, I like food, and I like movies, but I can’t see myself enjoying this. Maybe it’s because I’m a theater purist, and can barely concentrate on the screen if someone is rustling a candy wrapper of shining the light from their phone while texting. I can’t imagine attempting to pay attention to a film I was really looking forward to with myself and everyone around me chowing down on burgers and fries. Add servers walking in and out during the movie for anyone who wants a refill or seconds, and I’d barely even notice a movie was going on.
It’s a cool offering, but for as difficult as I find it to locate a quiet theater these days, I hope this doesn’t catch on countrywide. What say you?