Features

Luxury movie theater on the rise

With fluctuating ticket sales and an increase in movie streaming services, cinema owners have had to find new ways to fill their seats. This includes offering patrons plush leather chairs, full-course meals and sometimes even a pillow and blanket.

Hamid Hashemi, president and CEO of iPic Entertainment sits in one of iPic Theater’s luxury seats. iPic Theater opened its 16th location in Dobbs Ferry and offers moviegoers fine dining, custom drinks, pillows, blankets and reclining chairs to enjoy during screenings.  Contributed photo

These luxury theaters come at an affordable price, and are meant to enhance the movie experience beyond what one could get form their living room.

Patrick Corcoran, vice president and chief communications officer of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said that moviegoers have been increasingly interested in luxury movie theaters, and that this new style of cinema has broad appeal. Corcoran said that, as theaters began to add things like luxury recliners, they were seeing upwards of 80 percent more attendance.

These statistics are now forcing theaters like AMC and Regal Entertainment Group to expand their seating and dining options to keep up with audience demand.

“One of the things that theaters are always doing is trying out new amenities,” Corcoran said.

Corcoran explained that moviegoers want a wide range of things from cocktails to comfortable seats. “There’s a whole range of those options available,” he said.

One theater that has revolutionized the luxury moviegoing experience is iPic Theater, which opened its 16th location in Dobbs Ferry on May 5 in Rivertowns Square shopping village. The new theater contains 580 seats and eight auditoriums with the capability of playing 3-D films.

One thing that sets iPic apart from those “everyday theaters” is that patrons have the option to order food from the comfort of their seats while they are sitting in the premium plus section of the theater, one of the two seating options that iPic offers.

These seats come with unlimited popcorn, access to the “ninja servers,” who covertly walk the theater aisles to deliver food and beverage orders, and reclining seats with pillows and blankets.

The premium seats provide a new take on what are typically the worst seats in the house: the first two rows of a theater. In iPic, these seats give moviegoers the option to sit in regular or chaise lounge chairs. Patrons of the premium seats can bring food and drinks purchased from iPic Express to their seats.

Chef Sherry Yard, chief operating officer of iPic Entertainment, put together a variety of food options as part of the “Dine-in-the-Dark” option. This experience allows patrons to enjoy their movie without noisy interruptions from utensils and strong odors from foods. Contributed photos

“Every seat is a great seat,” said Hamid Hashemi, iPic Entertainment president and CEO.

Paul Zullo, of Elmsford, who was just leaving the iPic Theater after seeing “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” raved about the premium plus seating, and the accommodations that came with it. He said that it was “a good experience.”

Overall, Zullo said that the theater “is great for getting drinks and snacks, and really [having] a good time.”

The first iPic Theater opened in 2007, and isn’t the first cinema to turn dinner and a movie into a one-stop destination.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is another player in the more than just a movie industry, having started in Austin, Texas, in 1997, and currently boasting 26 locations across the U.S.

Tim League, founder and CEO of Alamo, said he came into the movie theater business as an outsider. League told the Review that he and his wife, Karrie, “looked to make a movie theater that movie lovers would like to go to.”

Alamo offers some of the luxuries of iPic, including access to a variety of food and alcoholic beverages, but also provides more traditional seating for cheaper prices, and older movies, marathons and classics from various decades.

League says that he sees iPic theaters as a different experience than the one Alamo offers.

“Honestly, I’m really happy when anybody in the movie theater business is doing a great job,” League said.

Dorian Ludvich, who lives in the Bronx, has been frequenting the Alamo in Yonkers for years, and had just come from work on a recent evening to see a movie at the Alamo. “It’s quiet, [and] I love the food,” he said, adding that although there are theaters closer to him, “[Alamo] is definitely better.”

What has given rise to Alamo and iPic’s popularity, more than anything else, may be their ability to sell alcoholic beverages by having an on-premise liquor license.

Under Article 1 of the New York Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, a movie theater can sell alcohol as long as the cinema has a restaurant that sells meals and has a seating area for customers.

These types of luxuries are something patrons can come to expect from newer theaters, who are trying to expand their audience appeal.

League says he believes that cinemas have a lot of different options when it comes to running a movie theater. “I think diversity in the marketplace is awesome,” he said.

Despite this increased interest in luxury movie theaters, there are still many movie lovers that prefer to view their movies elsewhere.

iPic Theater, located in Dobbs Ferry, is the newest addition of luxury cinemas to Westchester County. Photo/Taylor Brown

In 2014, the Motion Picture Association of America, an organization that helps major movie corporations with business advice and public relations, released its annual theatrical market statistics analyzing trends in major motion films and box offices from the previous year. The study revealed that U.S. and Canada box office sales had gone down 5 percent from 2013, to $10.4 billion. However, Corcoran said since 2015, they’ve seen box office sales rise back over $11 billion.

With this increase in sales, there are still many who prefer a movie night-in.

In 2014, a study performed by Nielsen, a company that records and analyzes consumer trends in media, it was reported that since 2007 millennials aged 12 to 24 had been going to the movies less frequently.

Nielsen also reported that 87 percent of this age group surveyed stream movies, “with more than 60 percent saying they’ve streamed at least two feature-length movies in a day.”

To combat this, iPic Theaters reached out to Netflix about a partnership showing some of the site’s original films in theaters.

According to a representative from Netflix, these original films are played in iPic theaters located in New York and Los Angeles.

The original movies are released in theaters and on Netflix on the same day, but will only be in iPic theaters for a week. As of press time, there have not been any Netflix films announced for the Dobbs Ferry location.

As of press time, the newest iPic Theater is currently playing films including “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” “The Circle,” “Fate of the Furious,” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

To check out movies times and reserve seats, visit ipictheaters.com.