Movie theaters have a long history of offering amenities to lure people out of their homes and into the cinemas. In the 1920s, air conditioning made its debut in theaters. In the ’30s, theaters gave away dishes and held lotteries. In the ’50s, when TV ownership boomed, wide-screen and 3D could be found only in theaters. In the 21st century, IMAX and new, improved 3D have become big attractions.
Today, with cinema attendance nationwide slipping downward and entertainment options growing every day, the latest trend is replacing standard-sized seats with recliners. This makes for a more comfy moviegoing experience, but vastly decreases the number of seats in the theater.
AMC Plainville is the latest and largest Hartford-area cineplex to embrace this strategy, just in time for the premiere of the sure blockbuster “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” on Thursday, Nov. 19. A renovation going on since July was completed this week, to replace chairs in all non-IMAX theaters in the 20-screen venue with 33-inch-wide, red pleather, La-Z-Boy-style recliners, which can convert into 54-inch-wide love seats by lifting the armrest.
The renovation has reduced the number of seats in the Plainville cineplex by 50 to 60 percent, said Ryan Noonan, spokesman for Kansas-based AMC. The 19 converted theaters now range from 44 to 148 seats each.
Cinemark North Haven, Starplex Southington and Regal Waterford have installed recliners. Kevin LaFlamme, general manager at Holiday Cinemas in Wallingford, said that theater is converting three of its 13 theaters for recliner theaters.
Every year, the Motion Picture Association of America releases a Theatrical Market Statistics report, a 10-year comparison analysis of domestic and foreign movie-going habits. The report released in January 2015 indicated that the number of tickets sold in the United States and Canada declined by 6 percent from 2013 to 2014. Reports from this and previous years indicate that the 1.27 billion tickets sold domestically in 2014 was the lowest figure in 20 years.
Patrick Corcoran of the National Association of Theater Owners said AMC, the nation’s second-largest theater chain, has led the charge in the recliner conversions, starting about three years ago. “The popularity of it caught the industry’s attention,” Corcoran said. “You cut back seating capacity and you see an increase in ticket sales. It’s more comfortable, more attractive, with a fresher feel. People are more interested in going.”
Noonan said that 73 AMC multiplexes nationwide were converted before Plainville, and that attendance has increased by 50 to 65 percent. He would not give specific pre- and post-renovation attendance figures.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, in a 2014 story about the AMC renovations, “tickets for the renovated theaters are expected to cost between $1 and $2 more than the traditional theaters after a one-year grace period.” Noonan said that there are no plans to raise ticket prices in Plainville in the near future, but that some renovated AMC venues have increased their prices.
Traci Hoey, marketing director of Starplex, said prices in Southington have not risen since the recliner renovation, which was finished a few months ago. AMC is finalizing the purchase of several Starplex locations nationwide, including Southington and Kensington.
AMC Loews Danbury 16, the other AMC property in Connecticut, isn’t on the list for conversion, Noonan said. AMC Plainville’s 517-seat IMAX theater— with standard 23-inch-wide seats — won’t be renovated, Noonan added. Alterations to IMAX theaters need permission from IMAX Corp.
Another change has come to AMC Plainville, Cinemark North Haven and Regal Waterford: Patrons must reserve a specific seat. Easily accessible seats are set aside for handicapped patrons. Although the IMAX theater doesn’t have recliners, IMAX seats in Plainville must be reserved.
Seats are chosen by patrons as they are buying tickets online or at the automated or manned box offices in the theater’s lobby. Moviegoers indicate the movie they want to see and the number of seats they want, and then are asked to select seats from a diagram on the website or at the box office, which shows seats that are still available. Once the seats are chosen, ticket purchasers pay for and receive their tickets.
During visits to AMC this and last week, ticket-buyers were divided on the reserved-seating policy; some were surprised and confused, some annoyed, some didn’t care.
“It’s just something you have to type into the computer,” said a woman from Avon who wouldn’t give her name.
“I can understand it for premieres, but when there’s only five people in the theater?” said Kelly Mays of West Hartford, who saw “The Intern” on Monday.
But the recliners got rave reviews. Before a screening of “Suffragette” on Friday, one man joked that his seat was so comfortable that he might fall asleep during the movie. A woman from Farmington, at the cinema on Monday, agreed. “They were a little too comfortable. I closed my eyes a little bit,” she said.
Mays also loved the seats. “I might take my grandmother. She’s 91. She can’t sit in conventional movie chairs.”
Two sisters who saw “Bridge of Spies” Monday liked the recliners. “It’s like being at home,” said Nieves Hornbeck of Farmington. But her sister, Nellie Kinahan of Burlington, said the smaller number of seats and the need to reserve seats might dampen the spontaneity of going to the movies, especially a group that wants to sit together. “What if it’s difficult to get a seat? What if the only seats left are one over there and one over there?” she said, pointing in opposite directions.
Corcoran of NATO said that reserved seating is a growing trend, and that initial resistance around the country is giving way. “It’s something that’s been very common in Europe for years and years,” he said. He said reserved seating goes hand-in-hand with the decreased audience capacity that comes with recliners. “If the seats are more likely to sell out, people will be more eager to get the seat they want,” he said.
Some blockbuster screenings at other theaters, such as IMAX shows at Cinemark Buckland Hills in Manchester, require reserved seats. But otherwise, the rest of the theaters in the Hartford area have retained a general policy of first-come, first-served. The Bow Tie Cinemas chain website prominently promotes luxury rockers and reserved seating in three of its theaters, none of which is in Connecticut. Calls to Bow Tie and Cinemark about the future of upgraded chairs and reserved seating in Connecticut were not returned.
Trina Gallo, general manager of Spotlight Theatres in Hartford, said reserved seating may come to that four-screen venue in the future, so waiters from the Front Street Bistro can deliver food to people inside the theaters. But she said a recliner renovation is not planned.
LaFlamme, of Holiday Wallingford, said that theater considered reserved seating, until comments on that theater’s Facebook page suggested that patrons weren’t enthusiastic about it. He said the theater may consider it again in the future.