AMC Theatres to spend $600 million on wider seats

There are very few things in life that can rival Saturday night on the couch with a good movie. But your enjoyable night in isn't exactly ideal for movie theatre owners.

Naturally, these business owners want you to spend your Saturday nights at their cinemas, and to show they mean it they’re willing to spend big bucks to rival that homey couch experience. According to the Wall Street Journal, North American theatre chain AMC is spending upwards of $600 million dollars over the next five years to revamp their auditoriums.

What does the revamp entail? AMC will remove 50 to 70 per cent of the current seats in their theatres and replace them with larger chairs (about 8 inches or 36 per cent wider) that can recline. The upgrade will cost the company between $350,000 and $500,000 per auditorium. Many of the theatres will also offer full food and drink options.

Basically, it means more room for patrons to stretch out and enjoy the film, and more tickets sold for the theatre. The WSJ reports that despite losing seat capacity due to the upgrade, attendance in AMC’s already-refurbished theatres has gone up 80 per cent. They might be on to something!

Giant reclining chairs are just the latest effort to get people out to the cinemas. The film itself has always been just a small part of the overall moviegoing experience, and movie theatres have always looked for new and innovative ways to attract audiences. In the 1920s, theatre owners competed to build bigger and better cinemas to attract crowds, lavish and ornately-decorated theatres known as "movie palaces" rivaled the old world grandeur of opera houses.

Movie theatres were also some of the first public spaces to offer air conditioning to their patrons, making the cinema a cool respite from hot weather in the summer. From the 1940s onward, the moviegoing become all about formats. It became less about the building and more about the experience. Which theatre could offer the biggest screen, the best sound, or gimmicky experiences like early 3D?

What does the future hold?

Recliners are great and all, as is being able to eat and drink while you watch your movie, but is that really the future of the theatre experience? Theatre owners have also been toying with the idea of 4D cinema - movies that leap from the screen and into the physical world by using things like moving or vibrating chairs, so-called smell-o-vision, and even bubbles or mist.

There's also a great deal of potential in technologies like the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Each moviegoer could be equipped with a headset (much like they're currently given 3D glasses) and become fully immersed in the world of the film. You wouldn't just be going to the movies, you'd be going into the movies!

Do you think you'd be more likely to go see a movie in theatres if you had a reclining chair? Let us know in the comments.