theatres in USA

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Last Updated: Saturday, 18 May 2024 23:11
Published: Thursday, 27 September 2018 16:29
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Theatres in USA

Theatres in USA are very expensive. Average Ticket price is $8/person (incl tax). Tickets are cheaper for movies before 6PM. However, since this is a country, where deals abound, you can save atleast half the money while enjoying movies at these theatres. Many of these theatres put up Bollywood movies also, if there are significant number of Indians living in that area. There are dedicated Indian theatres also in some of the big cities like Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, etc. Most of the theatres are digital theatres, while there are some IMAX theatres too. If you are here, you should try a real IMAX theatre atleast once. There are lot of IMAX theatres, but the real ones are the ones with huge screens in a dedicated theatre. If you are seeing an IMAX in multiplex, it's not a real IMAX. The sad part is that these "IMAX certified" thatres end up charging you a lot of money, while giving you the experience of something just slightly better than a regular 3D experience. You can find more details of American movie theatres on this Wiki Link

Different Theatres

  1. Cinemark. Cinemark is the 2nd largest movie theatre chain in USA. They have Normal theatres, Digital and 3D theatres, as well as IMAX theatres. Their tickets are usually $8, but they have so called discount theatres, which offer you tickets for $1 or $2. The discount theatres are exactly the same as normal theatres, so there is nothing that you miss. Only catch is that these discount theatres do not have latest release, but movies which are atleast couple of months old. Cinemark tries to have atleast 1 discount theatre in big cities, so it's the cheapest way to watch movies anywhere in USA. These discount theatres are usually referred to as "Movies 6", "Movies 8", "Movies 10", "Movies 14", etc  or "dollar cinema" theatres on the cinemark website. Look through the "theatre and showtime" page on the website, to find a theatre near you. I'm listing some theatres below (movies 8, etc), which are "dollar" theatres (<$3/ticket). There are other "movies 14" etc. theatres also, which have slightly higher prices (<$6/ticket), but they have newer releases. You should not have to pay more than $6 for any movie show, since you will usually find these higher priced movie theatres in almost all cities with latest releases.
    • Austin, TX: Cinemark Movies 8 (Round Rock, TX) => PERMANENTLY CLOSED (as of 2021) regular movies = $2.50/ticket, 3D = $4.25/ticket (discounted to $3.75 on wednessdays), mostly 6 month old movies
    • Austin, TX: Cinemark Movies 14 (Round Rock, TX) => regular movies = $5.75/ticket, mostly newer movies
    • Dallas, TX: Cinemark Hollywood USA Movies 15 (Garland, TX) => regular movies = $2/ticket, 3D = $4/ticket (discounted on Tuesdays), mostly 6 month old movies
  2. AMC Theatres. AMC is the largest movie theatre chain in USA (almost twice the size of AMC). This theatre chain gives you the best value for money. They also have similar movie halls as Cinemark theatres. Although their normal movie charges are also about $8, but they charge $4 (some places they charge $5 or $6) for movies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday that start before 12PM noon. This is the cheapest you can watch movies at places where you don't have cinemark discount theatres.
  3. Bollywood Theatres: There are a lot of Bollywood theatres operated by Indians, which exclusivly show desi movies. However, these are only in big cities. This website is the best I was able to find, which lists all the bollywood cinemas in USA, as well as has links to all the bollywood movies that are released. However, most of the theatres charge $8/ticket. Some of these theatres have deals for 1 day in a week. Still too expensive, and not worth the money. Most of these movies you can watch online for free or at a very low cost. See "online movie serial" link on left.
  4. IMAX: IMAX theatres are the ones that are worth watching a movie outside. A decent projector (<$500) can give you an experience similar to what you get in regular movie theatres, but real IMAX theatres, give you an experience which is impossible to capture via a home projector. Typical home projector screens are 10ftx10ft=100 sq ft, which is just 5% of typical IMAX screen.

    Probably best to try the world's three largest IMAX screens:

    1. Sydney IMAX, Sydney, Australia - Held world record for 15 years and has recently been upgraded
    Dimensions: 97x117ft (29.7x35.7m) - 11,350sq. ft. , 1,060m2

    2. Melbourne IMAX, Melbourne, Australia - Used to have the world's largest 3D screen prior to Sydney upgrade
    Dimensions: 75x104ft (23x32m) - 7,800sq. ft, 736m2

    3. Prasad IMAX, Hyperabad, India - The world's busiest and 3rd largest screen
    Dimensions: 72x95ft (22x29m) - 6,840sq ft., 638m2

    To put these screens into perspective, most IMAX screens are 2,500sq ft. or less that less than 22% of the Sydney screen size

     

     

 

How to watch Hollywood movies for free in Theatres

Probably you have heard about movie screenings. These are the first shows of the movie that are shown to journalists, reporters and selected guests. This is from where these people get to write reviews about a movie, before it gets released to the mass public. But here in US, these movie screenings are available to the general public also. There are lot of ways you can find out about these free movie screenings. One is to ask the theatre, and see when they have it. Other is to look in newspapers. However, the best and the most reliable source is the wild about movies website. This link https://www.wildaboutmovies.com/free-movie-screenings/ takes you to movies that are available for free screening. Click on the movie you are interested and see if it is available in your city. Most of the big US cities are covered here. Fill in the form. You will get confirmation in email. Print your pass and goto the theatre on designated date. Remember that not everyone gets passes. Only a few selected random entries get confirmation email with a pass.

One thing to note is that seating is on a first come and first serve basis. The number of passes issued to general public are more than the number of seats. So, you have to go to the theatre atleast half an hour before the scheduled movie time. If the movie is a very hyped movie, you might have to go hours before the movie starts. You will have to stand in the queue. Don't be surprised if you see a long queue. Unless the theatre administrator comes and informs that NOT everyone will be admitted, you will most likely be admitted even if you are at the end of the queue. Come full, since popcorn/drinks are not cheap in theatres cry

 

 

Kids Summer Movies

A lot of theatres in USA have movie shows during the summer for very cheap. The movies are usually kids movies that are old. They are the first show during the day, when the theatres are anyway empty. Also, they avoid weekends, and have these shows on weekdays to minimize their losses. Very few theatres participate, so check on the website to see which theatre is closest to you. In spite of all of these limitations, it's a nice way to get kids to watch movies on the big screen for a dollar or two. AMC, Cinemark, Regal all have their own version of "Kids Summer Movie Club"

  1. Cinemark: They call it the "Summer Movie Clubhouse". For about 10 weeks in summer, they show a different movie every week. The movies are shown from Monday-Wednesday @10am or before.
    1. 2024 => June 10-Aug 15 (10 weeks). Link => https://www.cinemark.com/series-events-info-pages/summer-movie-clubhouse/