AMC Santa Monica 7
1310 Third Street,
Santa Monica,
CA
90401
1310 Third Street,
Santa Monica,
CA
90401
6 people
favorited this theater
The AMC Santa Monica 7 is open of three new cinemas which opened along Santa Monica’s fashionable Third Street Promenade in the early-1990’s.
Contributed by
Kirk J. Besse
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Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
Sorry, 2167 is the number of added seats. 2100 is the number the AMC 7 supposedly has now.
I was never a fan of AMC 7. Although I’ve been there a number of times for special screenings, I’ve never bought a ticket. It is sad however for SM to lose the street scape with the three theatres.
This would not be good news for whoever takes over the Criterion lease. AMC will have the stronghold of most of the films.
There’s an article in the Santa Monica Daily Press today about AMC’s plans:
“If all goes according to plan, in roughly three years Oscar winners will be lined up along a red carpet on Fourth Street
for a premiere of the next box office block-buster.”
This has me a bit confused. The article talks about the theater being built in the space that Parking Structure 3 presently occupies on Fourth St. I thought they were going to demo the AMC7 and build in its footprint. This development would be more or less behind the present location of the Criterion, and off the Promenade.
They talk about plans to build a facility where premieres will be held. Do the studios rent screens at multiplexes for premieres?
Also, there’s mention that City Hall wants to keep the number of theater seats roughly the same, “out of fear of drawing more traffic to the area,” but everything else they do seems designed to draw more traffic to the area.
http://www.smdp.com/pdf/041410.pdf
Does this mean they will keep the 7-Plex also? What about all the parking that will disappear once this spot is filled? What about the Criterion? This all sounds a bit too much and typical SM trying to be Elite instead of practical.
I thought the plan was to remodel & resize the 7-Plex and keep it open in addition to the new build.
I love that city councils think that keeping the number of seats the same means the same amount of traffic… don’t they understand that half those seats are empty anyway? If they spread the same seats out over 14 screens there will be TWICE the traffic regardless.
Brad — I don’t think they’ll keep the AMC7, since the whole rationale for this is that it can’t compete with “modern” multiplexes. And in the article, they address parking: the city is demoing the old bank at 5th and Arizona with the idea of putting a parking structure there. No idea what’s going to happen to the Criterion.
Chris — yes, this is what I thought. It originally sounded like they were going to expand the 7 somehow.
Scott — do you want to run for city counsel? We need you!
Sadly I think it has something to do with antiquated laws/regulations concerning parking:seat ratios. Back in the days of singles and twins it was fairly predictable to say a city needs X spaces to accomodate Y seats. Now this predictability is gone since theatres have learned to minimize downtime and ensure a constant steady stream of customers. It’s just my guess but I think the city is probably bound to operate under the outdated regulations and the theatres take advantage of that.
At least I hope so because if politicians can’t understand that twice as many choices might draw twice as many customers then we truly do elect some strange individuals.
Editorial on page 4:
http://www.smdp.com/pdf/041910.pdf
Is AMC playing fair to get the rights to build a new theater?