AMC Lincoln Square 13
1998 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10023
1998 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10023
78 people
favorited this theater
Showing 276 - 300 of 1,707 comments
@digital3d: I know that film can be projected in the other rooms but I always preferred the 70mm shows in the Loews because of its size. I saw quite a few classic 70mm re-releases in the Loews over the years and will miss the opportunity to see older movies on a really big screen since all of them are now closed (Astor Plaza, Ziegfeld and now Loews).
I heard back from the projection manager at Lincoln Square with some details. She said a new screen was installed in the Loews/Dolby Cinema auditorium without masking. The film projectors that used to be installed in the projection room were removed “some time ago” and are only brought back when film features are booked. She said she doubted the Dolby room would be used to show films again because the Dolby projectors take up the port window space. She said the last film they screened was shown in the Kings auditorium #2 so it’s likely that room would be use for future film screenings.
I’m wondering if AMC will remove the Loews Theatres signage as it has done so to more theatres as the Loews name will soon be discontinued. Same for Magic Johnson and other theatres that AMC acquired. As for the international chains, those will remain the same. AMC’s Stubs program has been a success and will raise prices on the A-List program in order to goose profits. MoviePass will die a slow death.
@pL86: The 70mm projector doesn’t have much to do with Dolby or the Loews. It can be used in other auditoriums here as well, as it has been before. markp knows more about this though.
Was the Dolby screen here round on the corners? If it was (and pictures suggest it was) then it’s not the original screen, which I think is most likely. I wonder what they did with the original screen.
Hello-
I greatly enjoyed the recent remake of IT but the bells and whistles and added cost of Union Square’s 4DX theater weren’t really necessary to fully enjoy the film. also why can’t regular auditoriums have perfect projection ad sound? isn’t that what the patrons are paying for?
4DX & ScreenX formats are intended to give the viewer a more immersive experience. If it turns out that you didn’t care too much for whichever movie you chose to watch, these formats can’t change the content of the movie itself or what you thought of it.
Whereas the presentation quality (sound and vision) can. For example, watching an all-time classic in 70mm/IMAX/PLF or Dolby Cinema could greatly change both your experience and opinion of a movie compared to if you watched it for the first time on a small-sized ‘standard’ screen.
In recent years cinema chains seem to have taken the approach to enhance the quality on offer and increase ticket prices rather than change nothing in the way of presentation quality (both sound and vision) and keep ticket prices the same or even to reduce them in a hope of increasing footfall through their doors. It must be working otherwise millions would not be spent on major refurbishments of multi and megaplexes.
Hello-
I think its simply more bells and whistles that doesn’t really improve your appreciation of the film. case in point. when IT opened last year I decided to go to the Regal Union Square to see it. the screening I chose happened to be in the 4DX auditorium. it was expensive but I paid anyway. the 4DX bells and whistles didn’t make me enjoy the film any more than if I had seen it on a regular screen.
I’m with you bigjoe59!! Why Dolby Cinemas at all??
In case you’re not aware Dolby Cinema uses a Dolby Vision projection system which was co-developed with Christie featuring two 4K laser projection heads. I have not read any instance of 35/70mm projectors being retained and used once Dolby Cinema has been installed.
http://investor.dolby.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dolby-selects-christie-co-develop-dolby-vision-projection
And for those interested, the Dolby Atmos for Cinema White Papers:
https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-atmos/dolby-atmos-next-generation-audio-for-cinema-white-paper.pdf
http://www.associationdesmixeurs.fr/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Dolby-Atmos-Cinema-Technical-Guidelines.pdf
Hello-
this may be a silly question to asks at this point but what exactly was the point of turning the Loew’s auditorium into a Dolby Cinema other than to extract more $$$ from the public?
The Loews auditorium was already Dolby Atmos-certified before the renovations so unless the Dolby Cinema spec has audio requirements beyond Dolby Atmos, I don’t know if speakers would have played a role in the choice of screen. My impression is that nothing changed with the visible speakers installed on the walls. I’m not even 100% sure if the screen itself was changed. I will try to contact the AMC projection manager for Lincoln Square and see if she can provide more details about what changes were made to the projection and sound systems. I hope they kept their 35/70mm projectors.
@celboy No, it doesn’t have to do with that. I wish it would get rid of the effect. For instance the IMAX here at Lincoln Square is a floating screen and it still shows the speckle effect.
The way I understand it a floating screen is good to get a bigger screen when installing to a wall would limit the size.
From the ekran article: “Lightweight and compact construction of such frame and the ‘wrap-around’ system of installing the projection surface allow maximization of projected image size to the total available area of the wall behind the screen. The use of such screen frame is recommended in situations when the availability of the area of the wall behind the screen is limited and the client requires the maximum size cinema screen.” http://www.ekran.co/s3-cinema-screens.html
The screen at the Loews before was mounted to a wall, so I don’t think they chose a floating screen because they wanted more space used but rather because that’s the standard with Dolby Cinema screens. Maybe also to better install the Dolby speakers behind the screen.
Is the floating screen concept a way to deal with the digital laser “speckle” effect?
The way I understand it even if there is room on the sides, a floating screen cannot be masked.
http://www.ekran.co/s3-cinema-screens.html “The nature of this construction and its destination makes it impossible to equip it with screen masking.”
That’s also why a lot (most/all?) IMAX screens don’t have masking.
I share your frustration with pillarboxing. But I am glad they went with scope since more movies come out in that aspect ratio. If the screen would have been flat there’d be a lot of letterboxed shows.
It will be interesting to see how much the 3D Dolby will cost. But at least there are matinee prices for the Dolby here. Regal for instance doesn’t provide matinee prices for their 4DX.
Your point is fair – the Regal 4DX in 3D is pricier. 4DX for a 2D pic is $26.15, less than the 2D ticket at Dolby Cinema Lincoln Square. We won’t know what AMC would charge for 3D Dolby Cinema ticket until they book a 3D movie but it wouldn’t surprise me if it is higher than the Regal 4DX 3D.
I didn’t get close to the screen to see if it was a floating type but even if it is, it’s unfortunate that they chose an option that doesn’t allow for masking. Unlike other Dolby screens where the screen are installed to fill the walls from left to right, leaving no room for side masking panels, the Dolby room at Lincoln Square still has plenty of space on the sides for the panels. Lincoln Square is one of the theatres in the AMC chain that continues to mask so it’s a shame that its premium room no longer does.
I think the new Dolby here is a floating screen, so masking it isn’t possible. Correct me if I’m wrong though. From the pictures it appeared as a floating screen.
$26.49 isn’t the most expensive ticket in NYC. Regal charges $30 for 4DX 3D. Also, as a tip: on Tuesdays the price gets reduced to $17.25 for all Stubs members.
Just came from a show at the renovated and newly designated Dolby Cinema theatre. It’s no longer named the Loews theatre which is sadly appropriate because the renovations have striped the theatre of its charm and character and installed a generic black box. I’ve been going to this theatre since the mid-90s and it wasn’t a golden age cinema treasure – it was and is a big multiplex. But to the credit of the chains that built and operated it, the theatre was built with a lot more character than the typical multiplex. Unfortunately, all those features and details have been taken out of the former Loews auditorium. The golden half-dome chandelier? Gone. The elephant motifs above and below the screens and along the walls? Erased or covered up. The spacious lobby area outside the theatre has been turned into a narrow and dark corridor with low ceiling and a video wall. Since the seating capacity was cut so severely, the crowds from sold-out shows won’t necessarily be a bottleneck with the new layout but the new foyer is still needlessly claustrophobic.
Nevertheless, although I think the alterations to the physical space are a big mistake, the new Dolby projection is top-notch. The image is bright, the focus is tack sharp and noticeably improved from the old projection which tended to be on the soft side, and the screen size has been retained which means it is the biggest “regular” screen in NYC (only the IMAX screen on the 4th floor is bigger). But even here, AMC has scored an own goal in my opinion – the masking elements on the sides of the screen have been removed so the screen is now set to a fixed scope shape. Non-scope movies like The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, which is the movie I saw that have an 1.85 aspect ratio, are simply projected in the middle of the screen with the sides of the screen left exposed. I had hoped that AMC would retain the screen masking elements since they were already there but it seems they are actively removing masking.
Ultimate, the Lincoln Square Dolby Cinema is no worse than any of the other three Dolby Cinema rooms in the NYC, all of which have fixed, scope screens without masking and bland, black interiors. When screening a scope movie that matches the shape of the movie, the Dolby Cinema at Lincoln Square will offer a very compelling viewing experience. The question is whether it’s worth the asking price, which at $26.49 for a evening ticket is the most expensive movie ticket in NYC – possibly the entire country – even higher than the IMAX screen at the same multiplex which is a dollar cheaper. By comparison, a evening ticket at the Dolby Cinemas at the Empire 25, 34th St and Harlem locations are $23.29, $21.99 and $18.69, respectively.
The decorated Loews auditorium’s screen dimensions are in the intro above.
Does anyone happen to know the size of the screen in the Dolby Cinema at this theater and also the previous size of the screen in Loewes auditorium prior to the refurbishment?
Seat count doesn’t equal screen size, but either way the Rockaway one has 165 seats while the Linc Square one as 290.
How is the dolby at this theater compared to the one where i live in rockaway? I know it’s bigger since it used to be the THX certified Loews auditorium and is in a higher traffic area than Rockaway since it’s in Manhattan.
kistra: No probs, you’re welcome! :–)
CF 100: Many thanks for your information!!
You can find some pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/fffernandez99/posts/10216818865053437
Someone who was there on day 1 took them.
It would be great to see some photos of the Dolby Cinema auditorium if anyone is able to take and upload them onto here.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/technical?ref_=tt_dt_spec
The film was shot on a combination of 16mm, 35mm and 65mm (IMAX/15 perf) film, as an intentional aesthetic choice.
In an IMAX with Laser venue with a 1.43:1 screen, it would be shown in 2.39:1 “scope” ratio, except for the scenes shot using 65mm IMAX cameras, which would “open up” to 1.43:1. All images for an IMAX version of a release usually go through IMAX’s DMR (Digital Media Remastering) process, the details of which do not appear to be public, but include noise reduction and colour grading (adjustment.)
This process is done in collaboration with the filmmaker; e.g., regarding Skyfall, Roger Deakins himself posted the following online:
“I did not like the look of the IMAX dmr process, which enhances contrast and saturation, so I insisted we timed our own version. Everyone seemed quite happy with the results.”
The use of noise reduction, one imagines, would be less aggressively used or not used if the image is supposed to look coarse grained!
(“DMR” originally was to allow for “blow ups” of 35mm to 15/70 IMAX so that the image quality would be acceptable on a classic “Grand Theatre” IMAX screen.)
So, you would see a potentially “enhanced” image, see the “IMAX” scenes in full height rather than cropped to scope, as they would be in non-IMAX venues, and get the benefit of IMAX with Laser projection system (including superior black level performance than Xenon-lamp projection, and the other benefits of a purpose-built IMAX, such as confirming to their auditorium geometry so that you’re sat sufficiently close to the screen, etc.)—but obviously 16mm (!) source—or 35mm for that matter—in particular will constrain the quality achieved on screen.