AMC Voorhees 16

Why do I have this feeling AMC won’t be around for long? Perhaps it’s the history of the theater at this point, but AMC is the kind of company that will run a gold mine into the ground. Going back to the Posel days, the theater occupied a certain niche and succeeded. However, the theater exists in this strange place in the market where it’s not a huge theater near a mall or central corridor like route 73, but it’s not really a small theater either. I suspect the place will fail because AMC will assume that it can charge really high prices because of its location in an affluent area, like the Marlton 8 post conversion, and that will repel both the loyal “annual popcorn bucket” crowd and the folks like me who do see the specialty films that will likely be eliminated from the programming mix.

The theater’s location and context on the market make it difficult for a chain like AMC to run it well, which Carmike did to their credit by being hands off. If you go through this comments section, I have made my position clear that this theater works best if it caters to niche and builds a devoted following like… perhaps… an Alamo Drafthouse. (Tim League, if you’re reading this, please try to acquire this theater if the opportunity arises) There are just too many multiplexes in the market that are like what the AMC Voorhees 16 will surely become. You could do a lot better with that location, and charge the kind of prices AMC thinks it can get out of an affluent bedroom community, if you try to be unique. “Quality will out” as they say.

The first week of AMC Voorhees, was a bit bumpy. Beauty and the Beast was handled well but the theater will go through major changes in the first few months. The Coca-Cola Freestyle machine is ugly and ruins the lobby, I am sure AMC will make this theater look like an AMC theater. The classic movie posters and photos of great directors will be removed, the competition from Cinemark in Somerdale with their “luxury seating”, will prompt AMC to do the same, and I am sure a “baby IMAX or Lie-Max” will be built, Romon Posel is turning over in his grave, too bad, this theater had a great run but the Barbarians are at the gate.

Carmike is slowly becoming an AMC theater, they have installed a Coke freestyle machine and on March 14th will install new pricing, eliminating 5.00 Wednesdays, The better be careful the reason this theater does well is because of the relationships they have with their customers.

What I read on AMC’s website, the Carmike Popcorn bucket program is staying. Also this was the only Carmike location in NJ that AMC acquired with the merger, the other 4 locations (Cranford 5 – Cranford, NJ; Town Center 10 – East Windsor, NJ; Sparta 3 – Sparta, NJ; Rialto 6 – Westfield, NJ) were not included.

AMC-Carmike has receive conditional approval from the Justice Department. Per Reuters The Justice Department expressed two concerns over the merger. The first had to do with loss of competition between movie theaters in 15 markets in nine states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. One condition for the acquisition was that AMC or Carmike be required to sell a theater in each of those markets. http://reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1491ZN

So far as I can tell online, the AMC purchase of Carmike hasn’t completed yet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmike_Cinemas

Here we go again, AMC has acquired this theater. The Carmike more than any other chain that ran this theater, has a good relationship with those that attend it. It’s pricing for the admission and concessions is what keeps this house well attended week after week, if AMC plans to curtail the good will that the hands on current Carmike management built with its guests, such as raising prices and offering nothing, they will fail.

These poor latchkey theatres that get shuffled back and forth during acquisitions…

Here we go again… http://deadline.com/2014/03/could-carmikes-strong-q4-earnings-help-to-put-it-in-play/

The exhibition chain’s stock is up about 7.7% so far today, and hit a 52-week high of $32.60, as its stronger-than-expected Q4 earnings delighted investors — and revived speculation that it might soon be ripe for a takeover. Some analysts say that the stars will align if the leading theater ad sales company, National CineMedia, buys its rival Screenvision. That “could happen this year,” B. Riley’s Eric Wold says. And since Carmike owns about 19% of Screenvision, that “would also put Carmike in play to be acquired by one of the top three domestic exhibitors.” Benchmark Co’s Mike Hickey says that a deal would “create a +$300 million asset within Carmike” potentially enticing bidders to offer about $40 per share. Even without a deal, investors like Carmike’s report that its attendance per screen increased about 3% in Q4. That’s a contrast with AMC, Regal, and Cinemark which were down — one analyst attributed that to the holiday season launches of Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s XBox One gaming consoles. What accounted for the difference? Wold says that Carmike benefited from its small market theaters which operate “within somewhat competitor-free film zones.” Maxim Group’s John Tinker pointed to “the success of family-oriented films such as Frozen and The Hunger Games, which align well [with Carmike’s] concentration in suburban markets.” And Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter noted that the chain bought 52 screens from Cinemark and 147 from Muvico Theaters that “added three IMAX screens, two other premium format screens, and two Bogart’s Bar & Grill restaurants to Carmike’s portfolio.”

Carmike in Voorhees has just raised it’s prices on admission by .25 for day shows, and it’s concessions has gone up as well. Christmas 2013, has too many releases at on time. Management and employees are doing a great job , the best group on young people I experienced working in a theater in a long time. I will say, outstanding!

At Ritz, and from what I’ve seen, I for one welcome our new Carmike overlords. I am very impressed with the staff, the staffing, and the pricing. Talked to a ticket taker and they want to do closer to a 50/50 split between art and mainstream. They’re also changing to digital theatre signage soon -meaning LEDs at box office and auds.

They also have realllly nice specials. $5 wednesdays were a Rave thing they’re continuing, there’s a stimulus tuesday for popcorns and snacks, a $20 industrial sized popcorn tub that can get $3.50 refills all year. Oh and they brought back the twi-lite shows AMC was famous for!

If Carmike is a bad chain, then I must have bad taste in theatres or they know how to run things RIGHT. Far better than any Rave-era trip I’ve made here. They really let it go.

Carmike is putting money into the theatre. I like their stimulus tuesday idea, and their $5.50 shows in the afternoon. I don’t like is their ugly standup posters covering the portraits of the great filmmakers, that partrons never heard of.