AMC Mazza Gallerie 7
5300 Wisconsin Avenue NW,
Washington,
DC
20015
5300 Wisconsin Avenue NW,
Washington,
DC
20015
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 51 comments
For a major city in the US and having lived here since 1972 watching the decline of the ‘film scene’ and theaters come and go,it’s downright depressing. The Avalon is the last theater in the affluent Ward 3 section of the city.
This is my 100th Comment on this site
This theater is Permanently closed according to this
https://wtop.com/entertainment/2021/02/amc-mazza-gallerie-7-permanently-closes-in-friendship-heights/
sorry this isn’t about the upstairs theaters, but a comment about the prior basement ‘Paris’ theater/screens. I just got from a friend an email of the original Washington Post advert for ‘Aliens’ (1986) and while I know that the 70mm engagement was at the KB Fine Arts, I didn’t realize it was also it’s sole in-town run. I for some reason, saw it when the popularity and box office success moved it to more theaters and specifically to upper Northwest DC to here. Even the largest screen was on the miniscule side, but man what an audience, the scene when the face hugger scuttles across the floor towards Newt and Ripley, everyone, including myself and a friend just completely lost it – oh the memories.
I was talking with the manager this afternoon, after seeing ‘Widows’ and he stated that the remaining six auditoriums will be upgraded to playback in 7.1 surround sound within the next six to seven months – that’s great news in my book! AMC seems to be stepping up to the plate and doing technical improvements.
it’s no longer listed by THX a Razer Inc company http://www.thx.com/cinema-finder/?zip=+20015&dist=25&type=&units=mile&submit=Go it looks like AMC just is not wanting to pay the fees to keep up with THX.
I hope they retrofit one of the screens to a dolby cinema.
Auditorium # 3 is set to “flat.” No matting/masking is used, so a ‘scope movie is letterboxed at top & bottom. The other auditoriums use masking/matting for a proper presentation. Manager last week told me auditorium 3 uses “digital masking” i.e. make believe, The Emperor Has No Clothes.
only auditorium / screen #2 offers 7.1
Auditorium #1 can and should be easily upgraded to 7.1, since it’s still 6.1 as to why AMC won’t do the simple conversion is beyond me.
I agree tmundell, acoustically Arclight and the Angelika Mosaic are the best in the area and all their auditoriums are outfitted for 7.1 playback.
According to THX website this theatre is still certified. AMC took down the THX placard and they don’t show the THX trailers. With absolutely no promotion of the format anywhere I can’t figure out why they even bother.
Any word on whether cinema 1 (or any other rooms) have been updated to 7.1? I haven’t been there in ages…I only go to Arclight these days.
there used to be a THX placard near the ticket desk, but I can’t recall if it’s there or not – I’ll check. As to THX trailers haven’t seen one in ages.
Giles, I haven’t been to this place in a few years. Is it still THX certified and do they play any THX trailers?
The Mazza Gallery is listed on the web site of architect James Thomas Martino as one of his theater projects, though he lists it as being in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He also has it listed under projects for K-B Theatres, which makes me wonder if he actually designed the Paris Theatre, which this house replaced. He designed several projects each for both K-B and GCC.
I find it embarrassing that the seats not only in the Cinema Club auditoriums but also quite a few in auditorium 2 the backs are or have fallen off, and looking a bit ratty – for the neighborhood this theater is in, this isn’t acceptable in my opinion.
After three and a half years, I decided to catch something else here, and watched “Taken 2” on October 5 in #1.
Excellent picture, and beside the point, a hilarious and extremely entertaining movie, but as Giles notes above re: “The Dark Knight Rises”, the sound was on the low side. The whole thing was audible, but things like gunshots, crashes and explosions were not the massive booms you’d expect on their biggest screen – more like little pops.
The manager told me that they’d been having problems in that auditorium and were working to fix it.
I opened this theatre as a trainer for GCC. It had an attached restaurant run by Neiman Marcus called the “R”.
saw the 1pm screening of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ on Screen 1 (hooray!) and in 4K DCP – it was truly amazing – it’s not 70mm, but the transfer team who created the DCP for this Fathom Event left no stone unturned – the clarity, the sharpness, the colors were truly outstanding – I’m still floored by it.
got a chance to check out Auditorium 1 for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ – very impressive digital projection with the film’s integration of IMAX shot scenes and standard 35mm which looked great on it’s DCP – however… there appeared to be a smudge just to the left of mid-center, which is either on the glass of the projection booth or (perish the thought) on the lenses of the projector itself – management said they would look into it and correct it. The sound seemed to be on the low end and was no where as bombastic or loud as at the Avalon (and that was 35mm and lossy audio) Lastly, I was none to pleased with the audience, at one point some jerk put his hand (and middle finger) directly in front of projector – that’s the problem with the projection booth being that low and close to audience level.
so I saw ‘The Watch’ on screen 4 and the Sony image looked fantastic! great clarity, sharpness and color – the blue of the ‘Neighborhood Watch’ jackets just jumped out. Considering there is significant throw from the projection booth to the screen, I guess AMC figured out that Sony could and can do the job – and it does.
Oddly on the audio side, there’s a slight buzz that is emitting out of one (or possibly more) of the speakers from behind the screen – in the quiet moments, which isn’t many in the movie, it becomes quite apparent and distracting – management said he’d look into the problem.
so I talked with the manager this evening and she said that all the systems are Sony 4K projector’s including the new installations on screens 1 and 4 – really? it took THAT long?!?
to answer your question thebrat: supposedly all the screens are digital, although the last time I asked when ‘Ted’ got released and was being shown on screen 1 (the largest screen) it was still 35mm. I’m sure there are other screens in the DC area that are showing ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ in 35mm, but I definitely know that the Avalon over in Chevy Chase, literally maybe a 10 minute walk east from Mazza is showing it in 35mm.
Do any of the auditoriums here still show 35mm? I would really like to see a showing of TDKR in 35mm, as it was the first film to come from an actual “film” interpositive in years in an age of digital dominance. I know I will be sacrificing uncompressed PCM sound, and the taller IMAX ratio, but I’ll be getting some analog goodness for my eyes! If everything in this joint is now all digital, that’s fine, but I’m personally not a fan of Sony’s 4K projectors, should it be shown on that. Maybe I’ll see it in 4K in the ETX auditorium at Tyson’s Corner.
I’ve only seen two movies here, both in 2009 – “Taken” and “Fast & Furious”. Had a great time at both, particularly the former. Great sound and picture.
The GM here ran the AMC Courthouse 8 theater for a little over three years.
Saw “The Muppets” today at this place, auditorium #4. Here are my initial thoughts about there theater:
This was my first time at the Mazza Gallerie, and it was a surprising experience. I’ve expected the place to go all digital but then I noticed a little scratch on that AMC Coming Soon snipe. I guess I didn’t read up too well. For a THX house, this place was very modest. AMC didn’t bother to promote their THX certification on all seven screens, not even a little sign in the lobby that reads “THX Certified Cinema” or something like that. The screen (auditorium 4) was pretty big, and I’m a fan of the homey textures on the side walls. While the sound system was decent, I think it didn’t push it up to it’s fullest potential (at least for this screen). It was lossy, 20-year-old Dolby Digital, and while it still sounds decent, it’s starting to show its age in the days of uncompressed PCM audio. The print looked very well, with some scratches here or there after three weeks. They do a better job at handling 35mm than the Regal Countryside 20 can handle itself. Definitely going to go there again.
from what I can tell only screen 2 was converted to playback 7.1 – hand it to AMC to unadvertise/promote this. From what I can tell (from AMC’s own website) another screen made the digital conversion, and I’m guessing it’s the smaller auditorium #3 – but I’ll repost back what I find out.
Was 7.1 sound added to any of screens 5,6, or 7 when the digital projectors were installed? I haven’t seen any movies that have 7.1 sound in those theaters yet, though I have in theater 2 and it sounds fantastic there.
AMC has always been really bad at promoting THX it seems; not just at Mazza Gallerie but all locations of theirs that have it. And now they took down the THX sign in the lobby leaving pretty much no indication of THX certification anywhere. Really stupid.