UA Grant Plaza

m00se1111 My local Regal here is the same. The recliners are wearing out. Two weeks ago in the RPX I had pieces of the recliners all over my shirt. They have general signs that show Auditorium 1-6 and Auditorium 7-15 RP. Each individual auditorium has what’s playing.

Please update, total seats 850 with recliner seating.

At Neshaminy, it was the conversion of Theatre #24 to Dolby Cinema, and the addition of recliners and new decor in the IMAX Theatre

Never been to an AMC with recliners. The only AMC theaters with recliners in the Philly area that I am aware of is AMC Woodhaven and the Marleton 8 and Deptford 8 over in South Jersey. Soemthing is going on at the AMC Neshaminy 24 as the IMAX and theater #24 have been shut down for the next 12 weeks….but that’s a mystery at this time.

Yeah, I do get a bit too deeply into this stuff sometimes. At least it keeps me out of trouble…..

Have started seeing some films at Grant Plaza once again. The auditoriums have literally all been reduced to half the original seating capacity with the conversion to the big recliners. Even without stadium seating, you now get an unobstructed view of the screen, even with someone sitting directly in front of you because of the unusually large space between rows needed to accomodate the recliners…which is a good thing for my short self. Aud 2 & 8 which are the smallest have definately benefited from a change in seating configuration, eliminating the isle that devided the seats down the middle has created much improved site lines which also make the screen appear larger. Little bit disappointed by the redone decor; it’s clean as a pin but a bit too “blackbox” sterile. The original decor had a nice hint of old time movie theater style and warmth with the stylized wall lighting fixtures and color scheme. Good 4k Digital projection and decent sound. The best auditoriums are still the two big ones, #3 and #7 with their 40' wide ‘scope screens and excellent sight lines improved by the reduced seating.

TheaterBuff1: On the Castor Theatre page you comment that Cinema Treasures has no page for the UA Grant Plaza 9, yet here you are, on the page that doesn’t exist, with almost a half page comment. Did you make a wrong turn on that fantasy highway of yours?

Is this in a shopping center? This one wasn’t around in the eighties when I hung out in Northeast Philly.

The two large auditoriums (approx 450 seats each) have decent size screens and very good digital sound and were as nice or better than anything else in the area when they first opened. The rest of the auditoriums feel crampted and are nothing to write home about. The worst two rooms are at each end of the complex, facing the parking lot…narrow, two sections of seats split down the center, screens with verticle masking, reminds you of something from the 80’s. Beware, the boxes of candy they sell are a complete rip-off (big boxes with a much smaller cellophane bag inside holding a paltry amount of candy)…it’s bait and switch as far as I’m concerned.

Of all movie theaters up in Northeast Philadelphia, this theater by far is the most mysterious I’ve ever come across. For example, how come no marquee? How are people supposed to know what’s playing there (other than from the newspaper listings, of course)? But to give credit where it’s due, I am very impressed by the meticulous way it’s maintained. But to help keep it that way I get the sense they prefer nobody comes there, hence the lacking of a marquee. But how does it manage to stay afloat when operating like that? One theory I have — and please correct me anybody if I’m wrong — is that because it’s part of a publicly traded corporation it’s able to make money via shareholder investments rather than via customers. In other words, some investor out in Santa Barbara, California or wherever considers investing in REG, but to do so they want to see growth, or broad market exposure at the very least. So they say, “Oh look! This chain has theaters all over! (the UA Grant Plaza 9 being listed as one of many.) So given that, it’s in an excellent position to absorb the lion’s share of the movie-going market and turn an excellent profit therefore!” So they invest on the basis of that perception, and countless other investors do likewise. Yet while it is true REG has these theaters all over the place like this, it’s not to say that any effort is being made to run them profitably. Rather, the way the corporation is making all its money is through these investors pouring their dollars into the company, while photos of the meticulously maintained UA Grant Plaza 9 and countless other well maintained theaters it has like that look mighty nice in the annual reports.

And as a disclaimer I’m not saying that is the case, of course. It’s just my theory. For I see no indicators of any strong efforts on the part of that theater’s management to build a strong customer base, the biggest giveaway in this regard being the lack of a marquee. Contrast that to Northeast Philadelphia’s AMC Orleans 8, which could not possibly look more desparate in its trying to lure more customers to it, in its case not only having marquees on the theaters themselves but another big stand-alone one out at curbside.