How is Regal Cinemas? (1 Viewer)

[Keith_R]

I work at a Regal Cinemas in my area. The most I can tell you is that it all comes down to who the general manager is. The one I work at is around 10 years old and only has a few true stadium seating auditoriums, the older ones that were not redone still have good sound but that suffer that small porno theater feel that you guys described, still is a decent place though. In my area we have a nicer Eastern Federal theater with all around stadium seating. Obviously the bigger one gets alot of the bigger movies because they outbid us a lot but ours still gets few of the bigger movies. Seems like Regal is picking up a lot of steam and buying chains out lately though.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

For Jeff Kohn. What theater(s) are you going to/recommend? I mainly go to Edwards on I-10, but like you said....it's going down hill. Now, I go to one on Nasa and I-45 S. Can't remember the name, but it is pretty nice.

Yeah, we mainly go to Edwards on I-10. I haven't really tried to many other theaters, that's part of why we're not going as often these days. Nasa & I-10 is pretty far out of the way for us, I'm up in NW Houston so the I-10 Edwards is already a 20+ min drive. The AMC at Willowbrook wasn't bad the last time I was there, but they never seem to have early matinees and it's always packed (just like everything else round there), so we tend to avoid it.

 

[Wes C]

I've liked all the Regal theaters that I have been too.

 

[Bruce_S]

I went to see "Phone Booth" tonight at my local Regal Cinemas and they didn't played 20 minutes of commercials. I was totally surprised, it was maybe 10 mins, if that. They played a couple of commercials and had the x-men 2 trailer and some others.

For those in Portland, Oregon area -- I was at the Wilsonville one.

bruce

 

[Haris Ellahi]

Regal Cinemas use Klipsch!

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

My local Regal with 70mm told me this would be impossible. Can you give me the exact name of the theater that's doing these things?

Yes I wasn't talking about running those films in 70mm.

The theatre is the Colorado Mills 16 in Golden Colorado. This weekend they are playing Terminator II.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Jeff, when I lived in Jersey Village area in Houston I would usually go to either Cinemarks on 290 or Belt 8.

But I preferred the Edwards on 59 over them (it started up after I had been living there and was outstanding when it was new). I didn't realize that Regal had bought them out, but I had heard they had gone downhill. Now I see why.


Anyway, that Willowbrook theater screwed up terribly one of the few times I wasted my time going there. Fight Club was the film (which I had seen once already) and I took my girlfriend to a late showing. Well, they had a problem earlier in the day and were running behind...some 30-40 minutes behind. Did they mention that at the ticket booth? Nope. Did they put out a sign? Nope.

We were on time but the film was already playing. I thought "man they started early". Luckily I had seen the film and as soon as I opened the door I realized the previous showing hadn't finished, so we didn't have our film ruined.

However, many other people had gone in just before me or before we figured out what was going on. I sat and kept people from going in after that point, but when the film finally let out there were several very pissed off people coming out of there, for good reason. I mean of all the films to spoil the ending on...

So there's your AMC Willowbrook for ya. I had a similar experience with American Beauty there, though it wasn't running quite as late (but I did find out the last 2 minutes anyway).

 

[Lew Crippen]

Just saw Spirited Away at a local UA complex (now owned by Regal). There were some various ads and other stuff running when we arrived (early). At the schedule start time (according to ads in the paper and the box office), the trailers began. I think there were three—not many.

Then the feature began. Picture was reasonably good and so was the sound.

Nothing about which to complain.

 

[GregK]

I can only speak for the Regal Cinemas here in Fort Wayne, but my experiences with them have for the most part been sub-par. Sometimes a film starts out in mono until you go and complain, then the operator flips on the Dolby Stereo or DD decoder. Sometimes a film listed out front as DTS or DD was obviously playing off of the optical LT/RT tracks. ..And the speakers were nice when they were brand new, but after a few good action films (like SW: Phantom Menace) popped a few of the cones, it took a few years until those speakers were replaced. Complaints could get you a nice apology or maybe a free return ticket, but the same problems continued..

For awhile Regal had the monopoly on first run theaters in Fort Wayne, but thankfully new blood has emerged sense then, so I was able to say "Bye bye Regal" a few years ago.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Jason, what I mean is: I suggested that they do midnight repratory screenings, and the manager told me "I'd spend 6 hours on the phone trying to get permission, and it'd be "no" "

 

[Jeff Kohn]

Jeff, when I lived in Jersey Village area in Houston I would usually go to either Cinemarks on 290 or Belt 8.

I used to go to the Cinemark Tinseltown on 290 when it first opened and was in good condition, but I don't think they've taken very good care of it. The last time we were there the theater had this funky, musty smell and I swore I'd never go back.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Jason, what I mean is: I suggested that they do midnight repratory screenings, and the manager told me "I'd spend 6 hours on the phone trying to get permission, and it'd be "no" "

Gotcha. That sucks. They have been doing it here since this theatre opened in late December. Maybe they got permission why it was being built and setup a contract? I know that I'm going to watch the Indy Trilogy though.

 

[Claire Panke]

The Regals here in Indianapolis are...above average.

The one closest to me in Avon was recently remodeled and expanded. Generally very good presentation and sound, stadium seating, new sound systems and speakers (Kipsch, I believe), comfortable seating, highest ticket prices in town.

The commercials don't run twenty minutes, more like four or five. They begin before movie start time, but they're still annoying. (Of course, nothing was more annoying than the teaser trailer for Dumb and Dumberer.)

The popcorn's way too salty. The concessions are expensive. Those are my main objections to Regal.

A lot depends on the individual theater manager, how well he/she trains the staff, and how much he/she care about movies and customers.

My local Regal manager tries hard. My friend the manager at the Greenwood AMC tries very hard. Some managers don't try hard enough.

I wouldn't sweat this buyout. If the quality slips, complain in person to the manager and call the company.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

"A lot depends on the individual theater manager, how well he/she trains the staff, and how much he/she care about movies and customers."

VERY true- sadly the people in charge of Regal in this area don't care that much about movies and customers. I was the booth manager at the Regal Natomas 16 in Sacramento for a year, and I quit because they wanted me to have the masking raised on the common-width screens for the pre-show slides, essentially making the screen smaller for the film once it started. On top of everything else I just thought that was going too far.
The place was a wreck when I started working there too. Things I fixed my first week there which nobody else noticed included an out-of-phase analog sound reader (which made all the dialogue come out of the surrounds!), another screen with the center and left channels mixed together, EXIT signs shining green light onto the screens, and noise in the surround channels caused by interference from dynamic-range-compressing devices which they shouldn't have bothered installing in the first place (I bypassed all of them and that solved the problem!)