News, Analysis and Reviews of the Disney Entertainment Business
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If you are exhausted from all the holiday festivities, and need a chance to veg for the day, AMC may have the answer for you. On January 1, 2023, AMC Theatres will host “Disney 100 Years of Wonder,” a four-movie marathon featuring 3 movies of the Disney Renaissance, and one newer, yet insanely popular, animated classic. For many younger audience members, this is a great opportunity to see some of Disney’s best animated feature films on the big screen.
Courtesy of AMC Theatres
The marathon is a $30, one-price ticket that includes Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and the newbie (sort of) of the group, Frozen. Guests at this one-day-only presentation also receive a free collectible mini-poster.
The event will be available at select theatres, including the AMC Dine-In at Disney Springs, beginning at noon. (Seats are selling quickly). There is a 6 hour and 40 minute total run time, so settle in! You can check AMC listings for availability in your area.
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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.
It surely has been a long road back from the days of COVID closures for local movie theatres, and many of them are still struggling to find their audiences. To entice viewers to join them in person, AMC Theatres will be hosting National Cinema Day on September 3, 2022. All tickets, including IMAX and Dolby Cinema, are only $3 (plus tax). Concession stand specials include a fountain drink & Cameo-sized popcorn combo for $5 (plus tax). Kick off your holiday weekend with a trip to the movies!
In addition, from September 8-19, 2022, you can take advantage of $5 (plus tax) Disney movies to celebrate Disney+ Day on September 8. Disney+ subscribers will receive a free Disney+ poster with eligible ticket purchase (while supplies last), and can also treat themselves to a fountain drink & Cameo-sized popcorn combo for an additional $5 (plus tax). Movie-goers need to show their ticket and an active Disney+ account at concessions to get the deal.
Only available for select screenings, at select locations across the United States, the special Disney+ Day showings include Encanto, Thor: Ragnarok, Rogue One, Cars, and Newsies. This is a great chance to see some of your favorites on the big screen again, or to catch them in their original format if you missed them the first time around. If you happen to be at Disney World in Florida, the AMC Dine-In at Disney Springs is a participating theatre. Check the AMC list here for other locations near you.
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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.
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We were driving home past our local movie theater last night, having been to one of the pop-up drive-in movies that have started filling the landscape near us, and started to wonder: Are the regular theaters ever really going to reopen?
Don’t get me wrong. The pop-up drive-ins are a novelty, and a welcome diversion in our neighborhood, where the COVID-19 infection rates have finally declined. After nearly four months of being in lock-down in our own houses, leaving only for groceries or pharmacy, we are easily amused these days, even spending $25 to drive up to a 50-foot screen to watch a movie THAT WE ALREADY OWN AT HOME from our car. Suddenly, the privilege of eating cooled down microwave popcorn and sweating in the front seat of our own vehicle seems like great fun.
So, when is the current projected reopening for local theaters? That all depends. With COVID-19 rates skyrocketing in some areas, theater owners are hesitant to give a projected date to bring up the curtains at their complexes. Opening dates seem to be a bit of a moving target these days, with several chains changing their debuts a number of times already.
One of the theater chains modifying their reopening dates is AMC, which was originally set to begin phased, limited attendance reopenings July 15, then amended to July 30th. But according to Deadline, AMC has now pushed back their viewings to mid-to-late August. (A third of all AMC cinemas in Europe and the Middle East are already open.) Cineplex, another of the four biggest movie chains in the U.S. and Canada, began reopening some theaters in Canada, while over on the Regal website, they offer “Announcement of New Reopening Date Coming Soon.” On June 30th, Cinemark updated its phased reopening timeline to July 24, but has already opened four theaters in Texas and one at Universal Citywalk prior to that date.
Much to the frustration of chain owners, the timing of reopening is, in many respects, out of their control. Governors with phased re-openings, studios with changing film release dates, and a wary public that is skeptical of donning masks to sit through a newly released film have made it difficult to justify opening their doors. Profit margins for theater owners are notoriously thin to start out with, with most theaters making their money on packing the house for blockbusters and selling supersized soft drinks and overpriced popcorn. Opening to low capacity crowds might be just as financially devastating as not opening for the time being.
Among the anticipated tentpole movies that were thought to be kicking off cinema’s return were Disney’s live-action Mulan, whose date has been pushed back a handful of times already, and which currently has an anticipated August 21st date. Black Widow, one of Disney’s Marvel creations and a prequel to Avengers: Endgame, has been moved to November 6 from its original May 2020 release date. Christopher Nolan’s/Warner Brothers Tenet, expected to be a big box office draw, has been pushed back as well, and according to Deadline, will not have a single day release, but rather will open in stages, opening first in theaters already functioning overseas, and then move to theaters in states that are “open” and cleared for guests to attend movies.
The Personal History of David Copperfield (directed by Armando Iannucci, with Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton and Hugh Laurie), a Disney Searchlight Pictures film, has already opened in the U.K. to great reviews, and was set to open in the U.S. in May 2020, but has been pushed to August 14th. The New Mutants, an offering in the X-Men franchise, directed by Josh Boone under 20th Century Studios, was due out in April 2020, but has been set now for August 28th. Ralph Fiennes’ The King’s Man, also a Disney 20th Century Studios film and part of the Kingsman franchise, kicks off September 18. And in perhaps the biggest push back, Jungle Cruise, loosely based on the Disney theme park ride and starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson, was moved from Summer 2020 to July 30, 2021 – as in Summer 2021- in the reshuffles. Perchance it can compete with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, originally rumored to release in 2020, but now listed as a “TBD” date.
For now, maybe we should consider all of the grand opening dates tentative at best.
As for us, I believe Raiders of the Lost Ark is up next for pop-up drive-in viewing.
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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.
