From the Daily Herald:
The theater's menu includes a full wine list, Dom Perignon champagne at $295 a bottle, and food items like duck tacos, Wagyu beef burgers and bleu cheese potato chips.
The South Barrington Gold Class Cinemas is the first in the country. Aside from South Barrington's, the company has theaters only overseas in Asia, Australia and Europe.
Targeting upscale clientele and businesses looking to hold private screenings, Gold Class officials said they hope to open 50 theaters across the country in the next five years.
Luxury theater opens Friday in South Barrington [Daily Herald]
(Photo: Getty)
I've been very tempted to bring my own small-ish blanket to movie theaters (they always feel chilly). Instead, I bring a couple sweatshirts. I worry that the blanket would be frowned upon - but now I feel emboldened!
Drink service would be nice, but if I drank as much (soda) as I felt like it during a theater movie, there would have to be at least one bathroom break. If beer was delivered, that would be even worse. I'm all for bringing back the intermissions.
]]>I have the feeling I will not utter that very terribly often in my life.
]]>The Alamo Draft House theaters in Texas have all of that except the Valet parking, recliners, and blankets. The Alamo also has a no kids policy there except for certain shows.
]]>I think I'll stay home, thanks.
]]>@nataku83: I hate pointless one-liners.
]]>My post was meant for superberg:
]]>@Craysh:
Yea, but if your on a date, or taking your wife, your talking $70 just to get in. You know damn good and well your going to have to get some food and drink, so the total bill will be easily around $100.
]]>Yea, nothing like paying $35 just to avoid children. Why not just buy the DVD, grill a steak and buy some good beer? It'll be a hell of a lot cheaper.
What have we all become, when we're willing to pay $35 just to a seea movie, and $100 to a see a rock concert? The answer damn sure isn't a smart consumer.
]]>The idea seems good, even if duck tacos do sound nasty. The thing is, it's still not worth $35. All your getting is your car parked, a lounge chair, a movie, and a right to blow even more money on bad food and overpriced booze.
We already have that. It's called Cinema Cafe, and it only costs around $7 or less to get in. Sadly they don't park your car for you (oh darn, what will I ever do). Hey, but at least you get to chug your beer while watching the movie, instead of in the lounge.
]]>Personally, for thirty five bucks, I want the chair to stroke my thigh, delicately. I also want the chair to respect me, while whispering complimentary things, about my stuff, in my ear.
]]>my mom always tells me about when she used to be able to go to the theater and see the movie as many times as she wanted when paying the one ticket price. when any beatle movie came out, she'd sit there like the whole day and watch it about 6 or 7 times before leaving and only pay $1 or $2.
ah. those were the days
]]>The price is about the comfort and the experience, not just about seeing the movie.
Over here, we do have VIP lounges, with leather recliners, wide armrests with a small table to put your food (usually sushi or crepes). It's about two times the normal ticket, and you can get a waiter of sorts to run to the store for your foodstuffs.
I don't actually go there, because it commits the cardinal sin of a movie theater: Remember those nice armrests with a table? You can't actually raise or otherwise hide them to make a double seat. How the #"$"#$"#%!!!1!one! am I supposed to hug my girlfriend?
Anyway, if this place takes this into account, I'd be well willing to splurge on it for an occasional outing when we feel like getting pampered.
]]>I'd tell you where mine is but then you'd go and frankly you can all fk off its mine!
]]>@BrianDaBrain:
Well, I'm sorry but PeeWee Herman kept coming to mind when I was reading this posting.
I've had to deal with kids screaming in the theater, and I've had to deal with unruly adults as well. It's sort of a gamble, but generally I have never had a movie-going experience absolutely ruined.
]]>First, while South Barrington has the McMansions on small lots of land, there IS a lot of money out there. However I'm guessing the real market for this will the be families from neighboring Barrington Hills where the families own the REAL mansions and the properties to go with it. There's just no commercial land out in the Hills.
The family you mention had a kid in my grade. There was another family who bought the land across the screen from the school and made it into an open lot for their daughter and her friends. This is a school that has kids purchasing two parking lot spaces for their hummers.
I moved out here from Chicago w/ my family at the end of sophomore year in high school and lets just say that the families who actually have money don't really care if it buys them class. They just care that they have more money than you.
There are families with some SERIOUS "fuck you" money out here, but please keep in mind there are many that are like my family where we are well to do, but have a reasonably modest house and land, and are not snobs. The majority of people who grew up in Barrington though are very much like that though. Thank god I came from the city.
]]>Which would've made a lot more sense, no?
]]>If you choose general admission at Muvico, you need to arrive 45 mins before a show, as there is only 1 elevator, in a 6 story parking structure for 3 other hotels. Valet all the way.. and for the cost of premium ticket you get bad popcorn. Food is meh.. and overpriced silliness.
]]>Will they still have 10 minutes of advertisements before the main showing?
]]>@johnnya2: Just like the parents who don't bring their kids to $100 a seat rock concerts???
]]>Basic business: When the price of everything else is high, you eat the ticket costs to attract customers.
]]>@drgmobile: we should definitely have one in Ottawa! No one would pay that much to take screaming kids to a movie! This would be SWEET!
]]>Fly Boy and I don't go to the movies often, but we went to see Choke last weekend. (We liked it.) Two tickets? $21.00. Ouch.
Then we went to the concession stand to buy two small drinks and a medium popcorn. The kid at the counter was all, "Would you like to just make that a combo?" And I was like, "Sure, yeah, whatever." The combo was, apparently, a LARGE popcorn and two MEDIUM drinks, so a little bit of an upgrade from what I was originally purchasing but I didn't think it would make a huge difference in the price. Also, for some reason, movie theatres don't have to advertise food prices... You order, they prepare it, and then you get a nice big *surprise!* at the end. I guess I was naive, but I wasn't too worried about the cost... How much could two fountain drinks and a bag of popped corn cost? SEVENTEEN DOLLARS! WTFWTFWTF?! At that point, I damn near passed out, but I was too embarrassed to be like, "Thanks, but no thanks (on that Bridge to Nowhere)!" So I paid it and left the stand with my ridiculously overpriced food.
In addition, we took the bus to the movie theatre to avoid having to pay for parking, and the bus is $1.75 per person per direction. So... We spent $22.75 per person for a movie, a fountain soda, a SHARED popcorn, and a bus ride. Plus, we still had to deal with crappy seats, sticky floors, and annoying people. Would I pay an extra $10.00 for a QUALITY experience?... Ya. I guess I would.
]]>I read that the recent telecasts of the Broadway musical "Rent" in movie theaters recently was a huge success.
]]>Besides, duck tacos sound oddly... delicious.
]]>Drop it to 25 then I'd go, 35 is too much unless I get Popcorn and a drink or something included.
]]>tickets: $4.50
serves: beer, wine, wings, burgers, pizza, subs, ice cream, cheesecake
seating: comfy rolling padded swivel chairs and individual tables in a tiered layout so you don't have anyone's head in your view
and my personal favorite [waits for the lambasting] : smoking section for all shows starting after 9pm
no, you don't get brought a blanket, but you could bring your own. and you'd know it's clean if you washed it yourself
as for the theatre in the article? for $35 i better get to take the plastic wrap off those slippers and take them home when i am done. naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasty
]]>No amount of booze would have made that oozing, bloody, partial-birth abortion tolerable.
]]>I've an AMC theater here in Columbus that serves alcohol and allows children :) The part that actually sucks is that you have to purchase it separately, so you have to stop at BOTH concession stands.
]]>$20 for that, max. I'd pay good money for good food and some nice tables to eat them on (opposed to my lap), but $35 + food for just a movie is crazy. Give me more than just the movie. Like no ads, maybe a short feature, etc.
]]>Bottom line: no matter how great the "experience", this concept will crater unless the quality of their movies is uniformly excellent. Based on a quick perusal of the last 50 films to have nationwide distribution... not gonna work.
]]>Ugh- South Barrington. South Barrington is a suburb of McMansions with new rich, who think that money buys them class.
Here's an example (can't find link): A family bought a house next to his son's high school, so his son could park in the driveway and walk to school. All the student parking spots were taken.
BOT- I think some of the extras (slippers) are frivolous and don't add real value to the experience. If they can drop the price into the high teens or low 20's it might be worth it.
]]>mmmm duck tacos
Thats all I want
maybe they will have pop cavier with butter made from the milk of mountain lions.
Wait, I already did spend too much getting a nice home entertainment system... I'll stick with Netflix, gotta love being able to pause the movie.
]]>Of course, if it's a once-every-two-years option for everyone, these theatres won't last long.
]]>Hell, Congress could have added this in as yet another Pork Barrel project on the bailout package and we could have subsidized this business venture too !
I won't pay 10+ dollars now to sit in a theater ... even if I could afford 35 dollars I'm not willing to dispose of the few disposable dollars I do have in that manner.
]]>Besides, $35? I went to a theater in the Dallas area once that didn't have the valet parking and slippers, but had the seats set up with a small table area in front, kinda like a bar, and had wait staff that would come by and see if you wanted anything. The food was a bit more pizza and burgers than duck tacos, but the ticket price was normal, the service was nice, and it was fun. That I'd go to for movies that are better on a huge screen, but my duck taco better come wrapped in a $20 if I'm paying $35 just to see a stinkin' movie.
]]>@SkokieGuy: Arclight in LA has a no kids policy in the alky theatres. I'm in!!! I also think (I hope??) those willing to pay that much are more likely to shut up and enjoy the movie without bothering others.
]]>@MayorBee is getting what plants crave:
REALLY???
I'm going. I have a friend who lives in Houston and I should SO go visit her and we should go. That is awesome.
@MayorBee is getting what plants crave:
LOL!!! Thanks for the laugh!
Although the other people in the office are now looking at me funny....
How could I forget the booze? You're right... add a few (dozen) beers to the mix and Indiana Jones 4 would have been downright tolerable.
]]>As I said when news about this first came out, one of the biggest problems with this idea is that the movies that might be worth paying $35 for are not the movies with the biggest audiences. You can view their current showtimes at goldclasscinemas.com -- are there really a lot of people who want to pay $35 a ticket for [i]My Best Friend's Girl[/i]?
That being said, it does sound nice and if I lived near such a theatre, I can definitely see myself going there a few times a year, for the movies I'm really looking forward to.
]]>@TracyHamandEggs!: The food isn't even included! I can not even imagine how overpriced the food will be. I will stick to parking my own car, sneaking snacks in and if I am lucky sneaking into another film.
]]>The projectionist was a high-school flunky,
The ushers didn't rate,
Fifty patrons were seated that day,
On a three-hour date.
A three-hour date.
I would pay a lot more than the normal ticket price if it meant that there would be no-one under the age of 18 in the theater. I would pay even more if I could go punch the face of the 14 year old throwing Jr. Mints from the back of normal theaters.
]]>I'm guessing they planned this thing in Barrington when the economy was doing better and they thought most suckers would fall for this.
]]>"but your a decent meal"
That should be "you get a decent meal"
]]>If I had the time, I'd open something similar here in Colorado.
]]>There was free valet parking at the mall, and choosing the VIP seats in the theater for 300 baht (about $8.50 at the time) included being able to order your snacks on the way in and having them delivered, HUGE recliners, that reclined all the way back, blanket and pillow and you could order beer and wine, but they did not offer the "gourmet meal service".
For $8.50, I would do it again. For $35? You must be joking...
]]>The Seattle one has a smallish screen, but very spacious seating, and you can't put a price on being able to preorder beverages to be brought out to you at specified times.
]]>On the other hand, everyone is broke so the timing for this kinda sucks.
]]>Just imagine... now be prepared.... but those blankets are not going to be washed between showings so you can imagine what some idiot was jacking off to some nudie part in the movie and left a load... excuse me while I go vomit my lunch.. BLAHHH! BLOAAHHQIFHdff!!!
]]>@SScorpio: How disapointing. So they card people in their seats? I am now making frowny face.
]]>The valet parking and blankets, however, is absolute nonsense. You're looking at at nearly $100 for a three-hour date. No way.
]]>@SkokieGuy: UTOPIA!!!!
]]>Alcohol doesn't automatically mean no kids. Imagine Theaters serve alcohol and kids are still allowed inside.
]]>I happen to think that regular movie theaters cost too much as it is.. I think I'll stick with Netflix.
]]>And because they serve alcohol means no kids!!!
No crying babies, no teenages talking on cellphones. Yea!
Maybe, if we're really lucky, the high admission price will even keep out the (adults) who feel the need to talk back to the characters on screen.
]]>