Birmingham Palladium theater to reopen on October 2nd...

[mtburb]

...but with only five screens and 540 seats. This time, Emagine will be running it.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2015/09/10/paul-glantz-jon-goldstein-movie-empire-michigan/71996150/

It appears that it will come with some new concepts as well, like "Platinum Seating." What do you think about this? How will it compete with other nearby theaters like the MJR complex on the former Kmart flagship store site?

[Danny]

With gourmet food of course. Those business partners at Emagine Paladium will make their movie palace very luxurious to the customers. As long the ticket prices is not off the roof.

[Hypestyles]

The “luxury accommodations” format of movie theaters leaves me a little puzzled. What exactly is on the menu at the “snack bar”? Are people going to be allowed to take all kinds of hot prepared food and beverages [[including alcohol) into the theater area? What are the seats made out of? Is every seat set up like your Dad’s recliner? Will the floors be carpeted? With the understanding that people will naturally be expected to be neat and courteous, this seems like a potentially elaborate clean-up job after various screenings.

Customers will pay an annual fee of $350 for the pass, which offers priority seating, concession discounts and other perks.

$350? Is that pre-paying for a movie [[1 ticket) every 2 weeks? Curious- what's considered priority seating for a movie theater? All the way up front? The lower middle? All the way in the back?

While tickets to the general public will be available four hours before the showtimes, three of the five auditoriums only seat 80 people. The two partners realize those smaller auditoriums will fill up fast.

Great-- so potentially you can be standing in a long line only to be told that your preferred movie is sold out-- possibly even online.

Sigh...
Are there snipers standing by with tranquilizers ready to pop chatty people? I'm sure the target consumers would probably pay these fees for that.

Well anyway, kudos to the developers, I can only presume that this is an expensive undertaking. Wish somebody would do that for Detroit.

[Gistok]

What's not to understand? In the olden days movie palaces were places where high society rubbed elbows with the lower classes... and everyone was polite and enjoyed the movie.

Well those days have been gone for decades, and today's younger crowds often have boorish behaviour, talk during the film or are otherwise discourteous. This makes it an unpleasant experience for those that want to just enjoy a quiet movie.... or worse gun fire breaks out when someone is hitting on someone else's girlfriend or disrespecting them in some way.

What these folks are doing is basically allow the monied folks who live in the neighborhood to enjoy a stroll to the cinema without all the unpleasantries... and offering them other food snacks or items, which will cost a lot more... but which they will be willing to pay.

And if there are seats left over.... they won't be available to the general public at just $10 per seat. I can image quite a hefty premium on those leftover seats.

It may seem elitist.... but that's why they cut it down from 2500 seats down to a mere 540.

[ddavis1776]

Or they cut down the number of seats because they were overwhelming empty anyway.

I work near there so I've [[tried) to catch some movies in the past. Out of my many attempts, I actually saw movies three times and two of those had severe problems. In one, the film stopped completely, we had to search for help, and after 20 minutes it was started back up. Another failed and never came back on, and after another long search for any employees I was informed there was nobody present who could address the problem and they acted like they were doing me some huge favor by giving me back the free pass I used for admittance - a free pass I got when another movie at a previous date was never able to even start. I waited 45 minutes that day, and they finally came into the theater and stated they could not get the film started. Insane. The rest of my "attempts" were being informed that the movie I wanted to see wasn't working. In every instance I would say that less than 10% of the seats were filled, sometimes way less than that. These were shows during the week though, so maybe that had something to do with the lack of crowd and terrible service...

I do believe the same management company ran the Riverside 4 theater in the RenCen [[correct me if I'm wrong) and surprise surprise, the one flick I saw there was screwed up. Star Wars Episode 3 had about 15 minutes of messed up, unintelligible audio. The employees could not have cared less.

Needless to say, I'm less then optimistic about the re-opening of the place. At least street around Greek Isles won't be screwed up anymore.

/end rant

[Knightmessenger]

I loved the RenCen theater. Went there a lot before it closed. Sadly not many others did despite the fact the prices were as cheap as anywhere and it was real film projection.

I hope downtown gets a theater again, it really needs one but the latest I've heard is that the new Red Wings district will not have one.

[SDCC]

The theater is also restricted, no unaccompanied minors [[18) allowed; unless they cough up $300.00 and become a member.

“No non-member under the age of 18 shall be allowed on the premises [[including Ironwood Grill) without the accompaniment of a parent or guardian. Those violating this policy will be removed without refund. Members’ children are welcome to attend provided that they behave in accordance with the terms and conditions of membership, including but not limited to our Common Courtesy Code of Conduct”.

Every teenager wants to go to the show with their parents

http://www.emagine-entertainment.com...adium-theatre/