The thing is, movie theaters used to be really good at being attractions in and of themselves. All those absurd, over-the-top Chinese and Egyptian theaters, where the architecture itself was part of the attraction. When movie theaters felt like you were really going somewhere, the experience was literally built in. The Redford here in Detroit survives from that era and it’s just a joy to go there (that it’s a revival house also helps). Making theaters just like another living room, and now another living room where pizza delivery is slightly quicker, is just going down the road to further obsolescence. If you want to add a bar to a theater, make it a full-blown tiki bar and Polynesian kitsch the hell out of the entire building. I’d be there every week.
The thing is, movie theaters used to be really good at being attractions in and of themselves. All those absurd, over-the-top Chinese and Egyptian theaters, where the architecture itself was part of the attraction. When movie theaters felt like you were really going somewhere, the experience was literally built in. The Redford here in Detroit survives from that era and it’s just a joy to go there (that it’s a revival house also helps). Making theaters just like another living room, and now another living room where pizza delivery is slightly quicker, is just going down the road to further obsolescence. If you want to add a bar to a theater, make it a full-blown tiki bar and Polynesian kitsch the hell out of the entire building. I’d be there every week.