AMC Clifton Commons 16

During the theater’s opening, they put out free brochures about the main three surround sound systems and how they work, alongside a montly newsletter called Credits which isn’t published anymore due to it being bought by AMC. And to correct myself, this theater was one of the first in the world, not the country, to get the new sound system, which is still in use.

Yes.

That sucks. According to the THX website, it still supports this theater after the AMC takeover. Which screen is DLP equipped? I know there’s only one out of 16 that is according to various showtime sites.

Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the first 16 plex in north jersey. The last time I went there was nearly seven years ago. Since then, AMC took over the theater, added digital projection to one of its screens, and kept some of the traits from the General Cinema era. Do they still serve coffee at this theater? MY dad used to drink Starbucks at this theater!!!

Is it still THX certified? I know that those two THX screens were located to the left and right of the snack stand, very much like the AMC in Rockaway. I saw “Galaxy Quest” in one of the smaller ones, and it was very tiny. I even sat with my dad near the top of the auditorium for Pitch Black, as well as close to the screen for “Crouching Tiger”, and always near the guardrail for most movies, which I liked about the theater when it opened and was the first time I went to a theater with the same seating style as an IMAX theater, but with a lower price and better crowds. Since AMC bought the chain, they kept the stars and beams of the old logo an put in a big AMC logo in the back and front of the theater.

when it opened, this theater’s marquee inside was green LED and showed which movies were sold out or not. There was also tv screens located throughout the concession, box office, and lobby stands showing upcoming movies and the policy trailers. After AMC took over in 2002, did they keep the cafe with starbucks? My dad always craved for the coffee before going to a show. There was also an arcade room with the latest games, as well as a large party room. I once went there for a job app, but didn’t get it…what clifton commons lacks is an IMAX theater….during its opening, General Cinema once in a while showed 70mm docs, mostly nature stuff.

back when it was gc, the rewards program was called credits, and it let me get points and chances to win prizes; for the release of gladiator, an actual helmet used by russell crowe in the movie was offered as a prize in a sweepstakes. too bad i didn’t win. after amc bought gc, credits was replaced with moviewatcher and the chance of winning stuff was gone and in it was just getting points for free food and tickets. to this day, it still runs well even though it’s an amc now.

Since the first opening moviegoing weekend of November, AMC, like other chains, have raised prices at its theaters by 5% to $10.50. Back when it opened in 1999, the price was around $9, at that time the highest priced theater in Passaic County, NJ. To this day, the Allwood Sixplex, owned by Clearview, still has the cheapest prices in town and has become sort of a rundown place while Clifton Commons took advantage of the digital age with DLP. Currently there are plans to build more stores near the Clifton Commons area on Route 3 with another new shopping center to join that area as well as the Styerstown Shopping district. This theater was popularly featured in “The Sopranos” whenever the family visited a movie there.

This theater is the only one in Passaic County to be equipped with digital projection, which began with the release of “Meet the Robinsons” in digital 3-D. It was so popular at the theater that AMC chose to keep the projection system and play several movies in DLP. Which theater # has DLP? I guess it’s one of the former THX houses.

Do the Clifton Commons and Rockaway theaters share any traits? I know the rockaway location doesn’t have THX-certified auditoriums in its two biggest screens (hopefully the THX guys would love to come to rockaway to check if its safe for THX), because this was originally a Loews theater, not a General Cinema.

I guess I’ve been to the Clifton Commons about a dozen times in the past few years and have yet to warm up to the place. Maybe it’s because so much that is off-putting about present-day moviegoing is in abundance here: the chintzy decor, the bored-looking high-schoolers behind the obscenely overpriced concession counters who don’t know how to enunciate, “moviegoers” who just can’t put their cell phones away, the amped-up digital sound that actually detracts from the experience, and last but not least, 15 or 20 minutes of the damn commercials. My wife and I went there one evening this summer, found that the movie we came for was sold out, and decided to see “Star Wars Episode III” instead. We made this decision at 7:02 p.m., bought our tickets, stood in line at the candy counter, and had plenty of time to search for seats in a crowded auditorium before the movie began. The advertised start time of that showing was 7 p.m.

Funny story about the projection at Clifton Commons. Back when it was General Cinema I went to see a movie called Charlotte Gray there, the projection was fine until the end of the movie when Charlotte goes back to see her long lost love, whom she had been lieing to the whole time (even using a diffrent name). The projection was scrambled almost, like something had fallen out of sinc.

By time I got out to the manager’s desk and informed them of the problem the projectionist had started working on it, I came back in the theatre and the cleaning folks were starting to walk in. The partrons at the bottom had told them “no, we still have to see the end of the movie.”

A few minutes later the movie started up, Cate Blanchett returns to the villa and the only words she utters “I forgot to tell you, by the way, my name is Charlotte Gray” then the credits start to roll.

But I like this theatre anyway, its the only cinema in the county with stadium seating.