COVID-19 has affected many aspects of our lives. Things we took for granted being able to do at the drop of a hat are no longer easily accessible if at all. One of the many victims of the COVID-19 shutdown was movie theaters. Movie theaters across the country have been shut down since March of last year, and some of which such as the relatively new arrival Alamo Drafthouse and Cinema have closed their ticket stands for good.

Needless to say, the AMC movie theater has had to get creative to keep moviegoer attendance up especially considering COVID-19 restrictions that regulate the number of attendees at a time, and the fact that there have been far fewer blockbuster releases since COVID-19 struck. But thanks to problem-solving masterminds behind the scenes, they have come up with a solution. People can literally rent out an entire theater room and have up to twenty people attend – for only one hundred to two hundred dollars, depending on the show they choose. Not only that, but there is a variety of movies the renter can choose from, including classics such as Back to the Future and Jurassic World for one hundred dollars and new releases such as Wonder Woman 1984 and Chaos Walking for two hundred.

Now, maybe the two hundred sounds like a ridiculously high price to watch a movie. Maybe even one hundred sounds like a bit much. So let’s do some math. Let’s say you were to go watch an older movie with a group of twenty people, and the overall cost was one hundred dollars. If you divided one hundred by twenty, that’s five bucks a person. The movies available to watch for one hundred dollars are movies no longer playing in most movie theaters, so in my opinion, five dollars to watch a classic movie as if it had just been released sounds pretty good.

Now, how about the two hundred dollar rentals? Are those worth it? Let’s do some more math. If you wanted to go watch a new release and just bought a regular ticket for an evening show, it would cost an adult almost thirteen dollars. If you rented out the theater and got a group of twenty together to hang out and watch it together and split the cost, the cost per ticket would end up being ten dollars a person.

Ok, so the prices sound good. The films sound good. What about the experience? I had the opportunity to be apart of a group that rented out a theater room to watch a movie that left theaters in 2018, Crazy Rich Asians. Although this movie is no longer available as an option to view in a rented-out theater, the experience would still be the same. We literally had the entire room to ourselves. We could sit in any seat we want and move around as we pleased. We could talk to each other or react to the movie out loud if we wanted to and even take a nap without judgment (I took full advantage of this). The theater was selling popcorn and drinks as well as other food so we got to enjoy these moviegoing classics as well. Then once we were done, a team of workers came through and thoroughly sanitized everything so the room was ready for the next group or show.

Overall, I really enjoyed this experience. I loved having the freedom to watch a movie with a large group of friends without worrying about everyone getting tickets in the general vicinity of one another. I enjoyed getting to see a movie I liked a lot but didn’t have the chance to see it when it first released, and getting to verbally react to the movie and laugh and talk with friends was super fun as well. The price is extremely reasonable and the system of renting a room was well set up. So if you and a group of friends want to get out and do something different, consider renting out a theater and enjoy the show!