The Evolution of Watching Movies

Watching movies seems to be a timeless form of entertainment. While I don’t consider myself a movie buff, critic, or expert, I won’t pass on an opportunity to watch a good move at home or at the theatre. Naturally, my taste in movies has evolved somewhat over the years. As a child, going to the movie theatre was a family treat. It was a great excuse to indulge in popcorn and candy while watching a rated PG comedy or action film. As a pre-teen, going to the movies was a social event that involved hanging out with friends and a place to meet other people. As an adult, the staple dinner-and-a-movie date was a regular activity.

Interestingly, my movie going experience seems to have evolved in parallel to the development of my tastes. Not far into the “adult phase,” I started to dislike going to movie theatres because the overall experience was no longer pleasant. The price of tickets and food was high. The theatre seemed to be filled mostly with obnoxious, loud, and inconsiderate kids. No movie experience was complete without at least 3 cell phones ringing during the movie, one of which would be answered with an annoyingly loud, full-blown conversation (you know, they have to speak up because there is a movie going on in the background - sheesh). The crying baby is another given. I have nothing against babies crying. It is a natural act. But will the parents wanting to see an R-rated movie please drop off the kids to family, a friend, or a babysitter before coming to the theatre?

Thus, for a while I would rarely go out to watch a movie. However, when Amber and I bought our first house, we decided to bring the movie-going experience home. A big screen high definition plasma TV and surround sound system purchase later and it was done. We had our own movie theatre in the comfort of our home. Although we couldn’t watch the movies titles showing at theatres, we would gladly wait the few months and pay for a DVD or watch them on a premium cable channel. The movie going experience had reached an all-time high.

Now that we are living in Thailand, we do not have a home theatre system. Our cable package, or lack thereof, does not show any movies. As far as DVDs go, there are a million stands littered along the streets with the latest films. But quality DVD’s are hard to come by because they are mostly bootleg copies where someone films inside a movie theatre. Going to a movie theatre wasn’t appealing either because only the biggest, most popular movies from the US even make it to the big screen in Bangkok. Thus, we resigned ourselves to occasionally buy and watch DVD’s at home.

Then, a magical thing happened. We decided to go watch a movie at the Siam Paragon Cineplex. This Cineplex has about 16 screens including an IMAX screen. As soon as I walked into the lobby of the Cineplex, I was completely blown away. First of all, the lobby was huge! It was at least 4 times larger than the largest lobby I’ve seen in the US. The other thing that struck me was how modern and stylish it was. There were several lounge areas scattered about all of which were equipped with hip, plush furniture. There was nice lounge music playing overhead and off to the side was a full scale Starbucks.

The box office

When purchasing tickets at the box office, they show you a video diagram of the theatre and allow you to choose your seats. The ticket price was 140 baht, which is about $4 USD – not bad at all! The concession stand had a wide array of snacks, popcorn, and drinks – including beer for only 60 baht (about $2)! Typical popcorn flavors include regular salted, sweet caramel, and seaweed varieties. At the time, the concession stand was also offering special pink colored strawberry flavored popcorn. I know it sounds kinda gross. But I got a bucket of half strawberry and half regular and it was actually very good! The theatre itself was very similar to any other theatre I’ve been to. The previews and commercials lasted almost 30 minutes. Oh, and just before the movie starts, there was a video tribute to the King of Thailand that we all had to stand for…sort of like standing for the US national anthem. Overall, the experience wasn’t bad at all. One that I’d be willing to repeat should the right movie be offered.

Not too long ago, we decided to watch another film on the big screen. We showed up at the theatre and told them we wanted to see the next showing. The next show was in 30 minutes, but was located in the premium theatre named The Nokia Ultra Screen Cineplex. Sure, we’d try it out. As we were selecting our seats, we noticed there were only about 30 seats in the entire theatre. To our surprise, the cost was 600 baht per person, or about $17 USD. Hmmm…what did we get ourselves into? The answer: complete luxury.

The Ultra Screen Cineplex is a set of 4 premium theatres in their own private wing within the entire complex. It has its own chic bathrooms and a lounge, or galleria as it’s called, for patrons to hang out and wait until the movie starts. The galleria has a full bar with waitresses where ticket holders get complimentary soft drinks, tea, coffee, cookies, and cakes. For ridiculously decent prices, you elect for a beer or cocktail. Among the lounge seating and private tables are massage chairs (full body or leg and foot) to relax you before the movie.

The Galleria Bar

The Galleria main seating area

More seating in the Galleria

Enjoying pre-movie snacks and a drink

After filling up on the yummy cookies and banana muffins, we made our way down the private hallway into our designated theatre.

Look at the theatre seating!

There was an usher there to show us to our seats. The theatre comprised of what I would call Pods. Each pod contained 2 seats, and there were 4 pods per row (4-5 rows altogether). The thing is these weren’t ordinary seats within a pod; they were very akin to first class airline seats. The huge supple leather seats reclined completely horizontal, complete with retractable leg rest at a push of a button. A pillow and blanket was provided, and each pod had ample space for food and drinks as well as its own small coffee table. The usher also doubled as a waitress and took our order of popcorn and beer (Singha for Amber and a Corona for me). The movie screen was a wide-screen with great picture and excellent sound quality (the movies are in English with Thai subtitles). The pods were spaced out so that movie watchers couldn’t bother one another. We could have a conversation with each other knowing we wouldn’t be disturbing other people. The pods on the back row even had private curtains for ultimate exclusivity.

This was easily the most luxurious and comfortable movie experience I’ve ever witnessed. The cost of $17 USD seemed excessive at first, but considering the free food and drinks (and massage chairs) at the lounge, the private and extremely comfortable seating (lying with pillow and blanket is more accurate), the convenient ordering of food and drinks at your seat, the quality of the picture and sound, and the lack of excess people and disturbances, I think it was well worth the price. We look forward to watching all the summer blockbusters in style.

Oh yeah…in addition to these Ultra Screen Theatres, the Siam Paragon Cinema Complex also offers an even more luxurious theatre dubbed the Enigma theatre. According to a review online, instead of seats you get a bed for 2, with plenty of pillows and blankets. Also included are 1 free drink (whiskey, beer included, wine not included), 1 free appetizer, a more private lounge, and far fewer people in the theatre.