Movie Theaters Focus On The Big Mtg. Picture
<B>Movie Theaters Focus On The Big Mtg. Picture</B>
By Robert Selwitz
Along with being Manhattan's latest multiplex, the brand new AMC Empire 25 on 42nd Street greatly enhances the choices for meeting planners seeking a movie theater venue, and AMC officials are very anxious for the site to become a major player in the New York corporate scene.
The AMC features 25 theaters, with capacities ranging from 54 to 600 seats, and "all stadium seating, where the elevation between rows ensures no one's view is blocked," said complex director Mario Marques. "This means attendees are quite close to, and look directly down on, the speakers. Or, for teleconferencing, they directly face the screen." Furthermore, AMC features three outdoor terraces, full catering and easy access to rentable audio and/or visual services.
Since its April opening, AMC has hosted corporate parties and financial seminars. Also noteworthy, the AMC theater--which last year made the headlines when its landmark 1920s exterior was rolled 168 feet down 42nd Street to its present site--is at the base of a 444-room Hilton Hotel, scheduled to open this month.
Another key player is Loews Cineplex Entertainment, offering 13 theaters and 83 screens in and around Manhattan. The star of its repertoire is the Sony Imax theater that sits atop the Lincoln Square Theatres at Broadway and 68th Street. Accessible by its own escalator, the 600-seat facility with its monster 81 x 101-ft. screen "is a favorite among New York firms," said Lynn Marschke, director of group sales and corporate events for the Sony Imax theater. "We offer a great location, lots of common space for all types of functions and the ability to include a showing of an Imax film in one's presentation."
Functions that have been held at the Sony Imax include the presentation of new programming for the Telemundo television network, and corporate events for such firms as Andersen Consulting, Credit Suisse First Boston, IBM, Intel and several major hotel chains.
Marschke said rental fees range from about $5,000 for an hour and a half, or $8,000 to $10,000 for a half-day, to $35,000 for a full-day event. While most meetings happen in the morning or early afternoons, the Imax can accommodate longer-length presentations. All rates, Marschke said, cover the loss of revenue from anticipated regular movie ticket sales. Also, "we have direct access to some of New York's finest caterers, food that far surpasses what you're likely to encounter in a hotel-staged function."
Other Loews Cineplex locations include the thirteen theaters of the recently opened E-Walk complex on 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue. E-Walk and AMC are directly across the street from one another.
At United Artists Union Square, 14 screens with capacities from 128 to 541 attendees all are tied into UA's Satellite Theatre Network. Ray Nutt, executive vice president of United Artists Theatre Circuit, said, "these theaters are perfect for teleconferencing anywhere in the world. And rates range from $1,500 for a half day at a single large site to $3,000 per day."
Customers who have used UA's STN range from Hillary Clinton to Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Also, "Microsoft is one of our larger clients," noted Nutt. Via STN, any number of theaters can be down-linked, and all theaters, in New York or elsewhere, can tie in catered presentations in conjunction with a teleconference feed.
"At Union Square, at 2nd Avenue and 64th Street, or at our Criterion Theater in Times Square, we also welcome singlesite meetings with no teleconferencing involved," added Nutt. "We offer a great setting for M&A functions. Particularly when a company wants to bond staffs and encourage once-separate firms to start working as a unit, the settings we offer really complement the cause."
On other corporate situations, Nutt added, "you get everyone out of the office, nobody is trapped in a stuffy conference room, and you're being served truly superior food. Also, we will provide whatever business supplies are needed. That includes registration tables, clipboards, paper, even cup holders."
The star of the Clearview Cinema Manhattan meeting scene is the 1,162-seat Ziegfield on 54th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues. There, according to Frank Parise, regional director for Manhattan, "corporations book the theater for private screenings, employee benefit meetings, satellite conferencing and stockholder meetings." Users of note have included Bill Gates, who introduced his latest book there, the National Basketball Association, "and pharmaceutical firms, such as Pfizer, that have invited doctors to introductions of new products." Parise said rentals at the 64 Clearview theaters (eleven in Manhattan with a total of 30 screens) range from $2,000 to $5,000 for early morning meetings.
Another option, one that certainly would grab invitees' attention, is Radio City Music Hall. Once one of the nation's premiere movie theaters, today it also is rentable for functions that can use part or all of its vast interior space. With nearly 6,000 seats, at daily main hall rental rates that can range between $40,000 and $60,000 (less for gatherings requiring just the grand foyer or lounge), renters also can proclaim their events on signs that wrap around Sixth Avenue and 50th Street. But Radio City also offers something else that's definitely unique--The Rockettes. Several, a group, or the entire corps can be hired to participate in one's event. If high kicks could enhance your happening, that might just be worth considering.