Newly-renovated AMC Vestavia Hills 10 set to offer upgrades starting Monday

Come Monday, Aug. 20, moviegoers in the Vestavia area will be able to do dinner and a movie, all in the same place.

The AMC Vestavia Hills 10 Theatre will now offer, beginning Aug. 20, dine-in eating, with gourmet food handcrafted in the kitchen and delivered straight to a guest’s seat. Concession items, like popcorn and Coke products, are still sold and picked up at the main concession stands, but other food options, like burgers, wings and pizza, will be available as well.

Raza Merchant, back of house senior manager for the theatre, said the build-your-own burger option is an attempt to give guests the ability to customize their dining experience.

“It’s trying to give variety to our guests,” Merchant said. “No burger is the same.”

The theatre offers five different buns, including a gluten-free option and a no-bun option, where the burger is put in a bowl for those looking to cut carbs, Merchant said. Guests can choose to use one or all of the seven different cheeses, as well as add other toppings. There are seven sauces, almost all of which are made in-house, and in addition to burgers, offerings such as pretzels, wings, chicken tenders, churros, salads and more are also available.

“We try to touch on any area the customer wants,” Merchant said.

Rebekah Ellingson, corporate communications manager for AMC, said the theatre also tries to make movie-themed drinks as available.

The work started in April and was done in a phase approach, allowing the theatre to stay open to some extent during the time it took to complete renovations. Everything is new, including new flooring, new screens, new seats, power recliners with a heating option — not including seating in the Prime theatre — and a new sound system, Ellingson said.

Ticket prices vary depending on time of day and day of the week, Ellingson said, with evening prices set at $13 on weekends, with an upcharge for 3D or the new Prime auditorium, the largest auditorium in the theatre. The Prime auditorium has 150 seats that rumble with the action on the screen, and both the screen and sound system are enhanced, setting them apart from other auditoriums. Wheelchair-accessible floor panels also rumble, Ellingson said. The theatre, she said, is similar to an IMAX theatre.

AMC offers an AMC Stubs membership, which is free to join and allows for upgrades on concessions as well as $5 tickets and a $5 drink and popcorn combo on Tuesdays. The A-List offers moviegoers the chance to see up to 12 movies per month — three per week — for $20 each month.

In addition to the food options available, MacGuffins Bar will soon be open, allowing customers to purchase alcohol and take it into the movie with them. Alcohol can also be purchased at the main concession stands. Ellingson stressed all guests, regardless of age, must show an ID, otherwise they will not be able to purchase alcohol. Beer, wine and premium cocktails will be offered.

“We just knew that our guests … would love to experience movies with this ultimate upgrade experience,” Ellingson said of the renovation.

The theatre’s smallest auditorium sits 57, and shows movies that have been out for a few weeks, as well as live programming through Fathom Events. There are 10 auditoriums in the theatre, Ellingson said.

Kimberly Sanden, coordinator of corporate communications for AMC, said the move to dine-in and delivery options at theatres is a national trend.

“We’ve actually been renovating theatres for a little over a decade now,” Sanden said.

The theatre is one-of-a-kind, with no other area AMC theatres or other companies offering the guest amenities the Vestavia location now offers.

“We don’t have anything else like this in the market,” Ellingson said. “... Once you experience a movie in those recliners, you won’t want to watch a movie any other way.”