‘Best mousetrap in town’: Recliners, full bar coming to Cape movie theaters to draw fans
SOUTH DENNIS — What would it take to get Cape Codders to go back to movie theaters in big numbers? Cushy recliner seats? Alcoholic drinks from a full bar? Dinner while they watch? Seats you can reserve?
Those are all amenities Bill Hanney is betting close to $1 million on for a phased renovation of the 10-screen Entertainment Cinemas as a way to turn the longtime movie theater by this fall into a Mid-Cape going-out hub for couples, groups of friends and families.
What had been a large video-game area there is slated to become an on-site bar/cafe, according to his plans, with an estimated 30 seats at tables for people to gather for drinks and food before or after a movie, Hanney said. Or patrons can order beer, wine, cocktails and food to take with them into the theater, to set up on their individual trays at the recliners in the location they’ve reserved ahead of time.
'A destination theater'
Hanney said he has applied for a full liquor license, and would bring in a machine to make a variety of cocktails to customers’ specifications, with ID required at a few different steps to buy. There will also be some upgrades to sound and picture quality in the cinemas during the renovation, though the existing equipment, he said, is already top-quality.
“The plan is to become a destination theater. … I want this to be the best theater on Cape Cod,” Hanney said, noting the central Cape location, the large parking lot and easy access from the highway to his location next to Patriot Square shopping center off Route 134. “You want to be the best mousetrap in town when you can and that’s what I expect to make this place.”
Nationwide trends
The transformation, and similarly adding recliners to the Falmouth Cinema Pub Hanney also owns, would make those two theaters the first on the Cape to join the moviegoing trend of recliners, reserved seats and expanded refreshments. Those add-ons had become a staple in Boston and other areas of Massachusetts and around the nation before pandemic closures, with giant movie chains AMC Entertainment and Regal Cinemas first announcing multi-year, widespread recliner renovation plans in 2014.
Global box office receipts in 2021 were still 48% below the average of the last three years before the pandemic, according to media analytics firm Gower Street. Movie industry analysts have said giving moviegoers what they can’t get at home, specifically citing the reclining seats and food options, could be key to attracting people — particularly older fans — back to theaters, several recent national reports have said.
“The (movie-theater) industry today has changed in a major way, and the pandemic kind of did it to us, which is really unfortunate” Hanney said. “It taught everybody how to watch entertainment in a different way. They all bought the big 70-inch screen TVs and all watched the movies at home. And the film companies did something that they’ve been wanting to do forever” by releasing movies to streaming services.
At the film festival: 'We are the cavalry': Former AG Holder pushes for importance of voting in midterm elections
“They realized that no longer were the movie theaters a powerful part of their game plan,” he said.
Hanney noted the studios have backed off somewhat, but not enough in his opinion — like when the movies he is playing at his theaters are also already available to watch at home. “We were a semi-struggling industry prior to the pandemic.”
For long supporting his plans, Hanney gives high praise to his landlords, the Chamberlain family of Dennis, who helped him to build the theater complex 30 years ago, and called him to return after the property became Hoyt Cinemas for several years. The Chamberlains saw him through the conversion to stadium seating in the mid-2000s and were also “magnificent” and sympathetic landlords during the pandemic shutdown, Hanney said. “You can’t get a family that’s more committed to Dennis.”
When are the recliners coming?
Falmouth moviegoers will actually see the new recliner chairs first, with renovation expected to start there by the end of the month, either by closing two theaters at a time or briefly closing the entire theater, Hanney said last week. Then the crew will move to flagship Dennis probably in September, closing two theaters at a time and keeping others open until everything is ready — he hopes — by the busy holiday movie season.
Food and adult drinks had already been part of the equation at his Falmouth Cinema Pub until before the pandemic, but Hanney said he hasn’t been able to get enough kitchen help to make that happen since reopening. Converting that four-screen theater to recliners and getting the kitchen back up and running could cost another $400,000, Hanney said.
“What I want to marry there is the comfortable movie concept and the full food-service concept,” he said, while the South Dennis menu will offer more pub-style food.
Hanney also owns Edgartown Cinemas on Martha’s Vineyard, but said he has no plans to add recliners there at this time.
What’s at other movie theaters
The closest movie theater to the Cape with large reclining seats had been Flagship Premium Cinemas Wareham. That location, though, closed in January when energy company Eversource bought the Doty Street property. In fact, Hanney bought hundreds of the recliners no longer needed in Wareham to install in his Falmouth cinema.
In the larger region, the AMC Dartmouth Mall 11 theater also offers recliners. The only site in Massachusetts where Regal Cinemas, which owns movie theaters in Hyannis and Mashpee, offers recliners in its Fenway theater in Boston, according to its website. Cape Cinema in Dennis upgraded its seating during the pandemic shutdown, but not to recliners.
Fond farewell: 'Wisdom, laughter and kindness': Long-time friend remembers Pat Carroll, voice of Ursula
There are recliners, though, in some of Hanney’s movie-theater properties in other areas: Before executing this plan on Cape Cod, the part-time Brewster resident has similarly transformed movie theaters he owns in Leominster and South Kingstown, Rhode Island.
And the changes there have already proven successful at attracting bigger crowds, Hanney said. He acknowledged he was skeptical of the formula, though, when first considering it.
Fewer seats, more screenings, same ticket prices
Because the recliners are long seats, they take up twice the space of a typical movie-theater chair. So the number of people who could see each movie screening is likely to be cut by about 50%, Hanney said. (He is, however, initially planning to leave some of the regular seats in some Dennis theaters to accommodate big crowds on some rainy summer days.)
The 10 screens in South Dennis together have about 1,500 seats now, so with that number cut almost in half, Hanney said, he also expects to add more showtimes — particularly for the big movies — so people can make the reservations they want.
“This formula may sound wacky because it did to me, but you spend millions of dollars to cut your seats in half to do twice the business. And that’s what’s happened,” he said. “Logic doesn't apply to this, but every theater that has done (the changeover) has done (that kind of business). So who am I to buck the trend?”
Hanney said he has no plans to change prices for customers, which are now $13.75 for an adult ticket.
“We don't have to change prices because if you are the best mousetrap in town, you just get all the people. Your increase is in capacity not in price,” Hanney said. “I don’t believe with all the competition in the industry with the movie companies that you need to make it more difficult for people to come and see a movie. This has always been an industry that’s been affordable to regular people.”
Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.
Where should you eat on Cape Cod?: Ultimate food and drink guide
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Falmouth Cinema pub, Dennis Entertainment Cinema to get recliners, bar
