These Seats Reserved--for Moviegoers

Reserved seating has long been standard for live entertainment venues. Now, moviegoers in New York--and soon, Los Angeles--will be able to choose in advance where they’d like to sit in a handful of movie theaters.

The 1,600-screen Cineplex Odeon chain and the MovieFone (777-FILM) telephone ticketing service will introduce reserved seats at two midtown Manhattan theaters this month. One is the Ziegfeld, the country’s largest single-screen auditorium.

Each theater seat will be numbered. Patrons buying tickets at the box office on a first-come, first-served basis will have a limited selection. MovieFone customers will have a greater choice, with aisle and middle seats available. MovieFone adds a surcharge of as much as $1.50 for its service.

In L.A., Cineplex and at least two other theater chains should follow suit by early next year. In the L.A. area, Cineplex has theaters in Universal City, Hollywood and several Westside locations.

“This will take away all the little inconveniences of going to a movie. People won’t have to get to the theater and stand in line, and they won’t have to worry about leaving their seat before the movie to go to the concession stand,� said MovieFone CEO Andrew Jarecki.

Whether patrons will change their habits to adopt the reserved seating remains to be seen.

Jarecki expects to continue to introduce reserved seating to major U.S. markets over the next couple of years. Not all theater chains are expected to join in.

Caye Crosswhite, representative for the AMC chain, said AMC’s position is that people like the flexibility and choice of going to a movie on the spur of the moment, without worrying about assigned seats. A representative for the National Amusements chain said it also has no plans to offer reserved seating, because multiplexes have made multiple screens and times available to moviegoers.