The New Moviegoers

With the exception of the mega Hollywood blockbuster, box office sales are down. Streaming services give customers hundreds of choices at their fingertips. Televisions worthy of the “home theater” moniker have never been cheaper. One good result of this situation is that it has forced movie theater chains to come up with more customer-centric solutions to get people back in the door.

The first to try this was MoviePass, way back in 2015. And that did not go well.

But here we are 10 years later and pretty much all chains now have some equivalent program that is an insanely good deal for customers.

AMC A-Lister, Cinemark Movie Club, and the top dog of movie-going madness: Regal Unlimited.

AMC A-Lister allows 4 movies per week. So in order for someone to truly get the most value from Regal Unlimited (RU), they’d need to see more than 16 movies per month. Seven users from /r/RegalUnlimited that achieved that threshold were kind enough to speak with me about their experiences.

Power Level

Just to get the bonafides out of the way, I will introduce our interviewees with their most movies seen in a month.

bdougherty - 57 with Unlimited (Jan 2026)

JakeAscotia - Current top spot is August 2025 with 45

netanalyze - 45 movies is the most in one month.

Mammoth-Roof-8118 - 37 I believe.

Business_Coffee_9421 - 20 movies a month, sometimes more.

cpowell342 - 16 last month

chefremyguini - around 10. I’m sure though if I had RU in summer of 2025 last year it would have been around 20 or more.

Now, all of these numbers are nothing to scoff at. 10 movies in a month is still 2-3 movies per week. 57 though is 2 movies per day.

Planning

These higher numbers really got me thinking. Could you just go to the theater after work and see whatever is playing on that day?

Everyone replied that they always pick from the theater schedule before they go. Some even have a sort of “meal prep” type ritual.

bdougherty - I plan my week ahead of time on Tuesday/Wednesday once the times are up.

That process of picking what to watch from a theater schedule sounds very appealing in an age of infinite choice. We browse Netflix for an hour just to find something that we turn off after 10 minutes. Theaters give you a much more limited choice. Take it or leave it. It sounds like freedom compared to the analysis paralysis of streaming platforms.

What to watch?

Many of you might be thinking, how many movies are even showing at the theaters at a given time? The highest user would need at least 2 different movies showing every day.

Both AMC and Regal have been placing a heavy emphasis on re-releases of older movies to address this issue. And rather than RU subscribers feeling ripped off by this, they actually all love the opportunity to see classics and things that they’ve missed.

bdougherty - I’ve been able to see a bunch of movies I hadn’t seen (but should have). It’s kind of a lot though and I wish that they’d do fewer movies and schedule them across multiple days.

JakeAscotia - There’s a ton of classics I haven’t seen before that it’s been nice catching on the big screen. Plus, it’s introduced me to a number of movies I never would’ve looked at. Like Steel Magnolias played in November and it’s now one of my favorite movies of all time.

netanalyze - Older releases have been a boon for me. Over the years I typically have hit up the blockbusters, superhero type movies. Often smaller releases were never on my radar. Additionally kids and family had priorities when a lot of these re-releases originally came out. The Regal FEBS schedule was super exciting for me as just about all of them I have not seen before, let alone in the theater. I have seen 14 of the current 18 FEBS releases, with a few more this weekend. Regal MARS is lining up some Best Picture movies I missed on original release.

Business_Coffee_9421 - I’ve seen Sunset Boulevard, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, and other classics. I definitely think this is a good thing.

chefremyguini - Unfortunately my home theater hasn’t got a majority of the monthly re-releases which results in me having to travel to a nearby state to see them. I do hope they continue to do these re-releases with more theaters getting them, more showtime availability, and perhaps instead of showing them for one day; doing two days for people who truly cannot make their life/work/school schedule work for the showtimes. Otherwise I am very happy with the re-releases.

I definitely sympathize with bdougherty and chefremyguini that these older re-releases could be fewer with more days. As of now, each of them play on one single day. Regal likely wants to have less empty theaters by turning these re-releases into more of an event. In that sense, it almost harkens back to the era of small town theaters with only 1-3 screens.

Why the theater?

In the modern mindset of home theater owners, many of these re-releases wouldn’t warrant a full “theater experience”. Do I really need to see She’s All That on the big screen? So for RU subscribers, what is the biggest difference between seeing something in theaters vs seeing it at home?

bdougherty - That I’m out of the house lol. I’ve always loved the theaters, but I use a Vision Pro at home to watch movies and that is pretty great too. Since I’ve had Unlimited and am going to the theater so much, I’ve met some other people who also have Unlimited and it’s cool being able to discuss movies with them. Also I’ve become friendly with some employees at one of the theaters, and it’s cool to talk to them about movies too.

JakeAscotia - I have problems with self control and my attention span. When I watch movies at home, I’m apt to go on my phone or meander to something else while watching. When I’m in the theater, the only possible distraction is my phone and the social obligation of the experience outweighs my poor self control.

cpowell342 - The main thing is just the experience and the ability to focus better and feel more fully immersed. Bigger screen, better sound, and the act of being out of the house just makes the movie have a bigger impact on me than watching at home.

chefremyguini - Immersion and escape. Watching at home results in far more distractions (phone usage being an easy one) and having the ability to pause a movie and get sidetracked is very easy. On the other hand, being at the theater creates an isolated and immersive experience that I just cannot get watching a movie at home. (This of course means if the audience has good theater etiquette and are not disruptive during the movie).

There’s a lot of really good points in here. Firstly, you’re getting out of the house. Remember Third Spaces?

Secondly, a home theater can never turn you into a captive audience. In a theater, you don’t have control. You either sit there or you walk out. Psychologically, this is a powerful situation for a viewer.

I recently saw The Fellowship of the Ring in theaters, thanks to Fathom Entertainment. I’ve seen this movie probably 40 times since I was 11 years old, but I never saw it in the theaters. I expected the theatrical experience to be visually impressive, but I was mostly surprised by something else. I felt real fear. When watching a movie with any kind of horror or thrill to it at home, there’s always the option to pause, fast forward, etc. Because there is always this escape hatch, things are just less scary at home. Even horror as mild as Lord of the Rings gets ratcheted up in the theater though.

Finally, I would add myself that the theater is a shared experience. I’m reminded of the Wayne’s World poster that reads “You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll hurl.” And you’ll do it together.

Home TV

At this point, I’m thinking about how I spend my free time. If I had something like Regal Unlimited, why would I watch anything at home? Will RU cause your home TV usage to decline?

JakeAscotia - It was never particularly high to begin with.

cpowell342 - I’d say home TV usage has gone down slightly but not majorly. Still watch some stuff at home but probably not quite as much.

chefremyguini - Before subscribing to RU I barely watched movies on my at home TV. Having the RU membership just provided more reason to see a movie in theaters than to wait for a streaming release. I do continue to watch my shows though as frequently as I did previously.

Everyone confirmed that their home TV usage declined or stayed the same (often not being very high to begin with). Just practically speaking, I don’t know how I could see 1 movie a day in theaters (or even 4 per week) without my home TV usage going down.

“Dumbphones”, but for TV

The “dumbphone” movement is about people ditching their iPhones and Androids for older technology in an effort to more intentionally engage with the world around them. Could something similar be done for visual entertainment?

Has RU enabled any of these users to actually downgrade their home setup in an effort to rely more on the theater instead?

How has RU impacted how these users think about their home setup?

netanalyze - I invested in a fairly extensive Home Theater [and it] has been a total waste for me. My family comes together in a main space to watch some content in common. Outside of that this younger generation truly enjoys the interface in their hands as the gateway to all media. Its a mobile device that gives them access any time any where.

Mammoth-Roof-8118 - [I think about TV] about the same. I rarely watch unless it’s sports.

Business_Coffee_9421 - [Having RU] actually makes me want to upgrade to better screens and sound.

There were a lot of mixed responses here. While many still enjoy a good home setup (and even want to improve theirs), some (especially now) don’t really place any emphasis on it.

Downgrading my home setup and combining that with an RU subscription does sound like a fun experiment. As netanalyze also pointed out, maybe a simple iPhone is the new “home theater” setup anyway.

I’d like to thank each of these kind RU subscribers for giving their perspectives and insights.