Best Theater to see Return of the King in Los Angeles?

[Kai Lord]

Hey, does anyone who lives in or near L.A. want to give a recommendation as to where the best place would be to catch Return of the King? I'll be spending the holidays there, and was absolutely shocked after calling Graumann's Chinese Theater and hearing that they won't be showing it. Is there another theater that's comparable?

 

[deranged DM]

Actually, if you are near enough to Hollywood that the Chinese is a good option, I personally preferred the Cinerama Dome on Sunset near Vine. Saw T2 and Hunt for Red October there in HS (lo those many years ago).
Bear in mind, however, that LA is a very big place. Like, hours across during rush hour big.

Hey, does anyone who lives in or near L.A. want to give a recommendation as to where the best place would be to catch Return of the King? I'll be spending the holidays there, and was absolutely shocked after calling Graumann's Chinese Theater and hearing that they won't be showing it. Is there another theater that's comparable?

Oh, and RoTK is playing there.

http://www.arclightcinemas.com

 

[Mistwell]

I saw it at the Hollywood Dome (now called the Arclight by the way):

http://www.arclightcinemas.com/homepage.jsp;jsessionid=c430408731071876739312

It is, hands down, the best theatre in LA. Yes, that includes the Chinese. Chinese is a neat place to see stuff, because of the decor. But the system at the Arclight is just way, WAY better. MASSIVE screen, perfect acoustics, fantastic sound system, comfortable chairs, wide aisles, assigned seating, numerous exits, etc.. And, they are pretty classy about it. They have a bookshop, good food for sale, museum-quality pieces from the movies on display, well-organized lines, etc...

If the Arclight is too far, I would suggest The Bridge (near LAX):

http://www.thebridgecinema.com/home/home.asp?l=7801

or The Grove (near the farmer's market):

http://www.thegrovela.com/

And then there is always Universal Citywalk, which I believe has it on their IMAX screens:

http://www.citywalkhollywood.com/

 

[Kai Lord]

Awesome. Thanks for the info guys, just what I was looking for. I'll actually be staying with relatives in Thousand Oaks, and when I pulled up the map for driving directions on the arclight website it said it was 33 miles away. I can handle that to catch RoTK on the best screen in L.A.

Assigned seating though? I don't know how much I love that idea. Its cool that you wouldn't have to show up early to get a good seat but it'd be nice to have the option to get up and move a few seats over if Shaq sits in front of you.


EDIT: Or do they have nice stadium style seating so headroom won't be a problem?

 

[Chain Lightning]

A few warnings about the Arclight Cinerama Dome.

You can buy the seats you sit in at the Dome theatre. If I were you, I'd try to get in the back half of the theatre. Or if you can only get in the first front half. Try to get tickets in the furthest back row of THAT front half. I saw "The Two Towers" at the Dome and I sat three quarters of the way back in the first half section and it was WAY too close. I couldn't see anything clearly. And with PJ's style of being close in on action with shakey camera, you're going to hate watching some of the fights there.

Best seats are in the first 3rd of the back half of the theatre. IMHO.

I hear another kick arse theatre is "National Amusements The Bridge:cinema de lux". That's actually kind of close to the airport. There's another theatre at a place called "The Grove" that is also awesome. Never been there, but I hear its got high quality system plus like balcony seats with little tables for food & drink. Neat-O eh?

I personally think the sound in Chinese Theatre is slightly better than Arclight, but I could be wrong. I saw "HEAT" there and it was just awesome. Saw the "Star Wars: Special Editions" there too. Stupid thing about the Chinese Theatre is whoever is in charge of what gets shown on the main screen there. The theatre manager or whomever... is a total fool. They always seem to be NOT showing the movie that should be showing there.

When "Starship Troopers" came out, they showed "Mr. Bean" on the big screen. They do this all the time. I don't really know why. Most likely, "Mona Lisa Smile" is showing on the big screen instead of "LotR:RotK".

From Thousand Oaks, getting to Hollywood (to the Arclight) is about an hour depending on traffic. You see, if you go during night on weekends, the surface streets by the Arclight are super crowded. It will literally add an extra half hour to your total drive going from the Highland exit of the 101 freeway to the Arclight. I'm sure your relatives will know how early to leave and all that.

But THE BEST theatre in Los Angeles (for me so far) is the Kim Novak Theatre on the Sony Columbia/Tristar lot in Culver City. But unfortunately you can't get in there unless you are an employee and they also happen to be showing that movie that week. I hear "The Bridge" has a theatre that is suppose to be on par with the Kim Novak special screening theatre. Big leather seats, awesome sounds, etc. Since that theatre is new, I haven't been to it yet. I'm going to try to see RotK there Saturday. To see for myself.

 

[Mistwell]

Thousand Oaks actually does have a pretty good theatre nearby. The Commons, in Calabasas (an Edwards theatre):

http://www.shopcommons.com/

and, for more specific info to the theatre:

http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/venue/0,1375,VCS_157_6508,00.html

It has stadium seating and a nice sound system.

 

[tetsujin28]

I always liked the Egyptian, myself. And the Mann Westwood. But I haven't lived there since '93, so things must have changed.

 

[Kai Lord]

A few warnings about the Arclight Cinerama Dome.

You can buy the seats you sit in at the Dome theatre. If I were you, I'd try to get in the back half of the theatre. Or if you can only get in the first front half. Try to get tickets in the furthest back row of THAT front half. I saw "The Two Towers" at the Dome and I sat three quarters of the way back in the first half section and it was WAY too close. I couldn't see anything clearly. And with PJ's style of being close in on action with shakey camera, you're going to hate watching some of the fights there.

Best seats are in the first 3rd of the back half of the theatre. IMHO.

Caught ROTK at the Arclight Dome last night for the 11:15 pm showing. It was the only one where we could get seats where you recommended. We ended up sitting in seats C23, C24, and C25, or the last row on the "floor" section before the pairs of handicapped seats, dead center. PERFECT seats!

That screen was awesome. 86 feet across, damn. But you should have warned me about the sound, they had it cranked so high for a while I thought my head was going to explode. When the Witch King made his first appearance right before Frodo and Sam climbed that long staircase and let out that 30 second long "nazgul shriek" I thought my ears would literally bleed.

But by the second half of the movie I was loving it. The oliphants stomping, the trolls banging the drums, the Witch King's flail smashing the ground...you could feel every hit like a mortar round in your chest. Awesome.

Thanks for the tips guys, much appreciated. Won't be topping that cinematic experience anytime soon.

 

[Chain Lightning]

Sweet! I'm glad you were able to get good seats!

I remember when I saw The Two Towers there, they had extra props and statues in the lobby area. Did they have that again for RotK? Last year they had a full scale Ringwraith on horseback and one Uruk-hai.

I was going to try and see RotK at The Bridge Cinema De-lux.....(was trying for the Director's Hall showing).....but for some reason they stop showing RotK there in favor of "Cheaper by the Dozen". What the?

Anyways, good to hear you had a good time at the Arclight.

 

[Kai Lord]

Sweet! I'm glad you were able to get good seats!

I remember when I saw The Two Towers there, they had extra props and statues in the lobby area. Did they have that again for RotK? Last year they had a full scale Ringwraith on horseback and one Uruk-hai.

I was going to try and see RotK at The Bridge Cinema De-lux.....(was trying for the Director's Hall showing).....but for some reason they stop showing RotK there in favor of "Cheaper by the Dozen". What the?

Anyways, good to hear you had a good time at the Arclight.

Not only did they have the full scale Ringwraith and Uruk-hai in the Dome lobby, but they also had a full scale Gollum holding a fish and Orc archer in the main lobby as well, in addition to a nice display of WETA miniatures.

Looks like the Arclight showcases a lot of guest director screenings as well. On January 20th James Cameron will be there for a Q & A session after a screening of Terminator 2. Too bad I won't be in town for that (though it appears its already sold out anyway.)

Anyway, yeah the Arclight was awesome. Liked it even better than the Chinese.