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Would it make sense and really make a difference to add Stadium seating to a single screen cinema?

Just read an article in March's Box Office about National Amusements reaching an out of court settlement over wheelchair accessibility at their stadium seating auditoriums. They are going to make changes at existing and future stadium auditoriums that will improve sightlines for patrons in wheelchairs, with designated wheelchair areas to be placed at least halfway between the screen and the back of the hall. The lawsuit, filed under the ADA, claimed that areas reserved for wheelchairs are placed in undesirable locations and provide inferior sightlines.

Sounds to me like stadium seating is almost more of a pain than it is worth to keep everybody happy.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jacker5:
Would it make sense and really make a difference to add Stadium seating to a single screen cinema?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I, for one, would welcome it. Ask yourself: how many times do you sell out your cinema? If the answer is rarely or never, the loss of seating capacity won't be much of an issue. Accessibility for disabled or elderly customers is much thornier, but that issue is highly variable depending on your existing facilities. Furthermore, making such modern touches mesh with vintage elements is something that must be carefully considered at the design stage. Though I have no real-world experience as an exhibitor to draw on, I strongly suspect that modern, high-back seating, superior sight lines and competitive booking combined with a single-screen theatre's impressive scope would help keep the multiplexes and those ever-encroaching DVD windows at bay for some time to come.

Can anyone tell me what the standard square foot allowance is per seat in designing a stadium seating vs. sloped floor auditorium?

If you had a limited budget of lets say 20,000 for renovations for a twin.
Would you do the seats over and sound the best you can for both or max out one with stadium seating and the best sound possible and the other one which is presentable leave for a later date?

If you have good theatres with conventional sloped floors, I'd invest in better seats spaced with lots of leg room. IMHO, you can deliver sight lines just as good as a stadium, with all the comfort, and none of the access issues.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: +1 585-477-5325 Cell: +1 585-781-4036 Fax: +1 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

John; Although we haven't posted here for some time, I am pleased that the stadium seating topic is still going strong. We have designed a few stadium theatres which go a long way to addressing some of the issues of access, viewing angles, etc. In the example illustrated, the whole cinema is stadium, but the lower and upper parts (roughly 1/3:2/3) are separated by a cross aisle. Access is by ramp from the lobby to this cross aisle. Handicapped seating is located here, and emergency exits must be at the end of the cross aisle so that wheelchairs can have two means of egress (one way back through the lobby). The handicap locations are at an ideal location: not too close to the screen (actually, very close to 2 x screen height distance), with eye level above the bottom of the screen. The first row is at least 1 x screen height back, and the screen starts at 5'-0" above the floor, so no neck-craning. As a rule of thumb, we place the back row so that the eye level is no more than 2/3 of the screen height. With variable riser heights, sightline clearance from every row are exactly equal. This configuration is also easier for elderly folks to access, as the first few rows from the cross aisle have very few shallow steps to climb. Note that there are also railings even with centre aisles.

Very nice stadium design!

My comments related to whether it was worth turning a nicely sloped conventional auditorium into a stadium. In most cases, I'd put my money into top quality seats, with generous spacing for lots of leg room. Do you agree?

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: +1 585-477-5325 Cell: +1 585-781-4036 Fax: +1 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Thanks John as always very helpful, now what would be a good dealer in the Pa. area for the seats!

John

I have stated before in this topic that I still like well-designed conventional sloped floor cinemas - BUT. . .

In a sloped floor cinema, the best you can get in terms of eye level to eye level clearance is 4 to 5 inches. This is partly because on limitations in ADA on maximum slope of aisles, and partly due to not raising the screen too high above the floor, causing neck-craning for the front rows. This is the key advantage to stadium design, but stadiums must be properly designed as well. Our variable riser height method equalizes eye level clearance throughout the auditorium, and generally we have clearances between 8 and 12 inches.

With an existing sloped floor design, don't you get some extra sightline clearance by increasing the row spacing, which also gives more legroom? Of course you are sacrificing some seating capacity.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: +1 585-477-5325 Cell: +1 585-781-4036 Fax: +1 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

John

We have been doing 4'-0" back-to-back row spacing in many of our newest projects. Even if you apply this same standard to sloped floor seating, the incremental gain in sightline clearance is minimal.

One thing no one has mentioned about stadium seating is how much more difficult it is to clean.

Hi havent posted in a long time but felt i should comment on this.
In a theater in wichita, Ks they did their stadium design is completley different then anything i have seen. when you walk into the theater you walk in at the just above the halfway point in the stadium. Then you have 2-3 rows at level with handicapped access then you can either go up or down from that point. Thereby giving handicapped people an option to set in a couple rows but at the middle point so they are not clear at the back or right up front.

It is a great idea. The other thing they have done is in the middle largest theater they have a balcony. A true balcony like back in the old days of the theaters. Then the rest of the theater is slopped.
The seats are staggerd with a good slope so everyone gets a good seat or if you are 21 or older you can sit in the balcony with huge seats and you can even get service directly to you. You have the choice of the concession stand or the diner. You can order by pushing a button at your seat and someone comes to wait on you and then gets your food for you. You also have the privilage of hanging out in a special lounge before and after the movie that is only for people seeing the movie in the balcony.

I am thinking of doing something simillar in our theater when we start it.
I have also seen stadium seating but instaed of steps its a very steep slope which looks kind of odd but you get the stadium affect with out stairs.

Anyway just thought i would throw in what i have seen maybe help someone.

you all make good counter points, but I'm still a big fan of stadium seating.