Movie Theater Review: Cinepolis of Mansfield, NJ
Today, we’re going to provide a unique perspective about the relatively new Cinepolis Movie Theater over in Mansfield, NJ. It was recently renovated into a “luxury” theater.
Note that we do not patronize movies as we used to in the ’80s. Just not our thing anymore. However, we did this for one of our kids (to see “Frozen II.”)
10 Observations about the Luxury Cinepolis Movie Theater
- Intimate sizes. We were blown away by how few people each theater held. The smallest theaters were 27 seats. Three rows. The largest theater held 84 seats. The theaters we remember from our youth often held 300 seats or more.
- Costly. To see an 11am matinee, the cost was $30 for two adults and one child. There were four other patrons in the theater. Costs per ticket are (matinee/regular) – Adults ($9.75 / $12.00) Kids/Seniors ($8.00 / $10.00)
- No “box office.” All ticket purchases were done via video kiosk. We imagine most people do either online or via app through their phones. Probably speeds things up.
- Pick your seats. Interesting that you literally pick your seats you want to sit in. Kind of nice, I suppose.
- Food delivery. This particular theater – you ordered food at the counter, and they brought it to your seat. Certainly eliminates all that dropped popcorn we used to remember. We did not order food at all.
- Comfortable seats. The chairs were a massive upgrade compared to what we recall. They also reclined. Definitely improves the experience for sure.
- Scent. I’m sure you’ve heard about conspiracies about “pumping smells” into places. It’s definitely a real thing. And this theater had, for lack of a better phrase, a “pleasant scent.” One we’ve never exactly smelled before. We wonder if it’s done to promote psychological acceptance of the whole experience. You can also have similar scent encounters at various casinos as well. It makes you wonder.
- Booze. Oh, forgot to mention – they offered alcohol as well. We saw beer behind the counter, but not sure if they also had wine. Most likely highly over-priced. Better off buying one – and sneaking the rest in.
- Poor screen quality. The theater we were in to see Frozen – had what we believed to be bad image quality – even though it is digital. Most obvious was the “washed out” look with low-contrast. Perhaps some of the other theaters had higher levels? The “black levels” were very bad.
- Still hear other theaters. This was always annoying at theaters. You can still hear “booming” from adjacent theaters. It kind of disturbs the experience. You’d think that after all these advancements – they’d be able to figure that out?
Overall – can’t really knock the Cinepolis Movie Experience
In terms of the physical experience at Cinepolis – I’d say it was generally positive. Remember – this is coming from someone who recalls movie theaters of old. So it was a drastic change, rather than a subtle one. Not being squeezed in-between others is definitely a huge improvement.
We surmise that this progression of movie-watching was absolutely necessary in order for the movie industry to survive. If they kept providing shoddy theaters with sub-standard experiences – people would just stop going. With affordable large-screen TVs in everyone’s home now – you have to up the game to have a chance.
Perhaps this is their “last gasp” to profit from entertaining people like this. Not much else they can do – until REAL holograms and 3D experiences (like the “holodeck” from Star Trek) get invented – which is probably never.
People like being comfortable and in control. And the best way to do that is from the comfort of your own home.
Keep in mind that production qualities are also going up for the independent creators from places like YouTube. We just wonder if those will eventually be what movies were in the past.
Cinepolis Cinemas Movie Theater – Mansfield, NJ Data:
Address: 1965 NJ-57, Hackettstown, NJ 07840
Phone: (908) 852-5960
Website: https://cinepolisusa.com/
Map:
