America's prominent movie-theater chains, ranked from best to worst by audiences
- A new Market Force Information survey found which theater chains are the most popular among nearly 13,000 participants.
- The survey asked participants to rank each brand based on a Composite Loyalty Index, and then ranked each chain based on its average score.
- Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas took the top spot, and swept the concessions categories for its convenience and variety.
2018 has been a big year for movies at the box office. This summer alone raked in nearly $5 billion (thanks to an early start with "Avengers: Infinity War") - the second-biggest haul for a summer ever. That's a significant improvement from last summer, which was the worst at the box office in over a decade.
That means people still enjoy going to the theater to see movies on the big screen. And they enjoy some theater chains more than others.
A new survey from customer experience management company Market Force Information found which North American movie-theater chains were audiences' favorites. Nearly 13,000 people participated in the survey, which asked participants to rank each brand based on a Composite Loyalty Index, which factored in convenience of location, seating, show time selection, available movies, types and price of concessions, box-office service, and more.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, with its unique in-theater food and drink service, took the top spot in the survey with a score of 72%. It ranked highest among moviegoers in categories like previous good experience, value for money spent, staff courtesy and helpfulness, and variety of concessions. It swept the concessions and box-office rankings.
Harkins Theatres came in a close second with an overall score of 68%, with participants ranking it the best in convenient locations and second in ticket-collector courtesy (Alamo ranked first) and showtime selection (Studio Movie Grill ranked first with a 41% score). Marcus Theatres landed at third with an overall score of 64%.
Landmark Theatres ranked first among participants in movie-title selection with a 43% score.
AMC didn't fare as well as other chains despite its efforts to compete with MoviePass this summer with its own theater-subscription program. It ranked ninth among the 11 theaters included in the survey with a score of 53%.
Brand loyalty will be especially important to chains that want to roll out their own movie-theater subscription programs to compete with MoviePass.
AMC Theatres introduced its own this summer and attracted 260,000 subscribers in its first two months, and Alamo is testing a beta that had a waitlist of over 40,000 after only a month.
Below is a chart of each chain included in the survey, and where they ranked:
