The ball’s in AMC’s court

I’m thinking of doing a two-fer today. First “Brothers,” then “Everybody’s Fine.”

I’m not sure what to expect of “Brothers,” considering none of the iraq/Afghanistan-based war films have done very well. My two favorites are “The Hurt Locker” and HBO’s miniseries “Generation Kill,” but neither did much business (though, yes, HBO is television, so that’s a different animal). As for “Everybody’s Fine,” it looks positively tame. And it being a remake of an Italian film doesn’t bode well.

What’s on my mind, though, is that both films are playing at River Park Square’s AMC Theatres . And that theatrical chain just adopted a nationwide policy not to let any outside food into its movie houses.

Let’s point out that this is a national policy, forced on the local theater. Let’s also point out that AMC is just doing what other chains have always done as company policy, even in the malls that support them. But it does strike me funny that in this era of particularly tight money a company would do something, anything, that pushes customers away.

I know the arguments. Movie houses offer their own snacks (in fact, that’s where they make most of their money), and why should they allow people to abuse the privilege by bringing in pizzas or big steaming bowls of Panda Express noodles into their theaters? Which happens, believe me.

But then doesn’t the obligation fall the other way, too? I like to drink good Nordstrom coffee during morning or early-afternoon movies. Does AMC even sell coffee? And if it does, is it as good as what Nordstrom serves? Or Starbucks? Or Thomas Hammer? Or Four Seasons? I doubt it.

Movie-theater chains have the license to do business any way they want. And we, as the patrons of their product, have our rights, too. And with all the choices that we have out there, from other theaters to DVDs to Same Day On Demand services and so on, we have more and more places in which to spend our money.

Seems ultimately self-defeating to do anything to push us away. Just saying.

Below : An excerpt from “Stanno tutti bene,” the Italian source for “Everybody’s Fine.”