Movie Experience in The Fort

There are three locations in The Fort that people can go and watch movies, each location is in a mall and is operated by the mall owner.

Cinema locations

1. SM Aura Cinemas. located on the 4th floor of SM Aura Premier
2. Bonifacio High Street Cinemas located on the 4th floor of Central Plaza, BHS
3. Market!Market! Cinemas located on the 5th floor of Market!Market! Mall

Ticket price

Since movie ticket prices can vary by movies, we compared the ticket price of one specific movie ÔÇ£Guardians of the GalaxyÔÇØ, a 2-hour movie, played from the last week of July 2014 in the three cinema locations.

The differences in ticket price can be attributed mainly to the film format (2D/3D/IMAX), sound system, and comfort level of the seats. ATMOS, for example, is a sound system that includes Dolby Surround sound and overhead speakers.

Viewing Angle and Picture Quality

All three cinemas (2D) gave our movie goers unobstructed view of the movie. Both BHS Cinemas and Aura Cinemas received the top rating of 5 stars from our investigators for picture quality, while Market!Market! Cinemas was given a still respectable 4 stars rating.

Seats

We can see that even for regular 2D theaters, the ticket price has a big range.

Let us look at the seats.

If we look at the premier 2D theatres, in SM Aura they are called
DirectorÔÇÖs Club and in Bonifacio High Street, they are called Lounge.
Both charge P400 per seat. The main difference between these premier
theatres and the regular theatres is the size of the seat. They feature
reclining sofa type chairs with foot rests. The space between rows is
therefore much bigger, as much as 1 meter, to allow the reclining chair
to open to its full length.

The number of seats in each of these premier theatres is also much
smaller than the regular 2D theatres. There are about 25 seats in each
of SM AuraÔÇÖs DirectorÔÇÖs Club theatre, while the Lounge (Cinema 1) at
Bonifacio High Street Cinemas has 106 seats. The space between seats in
the DirectorÔÇÖs Club is quite big. Even when two seats are connected,
there is a big side table between them for placing of food and drinks.
BHS CinemaÔÇÖs Lounge is less generous in this department.

Food

For most people, watching a movie is just that. But some cinemas are
keen to boost revenue by restricting the food that movie goers can bring
in to a theatre to those purchased from designated stalls. In this
regard, Market!Market! cinemas are the least restrictive. You can bring
in any food item. BHS Cinemas does not seem to have any restrictions,
but there are snack stalls located on the same floor of the cinemas, so
most people get their snacks from these stalls.

If you go to AuraÔÇÖs DirectorÔÇÖs Club, you are only allowed to order
from their snack bar. We ordered a premium burger and hotdog, they were
heated up by microwave and left to cool down before being served to us.
Our advice to movie goers is ÔÇ£do not try these in the cinemaÔÇØ.

Cleanliness and Services

Both BHS Cinemas and Aura Cinemas got 5 stars for cleanliness and
services. At the end of the show, there were workers outside waiting to
clean the cinemas. BHS Cinemas provided booster chairs for children upon
request, and provided food trays for when you bring snacks in.

Market!Market! got 3 stars for both cleanliness and services. The
staff were a bit rude and very unhelpful when we made enquiries about
the sound systems used in the cinemas.

Websites

Nowadays, we expect all information to be available online. All the
cinemasÔÇÖ show schedules and ticket prices can be found in either the
companiesÔÇÖ websites, or entertainment websites such as www.clickthecity.com.

Aura cinemaÔÇÖs show schedule: www.smcinema.com/movies

It shows three days of schedule.

For Market! Market! and BHS Cinemas, as both malls belong to the
same group of companies, the show schedules can be found in this
website: www.sureseats.com/theaters

The website shows seven-day schedule including today’s, but complete schedule is provided only for first three days.

How about online ticket purchase? Sureseats.com provides a means to buy ticket online. No such service for SM Aura cinemas yet.

Conclusion

Residents and workers in The Fort are indeed privileged, as we can choose
which kind of movie experience we are willing to pay for. You want the
experience of a home theatre? AuraÔÇÖs Cinemas has it. You want to just
watch the movie like in the good and cheaper old days? Market!Market!
cinemas are there to serve you. You want to stroll around in open area
after watching a movie? BHS Cinemas is the place and the price to match
the ambience.