Regal Irvine Spectrum — Attraction in Irvine

IF YOU BOUGHT TICKETS FOR 70MM CALL THIS THEATER BEFORE WASTING YOUR TIME LIKE WE DID!!!!!!!!! I’m doing Regal’s job by notifying you!!

What an absolute joke. My husband and I booked our 70mm tickets for Sinners two weeks ago. We drove 60+ miles through LA traffic (which, let’s be honest, is like an extreme sport) to catch one of the 10 theaters in the world showing this thing as the director intended. We were ready—dinner, coffee, the whole date night experience.

Fast forward to 6:30pm—we stroll in, excited, holding hands, etc, and we’re told the 70mm projector is down. Down?! What are you talking about? Look, I get it. Those 70mm machines are picky, temperamental little divas that need a specialist to baby them, but come on. This is your job. This is your theater! And their brilliant “solution”? They offered us passes to a sold-out standard showing, where we would be sitting on the sides like the leftovers of moviegoers, or just a refund.

When I asked how long they’d known about this problem, they said—four hours. FOUR HOURS. You knew the projector was a gonner for FOUR HOURS and not a single soul thought, "Hey, maybe we should reach out to the people who are driving from miles away to see this thing"? You think we have nothing better to do than waste a whole evening driving down to your theater only to be told to “sit in the back”?

And don't even get me started on rebooking. They said they couldn’t help us. At all. So now we’ve wasted two weeks planning to see this film, and we're now behind a sea of sold-out screenings. No clue when we’re gonna see this thing. We ask for our refund, and then adding insult to injury, we have to argue to get vouchers. For the inconvenience and waste of gas. And some TikToker at the desk says, “I’m not supposed to do this.” Oh, really? You’re not supposed to accommodate customers for a crisis ya’ll knew about and didn’t bother to tell us about? You had our contact info—why didn’t you reach out?

Look, I’m the first person to preach about supporting theaters. I work in this industry! But when garbage like this happens, it makes me want to burn my theater loyalty card and start streaming from the couch. I get it—huge theater chains like Regal are so busy counting their profits that they’ve completely forgotten about the people who actually pay to sit in their overpriced seats.

You know what’s worse than getting shoved into a side seat for a standard version of the film? The audacity of it. Do you have any idea how much work and actual money goes into shooting in 70mm? You know how hard it is to film in that format? No, probably not, because all you care about is whether or not popcorn sales are up this month. But the crew? They worked their asses off for this—so some low-level employee could wave a hand at real movie lovers and tell them to “sit in the back” and shut up.

Imagine being Ryan Coogler, spending all that time and effort making this film in 70mm, and then hearing that Regal just shrugged it off. “Oh, don’t worry about it. Just watch it in standard with a neck cramp.”

Regal, seriously, is this the best you’ve got? At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if you started selling tickets to watch movies on a broken projector as a "unique experience." Maybe that’s the gimmick? If so, congrats, you're nailing it. Do everyone a favor and close down already if this is how you’re gonna treat your customers. You’ve officially mastered the art of ruining the movie-going...

We switched from AMC to Regal Cinemas to try their membership package. Regal’s membership is advertised at approximately $18 per Month. However.. they pull the old “small print” routine when you actually start signing-up for it and (based on your theater selection) the price may increase. So our $18 “Monthly” offer suddenly became $23.99 per Month. They give you a choice of annual or Monthly billing. So we choose Monthly. But then as you are finishing your check-out they drop the boom and tell you that you must join for at least 3 months. Uh…. Wouldn’t that be called QUARTERLY and not MONTHLY?! I really don’t like deceptive marketing. I also don’t like to be manipulated. BS pricing like this is exactly why California passed a law forcing companies to show THE FULL REAL PRICE. And not a deceptive lure. So let’s talk Pros and Cons. Pros: The lobby at the Irvine Spectrum is beautiful and impressive. It’s a dazzling environment with wrap-around led screens and sofas to lounge on. The snack bar staff is efficient but completely lack personality. The bar is handy and reasonable. The placed looked pretty clean. The large number of theaters offers good selection.

Cons: Deceptive pricing and relentless nickel & diming! A .50 cent charge for every time I reserve a seat?! Greedy! We can only use the boring “standard” theaters or we get nailed for a $6-$8 upcharge PER TICKET?! More greed! We can only earn regal points for candy but not wine? What the hell does it matter to them which products we buy? Are they trying to discourage us from spending more money? Lame. Then there are the seats. All of AMCs seats recline in comfort; are heated and motorized. But nope… not Regal’s seats. You get a stiff orange vinyl chair that slightly tilts back. Hey Regal are you taking lessons from the airlines on how to make uncomfortable seating? Read the other reviews. You’ll see tons of complaints about the seating. Speaking of the seating… what’s the deal with the screwed-up feng shui when it comes to the seating layout? The seating configuration looks like post modern awkwardness. And for the love of God… why in the HELL do all the damn trashcans always have to be overfilled? When I am the first guy out of the theater and the damn trashcans are already overflowing with garbage, what does that tell you? It tells me emptying the trash isn’t a priority. So, now Im wondering about the cleanliness of the concession stand. Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to smuggle my own licorice contraband into the theater like I used to.

Advice to Regal: Next time you should skip the fancy lobby and instead make motorized recliner seats. Nobody sits in the lobby. Everybody sits in the theater. Think about which is more important. And STOP the ridiculous up-charges. It makes you look...

Have been coming here for movies as long as I can remember. Ever since the remodel, I am extremely disappointed in Regal for some of the decisions they made for this theater, mainly the seats.

SEATS: Their "stadium seating" seats are the poorest design I have ever seen or experienced as a chair. There is absolutely no lumbar support, in fact, the seat actually is concave the opposite way! The neck support? There is none. It juts your head forward so you are forced to look down. To correct this, you can push your feet on the floor to "recline" the seat back, but you have to hold it there for the whole movie. So either your neck/back are suffering, or you are using your legs the entire time which is very tiring. I am VERY disappointed in Regal for this decision they made. Whoever designed these seats actually has never considered basic human anatomy. Airplane seats are far more comfortable than these. Unfortunately the seating for Imax is not much better. VIP is the only comfortable seating at this theater because it has real reclining seats.

Anyway I go out of my way to not watch movies here and encourage my friends to do the same, otherwise I end up crooked and in pain the next day.

Watching a movie should be a comfortable and relaxing experience. Watching at this theater will not grant you that. I fear that Regal will remodel their other theaters to be just like this when the older seats that are currently in there are the most comfortable.

LINES: The concession stand lines are long and they are not quick either. Their queuing system is like that in a grocery store where you choose a line and hope for the best, when you see that someone else you joined after you in a different line got served before you. There should be one queue for all the cashiers so that it is fair and you are not constantly gauging whether you are in the "right" line or not.

BATHROOMS: They have a ton of bathroom stalls but most of the toilets are either not flushed or out of order or gross. You have to check multiple stalls before finding a decent one.

BRIGHT LED SCREENS OUTSIDE: Regal wanted to capture everyone's attention to their theater by placing giant LED screens that are constantly playing movie advertisements. These lights are very blinding at night and are very...