AMC Rolling Hills 20 — Attraction in Lomita

After 20 years of intermittently (every few years) watching movies here, I feel compelled to warn people of the following: this is the poorest run AMC theatre to which I've ever been.

While there are one or two things that they do well, notably the $5 screenings of "classic films" (that are typically those nominated for awards during Oscar season), it's the lack of attention to detail that's finally doomed this place for me. At the main entrance, there's typically just one person behind the window whether it's daytime during the week or on a weekend evening. As a bonus feature, and unlike every other AMC to which I've been, there are no ticket kiosks to be found up front meaning that it's always a roll of the dice as to whether you'll get into your movie prior to its start. This is obviously an attempt to bilk you from even more of your hard-earned money through the collection of absurdist online ticket fees.

Also, the movie typically starts 20-25 minutes after its published start time so that one is subjected to a series of mind-numbing commercials for at least 10 minutes before the previous even get underway. Fortunately I learned of this trick several years ago and began adjusting my arrival time accordingly. After the final video ad completes (where Nicole Kidman pretends that she would ever step foot in this place) and the movie finally gets underway, there is typically no intermittent monitoring of the theater and/or film for quality purposes. Rarely to never are the staff seen or heard from again so much so that I've had to go close the theater door myself on several occasions to reduce the noise coming in from outside it.

And saving the worst for last: Since the mid-2000s, this theater has had the highest incidence of people being disruptive of other moviegoers' film experience. Despite the video encouraging folks to be respectful of others while watching the movie, only ~80% of the time at least one of the following happens: talking with others in the theater, using phones to take/make calls, or using phones to text or use apps. When I mentioned this to their security rep the last (and final) time I went there a few weeks ago, he took no responsibility for curbing this behavior and suggested that it was in me to interrupt my watching of the movie to report it so that something 'might' be done about it. This even manages to negatively impact the $5 movies as the low price seems to attract those that have minimal interest in watching the film itself.

Despite it being one of closest cineplexes to where I live, (after far too long) I'm finally done with this place. It's clear that they have no interest in changing the culture that they've allowed to persist for at least two decades. But I have a choice, and I chose not to support them any longer no matter what the price of the ticket to the show...

Theater is decent. The management is not. I went to see a movie "I Know What You Did Last Summer" at a 12:30 pm showing on 7/22/2025 in Theater 13. There were several teenagers talking during the entire movie. The last 15 minutes of the movie, I smelt smoke coming from their seating. I got up immediately and went to complain about the problem. Of course, Customer service / management couldn't do a dam thing. The manager explained that the movie was over and he couldn't verify any of my complaint or could not accommodate me with seeing the same movie at another show time.

To me was either a racist issue, with me being Asian and the manager being White/Hispanic or a very poor management decision, due to the severity of the problem.

The issue here, is that someone smelled smoke in a theater. Which is a safety issue for all seated in the theater. It doesn't matter how small the fire was, it was the NO action being taken at the time of the incident. The movie was not over, I missed 15 minutes of the ending to report smoke and no accommodation for doing so.

Reported at 2:15 pm, 7/22/2025.

I was frustrated and left the theater. No sense in watching the end credits in a smelly smokey theater.

I'm just a loyal customer, who likes watching movies in a peacefully environment.

It can be said, that a nosie issue does'nt need immediate attention, but a fire issue, come on, really, in a theater no less.

This manager needs to retake a course on customer service and emergency implementation, in order to have a better decision making, in his current...

I've seen films in several of their standard auditoriums. The seats don't recline and were packed kinda close together, but I haven't seen any issues with projection or sound in those theaters.

I've seen a few movies in their Dolby Cinema. That auditorium - the only one in Rolling Hills with AMC's Signature Recliners - was distracting for my first time, with blue lights eminating from the ceiling at all times, but that seems to have been unintentional, as I've had no issues with Dolby screenings since then. It's not the biggest screen, but it's a solid Dolby Cinema for seeing movies presented in 2.39:1! (If you want to see a movie presented in 1.85:1 in Dolby Cinema, go to Del Amo, unless you want big black bars on the sides of the screen. Picture attached for reference)

I went to their xenon IMAX once, for The Nun II. The doors were left open for half of it, so you would end up hearing the bass from other theaters during quiet scenes. The projector in the IMAX auditorium hasn't been upgraded to Laser yet, so the grays in the film can be quite washed out at times. Additionally, you could see the individual pixels at times if you have a keen eye - quite disappointing for what's supposed to be an IMAX screening.

Overall, a fine theater for standard and...