Sun Valley Cinema — Attraction in Mountain Home

Went here today to see Mufasa. I've been going to this theater consistently for the last 10 years.

Before Covid, there was another theater here owned by the same people called Baxter Cinema, located no further than down the street. If you go to Baxter Cinema's site, which as of posting is still up, they refer you to Sun Valley, as they're the same owners. The two cinemas have been the only indoor theaters operating within at least an hours drive from this town, which left these two as the only options. Baxter seemed very well kept, until it was shut down and Sun Valley became the only operating one since Covid.

As of today, I've realized this theater has became so under-maintained that I strongly recommended against it.

For one, I own a newer TV that costs less than a grand, and the screen experience is a lot better at home. Not everyone owns a nice TV, but it shows that the equipment they use is likely old and no longer presents a reason to come here for a good screen experience. Over time, projectors diminish with bulb life, and they also are very expensive to operate. The projectors have become weak over time and they don't seem to be replacing their equipment towards the end of its life. The quality isn't as sharp as it used to be, far objects/characters look very blurry, and the bright whites you'd expect from a good projector are weak. The theater isn't as very large compared to others, so having a shorter throw, brighter projectors shouldn't be too difficult to have. The lack of care for their screen equipment and unwillingness to upkeep an replace on it shows they might be in some financial trouble. The picture quality isn't sharp, and really only looks like a 1080p throw, compared to the much higher resolutions that are possible. Small objects, or characters in the distance, seem very blurry. On their site, they list their showings as 2D or not. You have to assume that any listing without 2D would be 3D. Eg. "Mufasa" and "Mufasa 2D", you'd assume the listing "Mufasa" would be 3D because it's not explicitly marked at 2D. For some, a big part of the experience is seeing films in 3D. However, when you go to get their tickets, it's in 2D only, and you only know when you're told at the register. You used to be able to see 3D at this theater all the time, but now not only do they make you think it's available in 3D, they don't seem to play films on 3D at all anymore, which goes back to my point that their projectors aren't being maintained. It's likely their equipment can't handle 3D anymore, and they had to replace their equipment with 2D only equipment, or be forced to use their equipment at 2D only, which also runs cheaper. The last time a film was played here that I went to in 3D was a showing for Avatar: The Way Of Water. Since then, multiple visits, I had not been able to attend a listing not marked as 2D and it be in 3D.

The sound is advertised as surround, but it feels very off center from the middle rows and has feint static for loudness or silence, but it is very difficult to hear and wouldn't bother anyone realistically. Their sound system doesn't seem to be able to keep up and isn't calibrated correctly. They have to keep their sound loud so you don't hear the other showings next door coming through the walls, which seems poorly soundproofed.

The theater is also dirty, even the first showing of the day where you'd expect them to clean up the night before/morning of before the showings. The 2 rows in front of me were filled from the previous days' popcorn, as if it's never cleaned. I overheard someone say there wasn't any soap in the bathrooms either.

Tickets are cheap, but the popcorn is twice the tickets. What was an XL popcorn a while ago is now a large, but you're still paying for an XL. Refills were 50 cents, and raised to a dollar. Limited choice for what you can order. Other theaters often offer things like frozen drinks and pretzels, this one is only popcorn, candy, and seltzer soda.

Cash only for everything.

If anybody working here sees this, please take better care of...

We are in town visiting family for Thanksgiving and decided to go see a movie today. Seeing as how this is the only movie theater around this is the one we went to. First off, the fact that this place is cash only is ridiculous. I know they have an ATM there, but we are close to 2025 and very few people still carry cash (or want to use it for that matter). Second, I don’t know if it’s that they didn’t have enough people working or what, but the concession line took forever (there is something wrong when you only have maybe 5 people in front of you and end up waiting 15 minutes plus before it’s your turn). Next, we are sitting in a theater full of people waiting for the previews and movie to start….the start time came and went. We waited around 20 minutes before they realized the movie had not started and they only figured it out because a customer got tired of waiting and went to tell them. I feel bad for the people who live here and have no other options. The theater is terribly outdated, the floors are sticky, the seats were uncomfortable, and it smelled like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed. Mountain Home I hope you get a better...

Sun Valley Cinema needs to fix the speaker system for the Cinema room 2. Might as well watch a silent movie. The manager tried to blame the quality of the movie "Sound of Freedom" as the sound issue. Many people reported the problem to the manager who stated, "I can't turn it up. I'll get in trouble". There was even a point that someone shouted during the movie , "Turn the sound up!". If the "poor quality of the movie" was cause of the sound issues this would be reported all over social media. It's NOT the movie. The same problem existed when watching, Spiderman. Fix your speakers/sound system in 2. Don't waste your hard earned money watching a movie in Cinema room 2 at the Sun Valley Cinema until they fix the sound problem. Note: spoke to others after the movie and they said there is always issues with the sound in Cinema room 2. I have spoken to others that watched "Sound of Freedom" in other theatres and there was absolutely no issues with the sound quality. Stop blaming the movie. Sun Valley Cinema it's your problem, it's your speakers/sound system quality, or you turned speakers off in that room. You're stealing money from people by not taking care...