Draft:AMC Theatres

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

AMC Theatres is an American movie theater chain, founded in 1920 when Maurice, Edward, and Barney Dubinsky acquired the Regent Theatre in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The chain was renamed to Durwood Theatres after acquiring theaters in Kansas City and nearby areas; in 1969, when the chain began further national expansion, it gained another name in American Multi-Cinema, which would be shortened to AMC in 1979. The chain, headquartered in Leawood, Kansas, is currently the largest global film exhibitor. AMC and competitor Regal Cinemas co-founded and previously owned the movie studio Open Road Films.



1st Opening (May 1980-1983)


Logo: On a black background, a blue/yellow flash appears. 10 saturated black and white photographs of celebrities, popular in the New Hollywood era, zoom in on a blue circle outline while a white shine is revolving around the circle. After the last one (Charlie Chaplin) appears, the circle turns sideways revealing an outline of a projector. The shine starts to eliminate the outline and creates a red "A" in its signature design. A filmstrip comes from the bottom and goes next to the "A" forming the outline of the "M". The filmstrip gets removed and makes the "M" red. The same happens for the "C" except it comes from the top of the screen. Several white curved-edged rectangles zoom in around "AMC" and centers the logo. Stars appear on the bottom forming "THEATRES". A bright light appears on the "A" and "C". "Our Feature Presentation" fades in one by one with the music. A bright light fades on the "A" and shines along with the "M" and "C". The logo fades to black.

Technique: Cel animation by Barbara Garner, with footage from the Cascom Select Effects Library. The print logo was designed by Cinema Concepts.

Music/Sounds: An abridged excerpt of the orchestral tune "Olympic Champion 1" by Keith Mansfield from 1978.

Availability: Ultra rare. Seen at numerous AMC cinemas from the time period. 35mm prints of this can be found on eBay or through film collectors and projectionists.

2nd Opening (1983-1986)


Logo: A blue beam of light emerges from a black background. From this beam emerges a blue stripe with an outline of the continental United States gliding toward the audience. Then two more stripes emerge, one on top and one on the bottom placed at the center of the first stripe. The stripes then rotate sideways to reveal the AMC logo, and continue rotating after the logo is centered. The stripes then center themselves in the same position as they were originally, then the first stripe lifts upward to reveal the "Feature Presentation" text. The text shines once it's in place, while the stripe moves to the top of the screen. A light shines across the AMC logo as this happens. All three lights then rotate once more, but don't manage to center themselves again before the logo fades out.

Previews Variant: A bright blue light appears with the text "Now Showing or Coming Soon to an AMC Theatre". This would show before the film to advertise 3-4 trailers in the theater.

Technique: Early computer graphics.

Music/Sounds: An ominous synth noise, then chimes, then a synth-brass fanfare. An announcer is also present, who recites "AMC welcomes you to the finest in motion picture entertainment. You are about to experience a movie the way it was meant to be seen-and heard. And now, our feature presentation."

Availability: Same as the last logo.

3rd Opening (1986-1990)


Logo: We start off with live footage of an '80's AMC theater ("AMC" in its same font as the last logo) with a sign saying "AMC 6 Theaters", with cars pulling in the parking lot and people walking in. The camera gets a close up into the logo, then cuts to "AMC" in its font from the last logo on a gold sign. It then cuts to a girl in the lobby, wearing a uniform, speaking into the microphone. It then cuts to a couple across from the girl working. It cuts to the movie ticket printing out and a hand grabbing it. The person hands it over to an usher letting them in. It cuts to them buying some popcorn at a stand inside the theater with another worker talking to them. It cuts back to the two who grab the popcorn bucket. It then cuts to a close up of popcorn popping and popcorn in its bucket. The two then walk away with the popcorn and go inside the cinema. Inside, other people are sitting down from old to young. They then put down their drink and cuts to another couple kissing and a family with a little girl smiling. It then cuts to the screen where "A", "M", and "C" fade in time with the music along with the (R) symbol on the side all in chrome. The logo shines while "There is a difference" in cursive is being written below. The logo fades to black and "Feature Presentation" fades in written in cursive and fades out.

Previews Variant: On a black background, "There is a difference" in cursive fades in one by one. Then, it cuts out and starts zooming out from the back of the "A" from "AMC" flipped. The logo turns 180 degrees in the same "AMC" from an angle and a different chrome color shining. "PREVIEWS" zooms in under the logo and fades to black.

Technique: Live-action and early CGI. The previews only uses CGI.

Music/Sounds: A synth orchestra theme.

Availability: Same as the last logos.

4th Opening (1990-1991)


Logo: We start off by seeing 10 filmreels, 5 on each side rotating. Text flies by the top of the reels. The camera cuts to the top view of the reels: 2 on the top, 3 on the bottom and the other 5 are flipped on the other side. Text reading "There is a difference" goes in between the reels from right to left. As the text disappears, the reels start separating as the "AMC" text in a glass outline appears. The camera turns to face the front of the text while a laser draws the outline in red. When the camera stops turning, "Feature Presentation" flies in from the right while a yellow circle with a trail flies in from the right, going through the text. Other yellow dots, circles, and squiggly lines all fly in. The logo shines for a bit while the star at the bottom right corner spins. The logo fades out.

Previews Variant: The already formed logo fades in with "PREVIEWS" scrolling from the right to left. After that, the logo fades.

Trivia: This was done by Metrolight Studios. The equipment and software employed are a Silicon Graphics IRIS 3130, Silicon Graphics Personal IRIS 4D/25 with Eclipse TG graphics, Alias/Wavefront Advanced Visualizer, and Parallax Matador.

Technique: All in advanced CGI from Metrolight Studios.

Music/Sounds: Another synthesized theme, with a choir at the end.

Availability: Same as the last few logos.

5th Opening (1991-1994)


Logo: We start by fading into a shot of a film case with "AMC" with a red outline on top. A label below reads "Feature Pres." while a spotlight shines on it. The camera zooms out while the case spins and shakes. The case pops open while an anthropomorphic figure made of filmstrips (named Clip, who was AMC's mascot from 1991 to 2009) flies out. He flips and lands while he is shaking his head. He waves his film hand at the case as a filmreel pops out and bounces with him while he walks on the purple floor. While they are walking, a film reel is shown sideways behind them with the text saying "There is a difference". Clip jumps and when he lands, he waves his film hand around him leaving a trail of blue light. The camera cuts to the floor turning sideways as he jumps on the filmreel and flies away. While that is happening, the AMC logo begins to draw itself in from left to right. A few more circles of yellow and red appear on the bottom right of the screen. A gold rectangle flies in from the bottom with the text "Feature Presentation" on it. The copyright mark appears of at the end of the "C". Clip flies past the logo and through the screen leaving a trail of stars behind.

Previews Variant: We pan over the same film case described above. Meanwhile, a rolled label falls down onto the canister. As it lands, the label unrolls itself right below the AMC logo, revealing the word "PREVIEWS".

Technique: CGI from Metrolight Studios.

Music/Sounds: A bass, which transitions into an orchestral theme as Clip flies on the filmreel.

Availability: Same as the last few logos.

6th Opening (1994-1996)


Logo: We start off as we see Clip who is much more gold than usual (especially his facial expressions), flying around on the filmreel. The building is all golden filmreels with filmstrips moving from many film cameras on the sides. There is also filmreels moving on the ceiling. In the far distance, "AMC" is shown under spotlights while "THERE IS A DIFFERENCE" is shown underneath while filmstrips pass over it. Clip stops in front of the camera and starts flexing his film arms. He leans on the right side and falls off the filmreel as it races to catch him. The camera cuts to a hole where filmstrips circle around and lights are shown. Clip is still falling and the filmreel races to catch him. The camera cuts again to the same room in the beginning but zoomed in. The filmreel positions itself as Clip falls onto it. He gets up with a sigh of relief. While that is happening, "AMC" in gold lines is drawn in from the bottom behind him. A red outline drops in behind the text and the logo is drawn a thicker red outline. Clip then flies from right to left while "Feature Presentation" pops in one by one. The (C) symbol appears again beside the C. Like the last logo, Clip flies past the logo and through the screen. The logo fades out.

Previews Variant: We start off by fading into a purple gradient background. A cup of Coca-Cola is shown as the camera pans up, we see that the cup has a straw and the cup is full of the drink. The drink is getting sucked in the straw as the camera pans up to see Clip sitting on the filmreel drinking from the straw. He gets surprised and gives a sighed expression. The camera starts to pan up as Clip stands up and flies away, leaving a star trail behind. While that happens, the logo is drawn in like the last logo but it is sped up. Silver lines fill up the logo. Clip flies by the logo from right to left leaving "Previews" behind him. The logo fades out.

Technique: CGI from Metrolight Studios.

Music/Sounds: An orchestral theme, ending with the same jingle from the last logo.

Availability: Extinct.

Legacy: This is the first trailer to depict Clip with facial features.

7th Opening (1996-November 2002)


Logo: We start by fading in into a theatre with pillars and stars on the side. A ledge extends out showing a music stand with "AMC" in its signature font on the back, music book, baton, and Clip wearing a white bow tie. A spotlight shines on him as he takes a bow. He opens up the book and turns the pages to a song called "There is a difference!". He stretches out his bow tie and taps the baton on the stand. As soon as he starts to conduct the piece, he finds four 8th notes hanging and then all the notes fall down to the bottom of the stand. He scratches his head and blows off the papers of the book. He then waves his baton around shining a blue light and shoots it at the front. The light goes out of the theatre and into the sky. Other colors (purple, orange, and green) are there as well. A big explosion appears forming "AMC" in its signature font with the letters outlined and the inside in silver. "FEATURE PRESENTATION" appears under the logo while the logo is zooming in with stars all around, a la the 4th Star Cinema logo. The logo then fades to black.

Previews Variant: We start by zooming into the theater without Clip at the stand. The camera zooms through the top and to an AMC sign in the same font as the FP logo but with the copyright symbol. "Previews" in cursive lights up on the sign. The logo cuts to black.

Trivia: The concept art of this animation was created by author and illustrator Miles Hyman. There were three proposed storyboards for Metrolight Studios to animate, the closest being a heavily trimmed down version of the Carnival storyboard.

Variant: In 1998, an anniversary FP logo is used celebrating a century of movies: It starts by showing a picture of "AMC" in its FP form with "Salutes" underneath on a black background. It then cuts to another set of text saying "AFI's 100 YEARS 100 MOVIES" with a red star on the left side of "AFI", tilted. Another set of text fades in on top saying "Celebrating A Century Of American Cinema". It cuts to a clip from Annie (1982) where Mr. Warbucks says: "Let's all go to the movies!" It then fades to footage of the Radio City Music Hall marquee from that same movie. It cuts to an AMC Theatres sign from daytime to nighttime, the outline of "AMC" glows yellow. It then cuts to an updated footage of the 2nd logo without the popcorn popping, then there is a timelapse of people filling up the seats. Then we see shots of an audience, including a group of people, a couple with the husband feeding popcorn to the wife, another couple kissing, and the audience clapping. Then a film starts to play and the audience reacts to it. In order of appearance, the featured films are:

    • Raiders of the Lost Ark: A young girl has a shocked face.
    • Independence Day: The audience reacts like they are in an earthquake.
    • Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back: Luke Skywalker fighting Darth Vader.
    • Matinee (1993): A startled Dennis (Jason Lee Soffer) jumps and puts his eyes on his brother, Gene's (Simone Fenton) arm.
    • Jurassic Park: The audience jumps.
    • E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: E.T.'s finger glows.
    • Last Action Hero: Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien) smiling.
    • Mrs. Doubtfire: The audience laughing.
    • A Streetcar Named Desire: A woman crying.
    • Ghost: A woman crying and blowing a tissue.
    • Casablanca: Humphrey Bogart's character saying "Here's looking at you kid."
    • Cinema Paradiso: A man with a shocked face.
    • Rocky: The audience (mostly men) clapping and cheering.

After this, it cuts to the last 3 seconds of the FP logo.

Technique: CGI from Metrolight Studios.

Music/Sounds: First, an orchestra tuning, which is a sample called "Intro Tune" from Peter Siedlaczek's Orchestral Colors, and as the notes drop from the stand, another orchestra theme plays. Composed by Phillip Pelletier.

Availability: Extinct.

8th Opening (November 2002-2009)


Logo: We start off by seeing a light turn on inside a purple wall hollowed in a yellow wall. The camera starts to turn left as we see more of the wall yellow and covered with lights. It turns and stops at a bag of AMC popcorn and 2 AMC drinks, all have pictures of Clip on it. A yellow light shines and heads towards the drink in the middle. Suddenly, Clip jumps out of the drink and lands on the left side. Just like the 6th logo, he is much more golden. He shakes himself to get rid of the water on him. He looks at the cup and bangs his film hand on it. Suddenly, a yellow/purple flash appears. "AMC" and "Theaters" appears on a purple background. "Experience the difference" is written below from left to right in cursive. Circles are drawn in along the logo and shines. The logo then disappears via a yellow flash disintegrating through the screen as "Feature Presentation" appears on that same background over a darker, purple, cursive "F" on the background close to the left. The logo then fades out.

Previews Variant: We start off on a purple gradient background as we see Clip holding a bubble, levitating on a set of purple, blue, and yellow rings. He turns around facing the camera. He is now making the bubble levitate along with the rings. He walks away as the rings rise up out of the screen and the bubble levitating. The AMC logo is drawn in along with its decorations. The bubble zooms in and "Coming soon" fades in on top of the text. The logo then fades out.

Technique: CGI animation from Metrolight Studios made using Alias Wavefront Maya. The studio would close down a year later.

Music/Sounds: We hear horns, a triangle sound plays when Clip exits the popcorn bag. Then the music plays along with Clip's actions. When he taps the soft drink, a bombastic orchestra ensues.

Availability: Extinct.

9th Opening (2009-November 2013)


Logo: We start off with people gathered inside at an AMC theater. The camera focuses on 3 people: On the right is a girl with long blonde hair wearing a light blue shirt, a brown coat, brown pants, and holding an AMC branded drink. In the middle is a dark colored girl with black puffy hair wearing a pink T-shirt, a white shirt, gray pants, and holding an AMC branded bag of popcorn. On the right is a slightly dark boy with black short hair wearing a blue T-shirt, a white hoodie, black pants, and holding a drink and a bag of popcorn, both AMC branded. The camera zooms in on the girl on the left taking a zip from the drink. Vines start growing from behind the seat. The camera cuts to an angle from the girl where the people behind them disappear and trees grow in the back. The ground starts growing grass as vines grow along the seats and grass grows out of them while a firefly flies around her. The screen fades away as the roof unfolds to starry night sky. The camera cuts to the ground where the seats in front of them fold into the ground and grass grows on top. The camera cuts to the front view of the people as flowers of all colors start blooming in front of them. The three people start getting lifted from the ground in their seats by wood. The camera cuts to the girl on the left smiling while fireflies fly around her as she is getting lifted. The camera cuts to the boy on the right smiling and taking a drink while fireflies fly around him. The camera zooms out far to reveal them risen in the air watching over the hills as "AMC" in white appears in the sky over a city with the sun setting. More flowers appear on the bottom right hand corner and move like filmstrips. The logo cuts to black.

Previews Variant: The camera pans down from a starry night sky to reveal the three people from before entering the theatre with "AMC" on top of the marquee, letters spaced out and "Coming soon" written on the marquee. The logo fades out.

Technique: CGI made using Autodesk Maya.

Music/Sounds: A dreamy chime theme is heard at the beginning, which then rouses into a held wind sound. This is followed by a majestic-sounding fanfare with the sound of whooshes and the roots growing and creaking noises. Sounds of nature then accompany the fanfare along with sparkling. When the AMC logo is shown, the fanfare settles into a dramatic-sounding finish.

Availability: Extinct.

Legacy: This is the first AMC opener to not have a "Feature Presentation" descriptor in it. It is also the first modern trailer to not feature Clip.

10th Opening (2011-Spring 2013)

Logo: TBA.

Technique: Computer animation.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

11th Opening (June 2012-November 2013)

Logo: "Keep track of your stuff and Report suspicious characters." appears to the left of the AMC logo. "Find the exit that's closest to you." appears to the right of a dot labeled "EXIT". "Enjoy the show" appears to the right of a dot with a smile on it.

Technique: Computer animation.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

12th Openings (November 2013-Fall 2017)


Logo: Either:

  1. On a white background, the AMC logo in a red circle zooms in. After a few seconds, it zooms and takes up the whole screen, with it flapping in the process. We then see many red circles with military hats and glasses hanging on to falling parachutes over a dark landscape with hills at night. A small UFO flies past the camera firing lasers which destroy the parachutes. We see more UFOs destroying parachutes in an overhead shot. We cut back to the previous shot where one of the balls stretches in an alarmed manner and is taken by one of the UFOs, with the parachute clinging on to its front. The UFO comes loose and crashes down to the ground, turning upside-down. The scene cuts to an overhead shot where the background disappears, and the red text "amazing" is seen on the side. The UFO turns over, with its bottom side revealed to be the AMC logo. The "amazing" text wipes out, and the logo centers itself in the middle. The AMC logo turns down and the UFO flies off. We see another view of circles with horns, a tail, and a ring within its nose holes (resembling cows) at night. One of the cows is abducted into the UFO, where it sticks it to its bottom, then sucks it in. The UFO flies off and the screen quickly slides to the right, revealing the text "Keep track of your stuff". A squadron of helicopters fly over a distant hill, with the camera turning upward as they get closer. They are all revealed to be flying towards a giant circular robot with mechanical arms and legs, a quarter of the top cut off emitting a light, and an antennae on top (it looks similar to Romeo's giant robot from PJ Masks) which grabs one of the helicopters. A couple ninjas hanging from ropes stuck to the landing feet of the helicopters swings off of them while other correspond with the action. It cuts to a ground view where a ninja lands and speeds off. The text "Report suspicious characters" is seen above. The helicopters fly over as vikings with wings, horns, axes and shields run in from the left. More ninjas drop down and zoom away. They are all revealed to be running towards the giant robot, which throws the helicopter it caught earlier at them, knocking the surrounding characters out and kicking up a volatile dust cloud. The robot then raises its foot and stomps down on the ground, which the vikings narrowly avoid and use their weapons against. The foot raises to reveal the text "Watch your step" and the vikings run after it. Another set of text, "walk", is standing on the ground. The robot steps over it (squishing some characters in the process), and the characters run through holes in the text. The helicopters fly over the text and intercourse within direction. All of this is revealed to be happening on a theater screen, with the text "Front, Behind, Left, Right" displayed on the screen. Two doors open on both sides of the theater, with red lights activating on top of them. The characters in their seats (with bags of popcorn nested in some) motion themselves towards the exit and walk out of the theater (an AMC theater in this case) with the text "Exit the building" and "move far away" on it, where the robot is now looming over it with helicopters flying in the background. The robot raises its fist and reaches into the theater, where in another shot, it grabs the popcorn machine, which it dumps into a rectangular hole (presumably its mouth) along with the machine itself. A helicopter flies past the camera, transitioning the screen into the AMC logo on a black background. A spark circles around the logo and breaks it off, emitting a light that contains a trooper with triple night-vision goggles and a rope hanging out. The dot leaps at the screen, revealing the hole to be the Moon. The screen zooms out to show two dots (one with a pompadour and large lips on the left and one with curly hair and larger lips on the left) in a rowboat sailing down a river. They kiss, and many dots with hearts on them swirl around at the viewer, transitioning to a shot of a dot wearing a Jason Voorhees-style mask waving a chainsaw around which cuts the surrounding dots in half. The dot gets a pie to the face, blacking out the hole. The dot then turns into a laughing mouth. The camera zooms into his mouth, and the text "coming soon" follows suit. After this, the text makes a transition to an MPAA band trailer or ending entirely.
  2. The AMC logo zooms in on a white background. Instead of zooming towards us and flapping like a blanket, it gains a shine and a silver rim and is revealed to be the emblem of a small car driving down a highway at night. Two dots (one with a mohawk and glasses on the left seat and another with a striped cap and strings of hair peeking on the right) are in the car and they are both not keeping their eyes on the road. In another shot, we see a bear-like dot standing on the road, shocked, which the car narrowly misses, causing the mohawk dot to drop its phone. They look back and scream in terror as the bear is revealed to be chasing after them. We cut to a shot of the car and the bear speeding away, and the camera pans up to reveal the "AMC amazing" logo. The "amazing" text wipes out, like the 1st variant. The AMC logo turns into a dangling chain on the car's mirror, where the drivers are now going across the edge of a cliff. They briefly push each other around before zooming past a line of motorcyclers. They get on their motorcycles, line up vertically and speed off, where the drivers are now going through a tunnel with the motorcyclers being reflected in the mirror (if you notice, the AMC chain on the mirror is gone). We see a shot where the motorcyclers pass the screen one-by-one. The camera zooms through the shocked drivers' car, while the motorcyclers follow suit. As they speed down a road, a row of cheering dots with different hairstyles and accessories is seen on the side of the road with a bus stop sign next to them. The text "Report suspicious characters" is seen above. The car zooms down the road before they abruptly notice a bunch of the cow dots standing in the way. The car narrowly misses them in a curvy line, while the motorcyclers bash them out of the way at high speed. As the cows and motorcyclers fly through the air, the text "Keep track of your stuff" is seen as the closest cow moves out of the way for it. The motorcyclers fall back down (with two of the cows landing on two of the motorcycles) and speed off while the text "Watch your step" is seen zooming away from the camera's speed. The motorcyclers (and cows) come across a four-way split of the road, with signs saying "Front", "Left", "Behind", and "Right" on each one. They go separate ways and we cut to another shot of them riding towards us. Suddenly, a cow falls and startles one of the cyclers, with it landing on the platform attached to it. They both look at each other with confused expressions. The motorcyclers and cows speed off onto a hill as the text "Exit the building" settles above. The camera pans upward and the large Moon turns into the AMC logo. Then, the animation from the end of the 1st variant plays.
  3. (Halloween) The AMC logo zooms in on a white background once again. The logo then morphs into a dot with a Danny DeVito-like hairstyle and glasses walking on a dock on top of reeds and mist with many spooky trees and mosquitoes in the background. One of the mosquitoes lands on the top of its head and starts sucking its blood, causing him to lighten and squish. The (now enormous) mosquito flies away (revealing a large, cloud-covered Moon in the sky) and drops down where the background disappears and the "AMC amazing" logo is seen. Like the other two trailers, the "amazing" text wipes out, but the AMC logo now morphs into a girl with circular earrings, lips and a ponytail. She trots towards the screen in a haunted house as a flash of lightning occurs outside. She gets startled and looks behind her to see a red dot swiftly pass by the top of a staircase. She looks around and the furniture (including the stool) is now rocking back and forth. They then, like a magnet, stick to the ceiling as the text "Keep track of your stuff" in a more liquified version of the text is revealed. The dot then steps back, screams loudly and runs down the hallway behind her, as lightning is now constantly flickering every second. The camera zooms to a fork in the hallway as two dots with the same hairstyles (a reference to The Shining) are seen. The dot screams again and comes to a red, static TV (a reference to The Ring) with a paranoid expression. A flash of lightning illuminates a figure in the distant hall beside her. The text "Report suspicious characters" forms on the TV. The girl gets startled, and the scene cuts to a cellar door opening, releasing a red glow and thick mist. The girl screams again as she is sucked into a cellar door beside her. She falls and thumps her head on a platform outside, tumbles down a hill and into a dug hole in a graveyard. The camera pans up and reveals the text "Watch your step" engraved on a tombstone. The girl manages to slip out of the hole as zombie dots start to rise around her. They emerge from gravestones with "Front", "Left", "Behind", and "Right" embedded on them. She stops at the last grave, turns around and screams as the zombie dot (with its eye dangling from the socket). The girl then runs away screaming in absolute terror as the text "move far away" (with the "o" being a zombie) above. The camera pans up through the trees and reveals the AMC logo. Then, the animations from the end of the 1st and 2nd variants play as normal.

Variants: Two variants for Coca-Cola were created:

  1. On a futuristic platform with red mist glowing below it, six red dots (all with military hats and glasses, two flying with jetpacks and the latter four in a diamond organization on the platform) are seen on it. A Coca-Cola cup flies in carried by three helicopter dots and is inserted into a glowing light in the opening of the platform. Red dots surrounding the platform now glow in a synchronized pattern as the cup is inserted. A plastic lid, carried by six helicopters, is flying around with the giant robot from the regular trailer posing on it. A straw is carried from the mist and inserted into the cup's hole by the robot (which he spins around for a second). The robot gives an "all-clear!" symbol with his thumb, and is carried away by the six helicopters. The background changes for a second to reveal the cup being taken out by the girl (along with many other characters) from the "Halloween" trailer which she sips from. The projector turns on, and the camera then cuts to a shot of the theater screen where the text "It's movie time!" is seen with the "AMC amazing" logo below it.
  2. Many characters (along with a jetpack dot from the 1st Coca-Cola variant) are running towards a "Coca-Cola freestyle" machine (a machine in which you can dispense any drink from any Coca-Cola brand and variant). The jetpack dot flies around and selects Sprite Zero-Sugar Grape, in which he pushes the "POUR" button and the drink is dispensed. The dot grabs it and drinks, causing him to teleport out of view. As two helicopters fly overhead, the characters take notice (along with three ninjas that swoop down) and all go for the machine. One of the ninjas selects Coca-Cola Cherry and drinks it, causing him to teleport through a hyper-space tunnel into a theater. Other characters teleport in, and the camera cuts to the same ending shot from the 1st trailer variant.

Trivia: This was designed by Psyop under the agency Bailey Lauerman.

Technique: All in CGI animation.

Music/Sounds:

Availability: Extinct.

13th Openings (2015-Fall 2017)


Logo: These openings go over the same theater etiquette points as the previous two openings ("keep track of your stuff", "report suspicious characters", locate exits), but trade elaborate scenarios for items related to a theme.

  • Action:
  • Adventure:
  • Family:
  • Horror:
  • Comedy:
  • Superhero:
  • Animation:
  • Sci-Fi:
  • Romance:
  • Fantasy:
  • Drama/Indie/Foreign:
  • It's Movie Time (Coca-Cola Freestyle):

Variant: TBA.

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct. The "It's movie time!" bumper alternated with the previous version in theaters that carried a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine.

14th Openings (Fall 2017-)


Logo: TBA.

Variant: TBA.

Technique: CGI animation and live action.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Current.

15th Opening (We Make Movies Better) (2021-)


Logo: TBA.

Trivia:

  • This ad campaign would later be used by AMC's subsidiaries, Odeon, UCI, Cinesa, Filmstaden and Finnkino.
  • The advertising agency behind this opening is Barkley. It was directed by Jeff Cronenweth, cinematographer of Fight Club and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and scripted by The Hunger Games and Captain Phillips screenwriter Billy Ray.

Technique: Live action, with CGI for the logo at the end.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Currently in use at AMC theatres, typically playing after the 2019 post-trailers bumper and during commercial breaks on TV networks.

Legacy: This opening is known for being the subject of certain memes.

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