You and 19 of your friends can rent an entire theater at Northrock 14

Movie theaters are having to be creative in order to try to stay afloat during the pandemic.

Nationwide, AMC Theatres has started a Private Theatre Rentals at AMC program, which lets anyone rent a theater and invite up to 20 people (including yourself), to allow for social distancing. (You can also book it just for yourself if you want.)

In Wichita, the AMC Northrock 14, 3151 Penstemon, is participating in the program. Prices and titles vary. But the theater rental price for new movies is $199, while prices for movies on AMC’s classics list are $99 (both plus tax).

I thought this was a great idea and sounded like fun, so I decided to try it. The ordering process was pretty easy. You have to book the theater rental through AMC’s website at https://www.amctheatres.com/rentals. Once on the website, you’ll click on the “book now” button, which takes you to a page where you select the date and time of your screening. It’ll gray-out dates and times that aren’t available anymore. You may have to book a couple weeks out. Popular times and weekend nights are booked pretty solid.

Once you pick a day and time, you’ll be taken to another page where you will select which movie you want to see. Currently, new movie options include “Half Brothers,” “The New Mutants,” “Let Him Go” and others. Classic movies include “Die Hard,” ”Elf,” “Gremlins,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “A Christmas Story” and many others (titles are subject to change).

I chose “Love Actually,” a comedy romance that follows the lives of eight very different couples dealing with their love lives during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England. I love this movie! It’s very funny and earns its warm fuzzies (although, honestly, I wish I would have chosen “Die Hard,” which I didn’t notice was an option when I booked).

Once booked and paid for, you’ll get an email confirmation with a QR code that the theater employee will scan for entry. It’s all virtual.

The website says you won’t be admitted until your whole party arrives (you can be admitted into the theater 15 minutes prior to showtime). But the employee told me I could just go in and would let others in as needed. It was a slow night and there were only four of us, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Everything in general felt very safe. All employees were masked up, as were all patrons in the lobby (masks are required at all times unless you’re actively eating or drinking). And it’s a lobby as big as the Millenium Falcon, so everyone was pretty spaced out (no pun intended, sort of).

You can’t take in your own food or drink, but Northrock offered its full line of concessions. (The alcohol bar, sadly, was closed on the day we went, a Sunday.) Naturally, I got the large combo — a giant tub of popcorn bigger than my head and a towering soda drink. If you want butter, they’ll give you pre-packaged little cups of “butter” that you can pour on your ‘corn yourself. I asked for an extra thing of butter (obviously). And also asked if I could come back for more if needed. (I refrained.)

I was a little surprised that the self-serve soda machines were still in use, but the theater chain’s website says all high-touch surfaces are sanitized frequently. There are also hand sanitizer stations at every auditorium entrance.

If you haven’t been to the Northrock 14, its auditoriums are very spacious and comfortable, with large, soft recliner seats. (No seat warmers, though.) We picked our seats and settled in before the previews started (yes, there are previews of coming movies — yay “Wonder Woman 1984!”).

Then afterwards, “Love Actually” started, and it was thoroughly delightful. The whole private viewing experience was really super fun. It felt luxurious to have the entire theater to ourselves. And we could comment to each other about the funny scenes or talk during the movie if we wanted without being SSSSHH-ed by anyone.

I’d definitely book another private screening (maybe I can still catch “Die Hard.” Yippee-kye-aye!).

By the way, private theater rentals for the highly anticipated “Wonder Woman 1984” are already being offered for pre-booking (and selling out). The earliest available screening I could find at the Northrock 14 was at 4:15 p.m. on Dec. 29 (as of Dec. 9). It opens on Christmas Day. It’s the $199 price.

Have questions about the whole process or experience? AMC offers up a FAQ page at https://www.amctheatres.com/faqs/private-theatre-rentals/.

Hopefully the theater rental program helps AMC stay in business. With the recent huge (and controversial) announcement that Warner Bros. is releasing all of its 2021 movies simultaneously in theaters (that are still open) and on streaming service HBOMax, movie theaters need all the help they can get.

Because there’s just nothing like seeing a movie in a cinema, the way it was meant to be seen. It’s purely and blissfully, well, cinematic.

This story was originally published December 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "You and 19 of your friends can rent an entire theater at Northrock 14."