AMC Loews Boston Common could soon be serving alcohol
Dinner and a movie could soon include cocktails with the theater going before the Boston Licensing Board this week.
What would help wash down a big bag of salty, buttery popcorn at the movies? How about a nice, cold beer?
That could be an option soon at the AMC Loews Boston Common. Its parent company, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., is scheduled to go before the Boston Licensing Board on Wednesday.
If approved, the theater’s cafe that currently resides on the second floor will be turned into a MacGuffin Bar & Lounge, according to AMC Senior Vice President for Food and Beverage George Patterson.
“It’s going to have a million dollar view of the park,’’ Patterson told Boston.com.
MacGuffins serves beer, wine, and cocktails that you can drink before the movie or bring in to the theater with you. But AMC won’t pause the film when you have to leave to use the bathroom; Patterson said this helps deter patrons from excessive alcohol consumption.
“There’s no intermissions, no half-times, so you can’t get out of your seat and get a second or third drink unless you want to miss part of the movie,’’ he said. “We offer alcohol in Universal Studios and downtown Disney, some of the most family friendly locations, and we’ve never had an issue with it.’’
Out of the 347 AMC theater locations across the country, about one-third currently have MacGuffin bars, Patterson said, including four Massachusetts locations—Assembly Row in Somerville, Methuen, Framingham, and Dartmouth. MacGuffin is a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock in 1939, meaning a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, “like the ring in Lord of the Rings, or the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark,’’ the AMC site explains.
Local business have been supportive of the decision to include alcohol service in the downtown location.
“We’ve even had a couple of folks make comments to us that it’s about time,’’ Patterson said.
Though some may worry about the theater’s proximately to so many universities, Patterson said this won’t be an issue either.
“Over 70 percent of our guests in an AMC movie theater are over the age of 21 anyway,’’ he said.
And does he enjoy a beer when he’s in one of AMC’s reclining chairs?
“Of course,’’ Patterson said. “And they card me, by the way.’’
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