AMC Theatres

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. That text is also blue. A bright light fades on the "A" and shines along with the "M" and "C". The logo fades to black.

Technique: This is cel animated by Barbara Garner, with footage from the Cascom Select Effects Library. The print logo is designed by Cinema Concepts.

Music/Sounds: An abridged excerpt of the orchestral tune "Olympic Champion 1" by Keith Mansfield, 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. The camera 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 goes inside there 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.

Variant: For the previews variant, it animates differently. On a black background, "There is a difference" in cursive fades in one by one. After, 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. The text reads: "There is a difference" going 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, his 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 mare 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.

Variant: A Previews variant exists. 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)
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 5th logo, he is much 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" in red and "Theaters" in yellow 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 in yellow 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: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

Legacy: This is the first AMC opener to not have a "Feature Presentation" descriptor in it.

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. 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: TBA.

Variant: TBA.

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

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

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.