AMC Theatres

Background : AMC Theatres is an American movie theater chain, founded in 1920 in Missouri, United States. Since 2016, they are the largest global film exhibitor. AMC and competitor Regal Cinemas co-founded and previously owned the movie studio Open Road Films.

1st Opening (1979-1989)


Nicknames : "Hollywood Triumphance"

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 it's 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.

Variants : FX/SFX : Light flashes, photographs zoom in and a projector rotates, sparks form the AMC logo.
 * Silence is golden (This would show before the FP logo to remind people to be quiet in a movie theatre): The logo starts with the camera zooming in on a woman at her lips in black and white while her lips are red. She raises a finger to her lips and makes a shushing sound. She then brings it down. The logo cuts to the text "Shh!" on a black background in a red rectangle. "Silence" fades in on top of the rectangle while "Is Golden" fades in at the same time below the rectangle. The logo fades to AMC on a black background in it's font. "There Is A Difference!" is underneath the logo in yellow and a marquee font. The logo then fades out.

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

Availability : Extinct. Seen at numerous AMC cinemas from the time period. A few 35mm filmstrips have been found containing this logo.

Editor's Note : TBA

2nd Opening (1983-1986)


Variants :
 * Previews: 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.

3rd Opening (1986-1990)


Nicknames : "A Night Out at the Movies"

Logo : We start off with live footage of an '80's AMC theater (AMC in it's 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 it's 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 timing of 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 : Previews:

FX/SFX : The live action footage of the cinema and the text fading in, shinning, and written in. The previews variant has the "There is a difference" text zooming out, the AMC logo turning, and previews zooming in fast.

Music/Sounds : TBA

Availability : Extinct.

Editor's Note : TBA

4th Opening (1988-1990)
Nicknames :

Logo :

Variant : A previews variant exists: 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 shinning. PREVIEWS zooms in under the logo and fades to black.

FX/SFX :

Music/Sounds : TBA

Availability : Extinct.

Editor's Note : TBA

5th Opening (1990-1991)


Nicknames : "Celebration"

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.

Variant :


 * Previews: We start off as the "Previews" flies by the AMC text in glass. The logo fades out.

FX/SFX : TBA

Music/Sounds :TBA

Availability : Extinct.

Editor's Note : TBA.

6th Opening (1991-1994)
Nickname : "Clip"

Logo : We start by fading into a shot of another filmreel, with another label below that reads " Feature Pres. " while a spotlight shines on it. The camera zooms out while the case spins and shakes. The case pops open while Clip 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 then flies past the logo and through the screen leaving a trail of stars behind as the logo fades out.

Variants :


 * Previews: We fade into a film reel in a silver case with AMC with a red outline on top. Suddenly, a label floats down to the filmreel, making it's place below the AMC logo. It unrolls itself to reveal black text saying 'PREVIEWS" while sticking into the filmreel. A few seconds later, the logo fades out. It was originally seen on a MovieWatchers ad (fully formed), being just the only source of it existing, before December 8th, 2021, where it was finally found.
 * Silence is golden: We start off on a black background. a spotlight, shinning is seen on the top of the screen, moving and looking at all directions. When it gets to the middle, the spotlight falls down and the lights turn on to reveal Clip who wakes up confused and has fell into a pile of filmreels on a red floor and background. "Silence is golden" fades in on the top in gold with the same star effect from the 1st logo. He then gives a sigh expression. The logo slowly fades out where you could barely see Clip as the text saying " We appreciate your cooperation in supporting a quiet moviegoing environment". The logo then fades out.

FX/SFX : TBA

Music/Sounds : TBA

Availability : Extinct.

Editor's Note : TBA

7th Opening (1994-1996)


Nickname : "Clip II"

Logo : We start off as we see Film-man who is much more gold than usual, 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 is added 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 as the logo fades out.

Previews :

We start off by fading into a purple gradient background. A cup of Coca-Cola is shown as the camera pans up. Suddenly, the drink gets sucked in the straw. The camera pans up as we then 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.

FX/SFX : TBA

Music/Sounds : TBA

Availability : Extinct.

Editor's Note : TBA

8th Opening (1996-2002)


Nicknames : "The Orchestra", "Film Man III", "Clip III"

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 it's signature font on the back, music book, wand, and Clip wearing a black 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 wand on the stand. As soon as he starts to conduct the piece, he find 4 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 wand 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 it's signature font with the letters outlined and the inside in silver. FEATURE PRESENTATION appears under the logo while the logo is zooming in with a stars all around, a la the Star Cinema 4th logo. The logo then fades to black.

Variants :


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




 * In 1998, an anniversary FP logo is used celebrating a century of movies: It starts by showing a picture of AMC in it's FP form with "Salutes" underneath is silver on a black background. It then cuts to another set of text in yellow 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!", transitioning to a shot of the Radio City Music Hall from that same movie. It cuts to an AMC Theatres sign transforming from daytime to nighttime, where the outline of AMC glows yellow. It then cuts to an updated footage of the 2nd logo without the popcorn popping. It cuts to a movie theatre timelapse of people filling up the seats. It cuts to 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. Here it is in order:


 * Raiders of the Lost Ark, young girl has a shocked face,


 * Independence Day, the audience reacts like they are in a earthquake,


 * Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, a father and son watching, son covers his eyes on fathers arm,


 * Jurassic Park, The audience gets scared,


 * E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Austin O'Brien smiling in a clip from Last Action Hero,


 * Mrs. Doubtfire, The audience laughing,


 * A Streetcar Named Desire, A woman crying,


 * Ghost, Ann Reinking crying and blowing a tissue in yet another clip from Annie (1982),


 * Casablanca, A man with a shocked face in a clip from Cinema Paradiso,


 * Rocky, The audience clapping and cheering.

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

FX/SFX : TBA

Music/Sounds : TBA

Availability : Extinct.

Editor's Note : TBA.

9th Opening (2002-2009)
Nicknames : "The last of Clip", "Clip IV"

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.

Variants :


 * Previews: 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 it's decorations. The bubble zooms in and "Coming soon" fades in on top of the text. The logo then fades out.
 * Silence is golden: We start off by seeing a blue wavelength that starts moving. A green wavelength joins in and starts moving as the sounds start to get loud. It gets even more louder when a red wavelength is added as they start to bring brightness to the screen. Then, they stop and turn into a white line. Above the line, "Please, don't spoil the movie" fades in as a white text. "by adding your own soundtrack." fades in below the line. A big flash appears as we see the text "Silence is golden (R)" on a purple gradient background. The text moves to the top as the AMC logo is drawn in with the same with the last few seconds of the FP and previews logo. The "Silence is golden" text shines. The logo fades out.

FX/SFX : TBA

Music/Sounds :TBA

Availability : Extinct.

Editor's Note : This was the last logo for using Clip as the mascot. AMC didn't have a mascot for 5 years after this. They did the five years right...

10th Opening (2009-2013)
Nicknames : "AMC beyond", "AMC nature"

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.

Variants :


 * Previews: We start off with a view of a starry night sky. The camera pans down 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.
 * Silence is golden: There is no personal logo for this but has an animation for with upcoming films of the time (The Muppets, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, The Lorax, etc.): We start off by seeing "Resist the urge" comes in as " Don't talk or text during the movie" appears underneath with a speech bubble appearing in talk and text being typed in. A cell phone provider (Sprint or AT&T) with their logo and slogan appears on the bottom. Then, we see the AMC logo fly in with the text white on a red circle and stamps on the left side and the black outline spins for a couple of seconds. This would happen on a black or white background.

FX/SFX : TBA

Music/Sounds : Score in the background composed by Jay Lifton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oZQVH9u_yA

Availability : Extinct.

Editor's Note : TBA

11th Opening (2013-2017)
Nicknames : TBA

Logo : TBA

Variant : TBA

FX/SFX : TBA

Music/Sounds : TBA

Availability : TBA

Editor's Note : TBA

12th Opening (2015-2017)
Nicknames : TBA

Logo : TBA

Variant : TBA

FX/SFX : TBA

Music/Sounds : TBA

Availability : TBA

Editor's Note : TBA

13th Opening (2017-present)
Nicknames : "Light Streak", "A Day in the Life of an AMC Visit"

Logo : The beginning differs, but the main part begins as this: We start off at a Coca-Cola Freestyle screen, where we see many drink options for Coke, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero Sugar. Coke is selected, and the drink is poured into the glass. We follow a streak of light zipping through the pour button as we see some scenes of AMC experiences. The first scene shows a couple sitting next to each other with the man putting his hand on his woman's shoulder. Scene number two shows another group of AMC visitors (I'll explain the differences in the variants section). Then, another couple is shown. A woman puts her hand on her man's hand, smiling at him. He smiles back at her. And lastly, we go through a first-person view of an AMC visitor putting her Coke glass in her cup holder. As the bubbles sparkle, the scene engulfs the screen showing the full action. We see a close-up of the glass as we pan up to the screen, where the streak writes the words, "ENJOY THE SHOW", following a burst of light showing the AMC, Dine-In, or Classic Theater logos. The light streak zips up behind the logo one more time.

Variants : As mentioned earlier, here are the different beginners:
 * (2017) It begins with an AMC auditorium at a birds-eye view with the light streak zipping through, and pausing at occasional moments. Three to be exact; first is a bright flash of light, second is a bunch of text glitching and appearing like "LOL", and "HAHA", and third mimics a sound wave appearance, but gets shushed as the light reveals "DON'T RUIN THE MOVIE", and then, we go to the entrance/exit wall of the auditorium where "THANK YOU" is. It transitions to the AMC concession stand line with the AMC Stubs logo appearing and some interesting rewards like, with each text slide appearing one by one, and faster as it progresses:
 * Free large popcorn refill
 * Five dollar rewards
 * Tuesday ticket savings
 * Premiere popcorn & fountain drink upgrades
 * Exclusive premiere member service
 * Waived online ticketing fees
 * Birthday gift
 * Exclusive offers, events, and more!

Closers:
 * The light streak transitions to the ending.
 * (2018-present) The light streak zips through the city as it passes a mountain. We fly past the city at a tall height like we're on an airplane. The background becomes red as information about AMC Stubs' A-List appears. After a while, it transitions to the AMC Stubs portion from the carpet, and the 'no talking' portion, transitioning into the ending via light streak.
 * (2017-2018) During scene 2, a man eats his popcorn, and suddenly he jumps so frighteningly, his popcorn spills!
 * (2019-present) In scene 2, the man eats his popcorn normally.
 * At AMC Dine-In Theaters, the popcorn is replaced with a burger dish on a swivel table.
 * A variation with AMC celebrating its 100th anniversary exists.

FX/SFX : Intake Studios sure did an incredible job with this!

Music/Sounds : The same orchestra who did the opening dater returns with another piece. The same announcer says these announcements: It then ends with an orchestral finish, and some sounds like the Coke glass mentioned earlier being put on the cup holder. The announcer finishes it off with "Now, enjoy the show... at AMC (Dine-In/Classic)!" The last few twinkles play as the light streak makes its last journey home.
 * (2017) "At the movies, the feature is on the big screen. So please remember, don't text! (pop sound) Don't post! (glitch sounds) Don't talk! (voices saying things like "Do you want some popcorn?", but is immediately shushed afterwards) Don't ruin the movie! Thank you! And to our millions of AMC Stubs members, a very special thanks to you! We hope you're enjoying your status, exclusive benefits, savings, and rewards!"
 * (2018-present) The music is extended a little, but the announcer adds this: "If you're looking forward to those great movies, you should be on the AMC Stubs A-List! Find a crew member after the show, and see how you can be rewarded for this movie!" He says the 'AMC Stubs', and 'No talking' portions.


 * Since 2020, it ends with an orchestral finish, and some sounds like the Coke glass mentioned earlier being put on the cup holder. Then it shows the "100 | 1920-2020 | Celebrating a Century of Movies at AMC" logo.

Availability : Present. Debuted in fall 2017. The A-List opening debuted somewhere in 2018. Celebrated 100th Anniversary in 2020.

Editor's Note : That loud hit from the music could startle viewers. Other than that, it's an excellent bumper!