AMC’s ‘Screen Unseen’ Mystery Movie Screenings, Explained

It is commonly accepted that eventizing the theatrical experience is increasingly necessary to convince people to look away from their streaming services, get off their butts and go to the movies.

One such program that has no trouble in driving online chatter — in addition to elaborate popcorn buckets — is AMC’s Screen Unseen series. On Monday nights (but not every Monday night, you need to check) you can walk in and buy a ticket for something that isn’t set to come out yet for a few days — or maybe a few days plus a week. The twist, though, is you don’t know what it is. (Last night’s was the Downtown Abbey spoof Fackham Hall.)

Sure you can guess — and there are entire reddit threads dedicated to triangulating each secret selection — but the title won’t be revealed until the movie starts. It’s a great way to keep people alert (and questioning their plans) while propelling regular waves of FOMO among audiences. Plus, if you’re an AMC Stubs A-List member, which has a monthly fee equivalent to a streaming service, it’s pretty risk-free. If you hate the movie you can leave at no cost and spend the rest of your night at P.F. Chang’s or something. (We’re assuming you have a P.F. Chang’s near your local AMC, too.) 

Screen Unseen is celebrating its two-year anniversary, so to answer all our questions about the ins and outs of how it works is senior vp and head buyer Ryan Wood, who spoke with The Hollywood Reporter from AMC’s head office in Leawood, Kansas.

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To be successful in business one must be adaptive and adoptive, so I say this with no negative connotations, but it looks like the folks at Regal started something similar beforehand. Though it was a once-in-a-while thing until you started in, too.

Yeah, it was a program that had been out there. They call theirs “Mystery Movie” we call it “Screen Unseen.” We pay attention to industry trends and listen to our customers. Similar concept of not knowing what you are going to see on a Monday night. We are not always the first, but sometimes we think we’re the best at how we deliver. 

For A-List Members at AMC, these risky screenings are free because membership gets you more movies than any reasonable person could see (four per week). For a person walking in, is it regular price?

No, it’s the Fan Fave pricing, which is significantly reduced, and varies by market.

How do you secure the titles? Most of the time the movies are on the smaller side — Relay, Eleanor the Great, Roofman are some recent examples. But then, in summer, the new Jurassic World. 

Well, that’s the mystery, right? We had Jurassic, we had Gladiator II last year — that’s the fun part. People go on Reddit to try and guess. We don’t even tell our associates, it’s hidden on our end, too. You want to be wondering “should I go tonight?” You never know. 

This is a collaboration between the studios. They hold the rights to the movie, we work with them on selections for a Monday, and we want something that will drive strong word of mouth. Our goal is: will people say, “I went and saw this thing I wasn’t expecting to see, and you should go see it.” We could do as many as three or four a month, but we aren’t focused on how many we can do, we pick the right one, thinking about word of mouth.

I would imagine the smaller distributors like Bleecker Street are banging on your door saying “Please, please consider this?”

I don’t know if it is “please, please,” but they do talk to us when they have a good movie. Not every studio wants to get the word of mouth out early. This could potentially hurt an opening. 

But, yes, we get asked now. We weren’t getting asked two years ago. It’s a really good program that’s become popular with customers, but with studios, too. Studios see the chatter online and want that, and there have been times where we’ve got that Monday booked, and we need to select what is best for the program. 

As each film is released by the studios, it is now part of the conversation, seeing if there is interest. There are a lot of different ways to release a movie. Sometimes there are announced sneak previews, other times it depends on when reviews are scheduled to come out. Sometimes those reviews don’t come out until very close to the release date, so this may mean they wouldn’t want to do an early screening.

Do you guys do a Tuesday morning recap where you read all the Reddit threads?

We do. We care. We want to see the positive feedback we are expecting. We put out our posts on multiple channels where we ask for feedback. We pay attention.

I’m a fan of the threads of people guessing.

I know. But we don’t want people to figure it out!

Are you annoyed when they do figure it out?

I mean, it’s fun. We do have a lot of titles we open on a week to week basis, so that adds to the mystery. Sometimes it’s the Monday before that weekend’s release, sometimes it’s 10 days out. 

Plus you intentionally fudge the announced running time. So if the movie is 98 minutes, you say it is 103 minutes, or something.

Yeah, we can’t give the exact running time, people would guess it too quickly. One thing we do pre-announce is when it is a horror film [with “Scream Unseen”]. We separated those because we don’t want to surprise someone with a horror film, so we started that about a year and a half ago.

Not everyone likes horror movies. But, more importantly, a lot of people really do, so this will inspire people to get a ticket, especially if it is cheaper.

Yep.

So, if you look at a side-by-side of what’s been in your program and what has been in Regal’s program, there is a lot of crossover. But then once in a while something different. How aware are you about what they are doing?

We’re aware if the studio is letting us know. And they are typically transparent. I don’t follow them that closely, but there are times when we do something they do not do.

An example of one you both did was Relay with Riz Ahmed from Bleecker Street. A great pick because it was a smaller movie that needed a boost and everyone who saw it loved it. Does Bleecker Street say to you “and we’re also talking to Regal?” Is there a three-way call?

There is definitely not a three-way call. And there are other exhibitors also talking to studios about their programming. We’re all just trying to do the same thing, which is to entertain moviegoers. This is very much a future mapping program. We map months in advance, believe it or not. This is part of a marketing plan on a title before it even gets to release. 

Not long ago you showed Kelly Reichardt’s film The Mastermind. I love her movies but I recognize they appeal to very specific tastes. There was a bit of an online kerfuffle, because some on social media said there were lots of walk outs.

There’s never a total positive on everything you do. Some people like certain things and don’t like others. You never want popcorn thrown in the theater, but I am not aware of anything with that specific title. You don’t know what you are going to see — that’s the risk when you get the ticket. We do like to take chances, and that was a quality movie that we chose to partner on.

I bet there are groups of friends who go to every one, and now Mastermind is now part of their lore. Maybe one guy loved it while another didn’t. That’s my positive spin. 

Right. And then we’ll have Jurassic and they’ll say “why didn’t I go tonight?” It’s all about the moment when we start the movie and people are in the audience saying “I can’t believe I’m watching this tonight.”