Hoyts Broadway

The force told us to go check-​out the new Star Wars film on the Xtreme Screen here last night and wow was it disappointing & misleading (the cinema not the movie).
The complex itself feels outdated and crusty, almost like you crossed into the wrong part of town and that this is where a cinema might go to to die or that it has given up on itself. The minute you walk in, the place feels grimy and has a weird smell, like the carpets haven’t been steam cleaned in, say, ever.
The seats in the cinema were a faux leather of some sort, and although clean, they added to the hot temperature feeling in the cinema only relieved every 45 minutes randomly by a sudden short burst of cold air conditioning. Was I on Jakku???
The cup holders sit in these armrests that are so low its more like a love-​handle rest and that means your drink is basically fighting for galaxy space against your man spread legs. Future message to seat makers, stop making seats based on the size of small women and children.
Now I am sure the sound quality when it first opened probably blew cinema go-​ers away. But if you have ever been to a Vmax session at Events Cinemas with the new Dolby ATMOS, then it really is the difference between buying some headphones at the local servo to using in-​ear customer mould-​fit noise cancelling Bose head phones. There is just no comparison.
The candy bar has always been one of the worst things $ wise at a cinema and like the many other reviewers before, its prices are over inflated. I have been to this cinema a number of times over the years and they must ask for these specially made plastic drink lids that make you need the force to attempt to get your straw into the cup without half the contents flowing up and out, before attempting to drink it although you end up wearing it.
Much better cinema experiences around then Broadway these days given its proximity to the city so unless they are fitted out as per the new owners anytime soon, you can’t go wrong with Vmax at Events in George St.

Two regular tickets and two bottles of water were over fifty dollars. Then we had to sit through 26 minutes of advertisements before the feature started (I timed it).

As an American visiting an Australian cinema, my experience is rather skewed. I’m not used to the high costs to see a film in Sydney when a ticket cost to see a film in the states is typically a minimum of $ 12. But I understand the reason behind the costs here.
Hoyts is actually the only theatre I visit, mainly because its located inside the Broadway Shopping Centre which is close to home. I’ve seen about a dozen films here already, ranging from «fancy» to really small. I like the fact that you can purchase your ticket on the machine and choose your seats, in fact I suggest this method. If you get your ticket at the counter you can’t view the screen and have to take the employees word that they’ve put you some place good.
This visit was not super pleasant. With school holiday commenced, the cinema was crawling with children and the employee handling my ticket sale was visibly stressed. In fact, she lied to me about certain seats being sold! (I had just seen which seats were available) Lo and Behold — empty seats.
They don’t like to charge a single seat in a two seater area. boo!
Anyway, the theatre is always clean and usually the staff are very friendly. They’ve got the LUX cinema as well which I will try out eventually.
With ticket prices being really high, check Groupon — they typically run $ 10 deals for Hoyts.

Hoyts is a pretty good cinema. It has about 12 screens, one of which is an Extreme Screen meaning it’s just bigger than the others.
The candy bar is ridiculously priced with a 50c bucket of popcorn and a 5c post-​mix coke costing about $ 16 in a combo. Separately, I can only assume this would cost north of $ 25…
If you thought that was bad though, the $ 20 standard tickets and $ 23.50 extreme screen ticket will have you choking on your gold plated popcorn.
But unfortunately that’s the lay of the land in the cinema business these days, so as far as cinemas go this one at least has comfortable seats and decent sized screens.
At the end of the day I can’t give a cinema any more than three stars when it blows a pineapple away for two people to see the latest sequel (all movies seem to be sequels these days). And that doesn’t even include the candy bar!

There are plenty of reviews for Hoyts, but this one is for Hoyts Lux.
Lux (short for Luxury I’m assuming) is in direct competition with the Gold Class (Event). Here’s a bit of a warning, one experience at Lux will ruin regular cinema for you.
I bought 2 tickets online for $ 36 (plus a $ 6 admin fee of some sort), and was allowed to choose my seats. When the seating map came up on the screen, there were only 32 seats in the entire theater! (Also seats are in twos, so good idea to take a friend)
When we got to Hoyts, we were immediately ushered to a private lounge area with a special bar. The Lux ticket comes with a free soft drink and popcorn (which is waiting for you at your special seat). You will also get escorted to your seat like a total bada** VIP.
We got soda water instead of a soft drink, and ordered a bottle of white wine. The bartender poured us our first glass and the bottle was later delivered to our table inside the cinema in an ice bucket. The bar menu features some creative cocktails, beer, and a mini wine list (a mix of local and French).
Lux have recliner chairs with a table in the middle. There is a little call button on your table too if you get hungry/​thirsty mid movie, and someone from the bar will come to your seat. Although we didn’t order food, we did experience food envy after seeing other patrons order fries, large sundaes, sliders, and a lot of beer.
I guess the $ 36 question is… was the ticket price worth it? I don’t know frankly. Extras on your ticket are the recliner seat, drink, popcorn, and the bar-​to-​seat delivery. You do the math (because I’m not very good at it).
Definitely worth doing at least once.
(BTW, Lux is 18+ so you won’t hear screaming kids)

Clean cinemas and friendly staff. Ample parking and ticket validation. New Lux cinema experience available.

Hoyts Broadway plays a good run of popular movies and blockbusters and is very close so I wind up there a lot. The seats are pretty comfortable and I have the best ones mapped out in most of their theaters. The one thing I do not love is that they play way more ads than trailers. I am a movie goer! Show me the next movies coming out, not car ads!
Overall, I’m not the biggest fan of this movie theater for that reason but the people working there are nicer than average.

Went to see Interstellar last night at the Broadway cinema. There was a distinctly foul smell in the room (screen 9 I think) that lingered for the whole movie. Was not impressed — sort it out Hoyts.

I think I sat in an Xtreme Screen cinema but to be honest I’m not sure what characterises Xtreme so I’m not 100% certain. Do you get a free Pepsi MAX? 3D goggs? Seat warmers?
I didn’t have any of those so maybe it was just normal. But hells, it was a good ol’ movie experience. Everyone sat in one big chunk in the middle because they followed their ticketed seating allocation, which is fine when the cinema is packed but if it ain’t, go sit where you want. You can lead a film geek to water but you can’t make them drink, I guess.
But yeah, big cinema, clean seats, crisp sound, and Guardians of the galaxy. Go see it, of only for Groot. That makes no sense now but it will, I promise it will.

We came here for a 2pm movie but one of our friends went to the wrong theatre. We requested the staff to allow us to change our tickets for the 320pm show instead and they kindly agreed. How awesome!
Happy New Year guys!

OK, so first up — Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. There is a stand here. I know, right? It’s a small cinema experience, but its local so good enough. Staff are OK. It’s a little expensive, but what cinema isn’t in Australian major cities. I’ve not attended the gold class versions. I do like that they have a bar and café area, plus of course its at Broadway so close to everything you want. But Ben and Jerry’s! Mmm… Phish food, so good.

My closest instance of the Australian cinema chain. There’s a range of cinema sizes, and you can pick your seats if you buy online, which I like (you know what you’re getting, and you don’t need to arrive crazy early). Overpriced snacks, which I avoid. Like most other cinemas.
The one is convenient, like other cinema locations in malls, because you can park (the Broadway Center normally only gives you 3 hours of free parking, but if you validate your ticket when you leave the cinema you can get up to 4 hours free).

Hoyts its like any other cinema. There are lots of them all over Sydney. My experience with Hoyts is usually pretty standard. However, on one occasion at Hoyts Broadway I was approached by a man in a suit offering leaflets to a free test screening of a movie that was about to be released. He said, make sure you ring the hotline listed on the leaflet to register your attendance.
Great, so we ring up and register, leaving a recorded message, then rock up to the cinema at a designated time to find an enormous queue. Ok, they must be showing it to lots of people to get their feedback. No. We are told that despite registering it is first in best dressed, and there are not enough seats for everyone. We continue to wait in the queue, because the time elapsed while waiting makes us think well, we have invested time into this already, and we are already here, so we will wait a little longer. The queue gets shorter as more people are piled into the cinemas.
At this junction I’d like to point out that no one was taking any responsibility for the stuff up, or even taking responsibility to know what was going on. No one had any idea, really.
I’d say there was about 60 people left when they started cherry picking based on ages and gender, obviously to fill their target market quotas. Finally, everyone remaining in the queue got a free movie pass to go and see another movie. We were so tired and over it by that point that we went home. I am pretty sure I have lost the voucher since then.
If Hoyts is going to allow companies to do test screenings in their cinemas then they should stipulate some kind of rules for getting people to come. Accepting more registrations than there are seats is just rude. I suppose they were paid lots of money to have the film company there but it did seriously bad things to their reputation.

Hoyts Broadway is a modern theatre with bright screens, loud sounds, and all the modern conveniences. I just want to get that out of the way, because what is really worth mentioning is the Cult Classics screenings that occur at this cinema. I think it started back in June or so, but this Hoyts has screened a classic movie once a month, starting with There’s Something About Mary, along with Point Break, Edward Scissorhands, American Graffiti, Alien and finally Risky Business (this will be in November 2011).
I’m not too sure if it will continue beyond this point, but it should. The tickets are $ 20 and it includes a Coke, popcorn, and a choc-​top. I felt pretty gross the next day and regretted such sugar consumption, but I did have to admit: choc-​top technology has come a long way since I was a kid. The cinema does a little trivia give-​away and the girl usher in our particular screening used profanity in one of the questions. To which I say: hooray! Scarcely shall I sully the good name of Unilocal by uttering the profane phrase, but it was refreshing and she had a very exciting way of saying the word in question. I was mildly thrilled.

In the massive Broadway shopping complex there is a Hoyts to be found. It’s like the yellow brick road you walk down it not knowing what to expect when you select your movie and then voila you are confronted with all the different aspects of the production and all the other patrons who are witnessing with you. It is a well kept premises and the cinemas are large. As usual the staff are young and energetic and are interested in helping you with your movie experience. The Candy Bar could be avoided if you can — just because the shops are so close by but Tuesday night has discounted tickets and if you are an online member there are special promotions to be had too.