In addition to live performance, there are also movie theatres that offer dining. This is a completely different side of dinner theatre. Going into Becker’s definition of art world, however, it is unclear whether or not these spaces should be included in the field guide. An art world, according to Becker, is primarily defined by the people involved. And since the artists involved in live dinner theatre are divergent from those involved in the movie houses, it is possible and seemingly preferable to separate these two. However, Becker states that “artists in various media-oriented worlds may try to achieve similar kinds of things in their work and may share ideas and perspectives on how to accomplish them” (Becker, 1982, 161). Theatre and film are both performative arts and thus have similar artistic challenges and goals. As such, these different crafts are part of the discussion on dinner theatre.

Investigating these dine-in theaters, one of the first things to appear were AMC’s “Fork and Screen” locations. AMC is a well-known company with movie theaters all across the United States. They have recently begun opening some dine-in locations with “extra comfy seating” and a full restaurant-quality menu. Here is a brief video about these venues:

There are locations all throughout the US, though mostly in upscale areas. The marketing for these theaters, as shown in the video, is very focused on luxury and convenience. Of course, this is much more expensive than the typical movie-going experience (which is already out of reach for many). This essentially means that adding a dining component has the opposite affect for the movies as it does the live theatre. Live dinner theatres are typically consider fairly colloquial spaces, as eating in the theatre breaks many social rules. But since everyone is used to snacks and sodas at the movies to begin with, being able to have a full meal is more of an upgrade than going against the grain.

You can learn more about these spaces here.