Business & Tech

Bringing 'Mega' Fun to the Movie Experience

Join Patch at the Mega Movies between 6 and 7 p.m. Thursday, March 15, for Patch Night at the Movies and get $4.50 off of "Dr. Seuss: The Lorax," "Act of Valor" and "A Thousand Words," when you sign up for a newsletter that night.

Howard Grant has seen a lot of change in the movie industry during his time in the business.

The owner of Mega Movies in the , Grant opened his first theater in 1971, Movies 1 and 2 in Red Bank. After that he was the person running Movie City 5 in East Brunswick, which he did with longtime manager John DeNicola (who is still with him today).

“That was a five screen theater. Back then, that was the most amount of screens anyone had,” said Grant. “People quickly surpassed that, but that was a big deal to have five. We figured that if you’re going to have movies, you don’t need ten, have the best five, but then we began to cater to everyone and people went from eight to 10 to more screens.”

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The 13 screen theater in East Brunswick has three 3D auditoriums, and one with seats that move in synch with a movie, also known as the D-Box Experience. Grant says 3D gives second life to many older features and is a money maker not only for studios, but also for movie theater owners. With upcoming re-releases of “Star Wars,” the “Titanic” and “Beauty and the Beast,” Grant expects demand for 3D projects to continue.

“The 3D is a hit,” he said. “It’s better than anything you used to get and it’s not the old paper glasses and the quality is much, much better. It was popular when it first came out and then it looked like it was going down, and people began to second guess. But, half of the income from movies now comes from 3D. If it stays there, that’s perfectly fine.”

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But vibrating seats and 3D movies aren’t the only things in store for people who walk into Mega Movies. Since he started, Grant has worked to make the movie going experience fun—to give people a reason to get off their couches and away from their big screen televisions and head to the movies. With arcade style games, a Ben and Jerry’s, a Nathans, and giveaways, Grant has managed to create his theater as a destination spot that stands out from others in the area.

“We’re trying to keep people watching their movies in theaters vs. watching at home,” said Grant. “We have to make an experience that is not easily duplicable in your living room. So we want them to have fun when they come.”

But having fun is a two way street for Grant. For more than three decades he’s watched movie after movie and gimmick after gimmick  come through his doors, and he’s never gotten tired of it.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “You have new product every week. Even if I’m trying to sell a children's movie, it’s something different every week. There’s a lot of us trying to first, second and third guess the public, trying to pick the right auditorium sizes the movies go into and hoping that we guess right because it makes life easier.”

And while the theater has a lot of extras for grown-ups, including stadium seating, snack trays specifically designed to fit into the cup holders found at every seat, free ticket giveaways and seats that, after raising the arm bar that separates them, turn into one large seat with a small cushion in between, Grant also knows the value of getting youngsters into the theater as well.

To that end, Mega Movies offers an exclusive birthday party room for people who hold their bashes there. Parents can pick from a basic package that includes movies and some smacks, to larger packages that include pizza, a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cake, and a tour of the projection booth, all of which is in line with Grant's basic principal—customers must have fun.

"We understand that you’ve got to try to make it fun for them, it’s got to be entertaining and it's got to be little more than just a movie," said Grant.

For more information on birthday parties at Mega Movies, click HERE. To visit Mega Movie's main web page, click HERE.

If you love going to the movies and saving money, you don't want to miss this big event on Thursday, March 15 in East Brunswick. Patch and Mega Movies are teaming up to give local families a great deal on a fun night.

Movie-goers who sign up for a Patch newsletter at the theater will receive a $4.50 discount off the admission price to three movies: "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax," "Act of Valor" and "A Thousand Words." The discount applies to shows that start between 6 and 7 p.m. Participants can also can qualify for prizes, including movie tickets, refreshments and Patch T-shirts.

Mega Movies is located in the , 755 Route 18 in East Brunswick. The telephone number is 732-651-MEGA (6342)


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