The Manston/AMC Company

History: In 1942, John Masevre and his son, Jebediah Masevre founded an independent theater chain called Masevre and Son Theatres. They owned 16 1-screen theatres and 4 2-screen theatres.

The business started to go funny in 1969, when the larger theatres came along and robbed them of their profits. Their main rival was the General Cinema Corporation.

In 1972, They sold the theater to Lantern Theatres (their old name, in 1974 they changed it to Lin's Theatres), who now had over 200 screens across America, Asia and Australia. Their first policy was in 1975, and ran for 9 years. in 1984 they changed policies again, with a GROUNDBREAKING CGI representation of one of their theatres.

In 1988, Lin's Theatres went bust, eventually selling all shares to Manston Entertainment. In 1990, the first policy trailer from Manston was released. with a span of 6 years, it was pretty impressive, and is still used in some locations today.

In 1995, Manston created a new theater chain, Hollywood House America. In 1997, Manston bought out MilleniuM Theatres from Jofilovsky Enterprises, thus, adding 250 screens to bring the total to over 600 screens. In 1999, MilleniuM created an arthouse theater chain, called MilleniuM Magnifique. the chain boasted another 155 screens to Manston Entertainment's total of 827 screens.

Also in 1999, Manston took over American Multi Cinema (or AMC), forcing a large revamp of all theatres.

In 2000, MilleniuM built the largest theater complex in the world, with 59 screens plus 2 IMAX screens, spread over an old WalMart, Home Depot, Kmart and Target complex in southern Utah.

In 2004, Manston/AMC bought out another theater chain, Munch n' Watch, a Dinner Theater. Originally owned by National Amusements, This chain brought in big bucks for the Manston/AMC Company, and added another 395 existing screens to their total, which was then 1237.

In 2005, they renamed Munch n' Watch to Hungry? Theatres.

In 2007, they bought out Regal, Cineplex and it's Canadian counterpart, in a do-or-die bid. in which they were successful, adding an extra 2500 screens, to make a grand total of 5573 screens over a run of 18 years.

In 2011, Manston/AMC founded their mascot, Back Seat Bob.

On July 24th 2012, a test was conducted to see if they prefered Manston over the other competing theatre chains. The results were positive, with patrons saying that they enjoyed the overall experience, the service was great, prices are dirt cheap, the food was really awesome, the theatre was clean, the projection and sound were perfect and the majority of people would say that they would come back to the theatre.

In October, the company was in serious trouble, as the Eurozone debt crisis nearly shut down all theatres in Europe, including the world-famous Millenium Magnifique Le'Sans theatre.

They serve Rico's nachos, Hot dogs, Pepsi, M&M's and a varied range of snacks and foods, both hot and cold. There is also Starbucks Coffee, KFC, and a SubWay in most all of the theatres.

The only movies protested about were Borat (2006), Bruno (2009), The Dictator (2012), Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) and Scream 4 (2011).

The projection is full 4K, and all theatres contain Datasat Digital surround sound.

LIN'S THEATRES

1st Policy

(1975-1984)

Logo: We see many people packing an ordinary Lin's Theatre auditorium. We change shots to a family walking in holding a large range of tasty snacks and drinks. They start to complain about the theatre, and the child asks, "Daddy, we can always do the switch and sneak into Happy Rainbows 2: The Pot of gold!" The shot changes to the screen. The projector starts and the first slide says, BE CONSIDERATE TO PATRONS-NO TALKING DURING THE FEATURE". The next slide comes on reading, "KEEP YOUR TICKET-CHANGING AUDITORIUMS IS ILLEGAL". We then wipe to a man eating popcorn who is starting to fall asleep because he's that bored. He throws his popcorn into the bin, but it falls out. An usher stops him halfway down the hall, and he gives him a warning. The words, "PLACE ALL TRASH INTO THE RECEPTACLE AT THE REAR OF THIS AUDITORIUM" fade onto the screen. We cross-fade to the theatre at night. We then move upwards to the banner that reads LIN'S THEATRES in a fancy font. We fade out, and the words Feature Presentation fade in and out.

Music/SFX: A Synth-Rock tune, with the voices of Jim Callaway and Sandra Halder as the many people in this ad.

FX: All done in live action, except for the text about the trash, which is an optical.

Cheesy Factor: None, unless you think film deterioration is cheesy.

Availability: Extinct.

Scare Factor: Low.

2nd Policy

(1984-Demise)

Logo: A large explosion fills the screen. We zoom towards it, and we see a large building flipping out of it. We zoom towards Earth, and the building lands on a large hill, causing a flattening shockwave. We zoom ever closer to the building. As we zoom, the camera ends up at the words: LIN'S THEATRES in a futuristic font. We pan up into the sky. The words " Feature Presentation are shown on a starry background with the moon partially visible. We cut to black.

Music/SFX: The sound of an explosion, and a synth-pop tune.

FX: BREATHTAKING CGI, way ahead of it's time.

Cheesy Factor: None.

Scare Factor: Low. The large explosion and the hill getting flattened may scare some.

Manston Entertainment

1st Policy

(1990-1996)

Logo: We see many shaped lights, after a while, the words, "WELCOME TO THE SHOW" appear. We then zoom past them quickly, and stop at a large amount of talking bubbles. Another sign appears, saying, "NO TALKING PLEASE". Other words appear saying, "Keep Cellphones Silent And Take Noisy Babies To The Lobby!". All the talking bubbles fade away. We then transition via ripple to a mass of cigarettes. large circles with crosses come and attatch themselves to the cigarettes. We zoom out, and they pass through an O. The letter N joins onto the front. The last one floats to the top of the word SMOKING, and the words appear, "Smoking Is Premitted Outside The Building!"

We once again fly for a while, leading us to a line of Pepsi, and Popcorn, in respective lines. An overhead sign reads, "VISIT OUR REFRESHMENT CENTER", and the words, "We Also Serve Hot Dogs and Nachos!" appear. The Popcorn bags start jumping off into trsahcans, and we pan to the back of them, and the words, "PLEASE DEPOSIT TRASH" appear on the back of them. other words appear, reading, "In The Trashcans By The Exit!". We zoom away from it for a while, and a web address appears. We then cut to a blue background Reading the theater name. After a while, the words, "ENJOY THE SHOW!" appear. We then fade to an obviously chryoned M over an N. The camera spins and zooms up toward a futuristic looking panel. We cut to a picture of an amplifier with the words FEATURE PRESENTATION below.

Music/SFX: Same as 1990's NA Policy

FX: CGI everywhere.

Cheesy Factor: It's a BLATANT cover-up of the NA Policy.

Scare Factor: None, unless you don't like jarring cuts.

2nd Policy

(1996-2007)

Logo: We see a banner with popcorn around it. It reads Manston Theatres (Pre-1999) or Manston/AMC (Post-1999) welcomes you to the movies! we then zoom in to the next banner, and it reads the theatre-going rules. We zoom in again (a la 90's Disney bumpers) to see the words "Thank you for choosing Manston or Manston/AMC Theatres!" we cut to a black screen reading "And Now...". We then see the words "OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION" zoom in slowly.

TRIVIA: There is a variant with transitions.

Music/SFX: A very, VERY jazzy song, combined with the sound of a cyber-explosion (kinda).

FX: None. Just transitions.

Availability: Slowly becoming extinct.

Scare Factor: None or low with transitions.

Between 2007 and 2011, Manston Theatres didn't make any new policies.

3rd Policy

(2012-201?)

Logo: We fly through space towards a large pair of searchlights. As we draw nearer, some of the items available at the candy bar fly past (Twizzlers, M&Ms, Coca-Cola FreeStyle, Ruffles, Starburst, etc.). After they fly off-screen, some large marble blocks appear with the theatre rules written on them, in metallic gold text. They fly past, and we finally reach the searchlights, outside a Manston/AMC Theatre. We enter, and fly into an XPerience auditorium. the projector turns on, and the words, "ENJOY THE SHOW!" appear on the screen. We fade to black, and the Feature Presentation banner appears.

Trivia: This is a policy trailer based on early CGI techniques like metallic text, marble backgrounds, and space logos.

Music/SFX: A rock tune, with wooshes and large metallic thuds.

FX: Excellent CGI, based on the techniques of early CGI of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Availability: Currently in use.

Scare Factor: Medium.