History

AMC Theatres was founded in 1920 by the Dubinsky Brothers (Maurice, Edward and Barney),when they purchased the Regent Theatre on 12th Street between Walnut and Grand in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. They eventually changed their last names to Durwood and they founded Durwood Theatres, which was the orginal name. Then 1961 Edward's son Stabley took control of Durwood Theatres and a small 10-theater chain when his father died. He attened Harvard University and was a navigator in the U.S air force during World War II. Stanley renamed the company "American Royal Cinema" on October 1,1968 and it was quickly changed again to American Multi-Cinema,Inc.equipped with his experience in the military he applied "management science" and reinvented the movie theater industry because he said his dad wasn't "that organized" and "it was structured under the belief that every customer was a 'guest' ".
The company opened it's first two-screen Twin theater at a shopping center in Kansas City. This was the first first the company took in using the megaplex model which was multiple screens inside a single complex.According to Variety Magazine Stanley said that he "was standing in the lobby of his 600-seat Roxy in Kansas City mulling over its poor grosses, when he realized he could double his box office by adding a second screen and still operate with the same size staff". The movie industry jumped on this idea even though it had been used before but with a large company making it known it became succesful with minimal change in staff but great increase in profits.Another innovation were offset starting times for films,this way the free time the employees had during screenings would be spent continuously serving customers from different auditoriums.AMC also introduced the famous stadium-style seating in which seats were placed on risers depending on row locations so audiences would have an unobstructed view of the screen along with adjustable armrests.