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Poll: Luxurious, Cushy Theater Seat Favored For Front Street Venue

By Kenneth R. Gosselin

March 23, 2012

Ever wonder (probably not) what happened to last summer’s poll to pick favored seating for the new movie theater at Front Street, now under construction?

Well, the results are in:

Of the 1,700 votes cast — yes, 1,700 — the majority, 31 percent, chose the cushy — and definitely luxurious — Greystone Kingston Leather Rocker. The seat has two cup holders. Ample arm rests cut down on incidents of knocking elbows.

In making the announcement this afternoon, Spotlight Theatres Inc. of Atlanta also said it has decided to use the seat throughout the venue. The original poll, conducted at the convention center in downtown Hartford where seat samples were set up, asked participants to choose VIP seating, of which the Kingston Leather Rocker was one of three choices, and general admission seating, of which there were five choices.

Spotlight said the theater is expected to open late this summer.

“We are very pleased with the response to our seat promotion, and I think the people of Hartford and surrounding community made a great choice picking a seat produced by Greystone Seating,” Joseph Paletta III, Spotlight’s president and CEO, said, in a release.

He noted that the Kingston Rocker was manufactured in the United States.

Those voting cast their ballots electronically at a kiosk set up near the samples.

After a series of delays, construction on the theater began late last month. Spotlight will occupy a 20,000-square foot space, roughly a third of Front Street and the development’s first tenant. Spotlight plans a four-screen, 700-seat venue.

Ticket prices generally range from $9 to $10 for adults and $6 to $7 for a matinee. There also would be special pricing for seniors and children.

The theater will include a restaurant where moviegoers can either stay in to eat or take their food into the auditorium. There will be small tables in the auditoriums but no service there because it could disrupt the viewing by other patrons.

The menu will include chicken wraps, pizza, burgers, fish, shrimp, rice bowls and salads.

The decision to use the Kingston Rocker may come as welcome news to those who thought they might be relegated to less comfy general admission seating. One man I interviewed during balloting sighed when testing out the VIP seating. He was resigned that he would be relegated to general admission for “lowly peons like myself.”