Picture Show at MainPlace

By far the worst cheap movie theater I’ve ever been to. Dirty, disgusting floors and seats. Bathrooms are worse. Went there cause it was hot. Figured a movie in a cool theater would be just the thing for the family. Guess why? No A/​C. Four fans on the ceiling of the theater moving at the slowest speed possible were the only source of air flow. I was cooler outside than in the theater. Horrible experience.

I’ve kinda had to eliminate movies from my life because they are so expensive.
Who hoo! I stumbled upon this place while we were out of town in Anaheim. When I ran my credit card thru the machine for 3 tickets I was shocked! Only $ 2 a ticket? Total charge $ 6.00 Seriously? That must be a mistake.
Nope! No mistake!
Seriously! Only $ 2 ticket before 6pm and $ 3 a ticket after 6 pm!!! Bow Chica WOW WOW!
It’s not fancy, and we didn’t order any food. The seats were comfortable enough and the bathrooms were clean.
–1 star for sticky floors in the theater.
We will definitely be back!

Tix are cheap at this theater and a good place to go to see old movies that are not newly released. However, the theater is generally dirty and tons of unruly kids who are usually running around and very noisy.

If it weren’t a dollar theater, my review would be different, but I cut slack when price is cut. Seats aren’t comfortable if you are over 6′, popcorn was good, ticket kiosk was fast, and kids (3−8yrs old) in the theater were distracting. All in all though, will go again if we miss a movie at the regular theater

I go to this theater often. You can’t beat $ 3 for a movie. The snack prices are comparable to other places as well. Employees are nice, but limited. Most of the time I see a total of 3 – 4 people working and usually they don’t have someone to take the tickets, close the theater doors or do restroom clean up (The bathrooms are always disgusting). Limited staff leads to some homeless people sneaking in, which I have seen quite a few times. Usually the same guy with 3 bags comes in, digs through his stuff for his cell phone and plugs it in auditorium 4. He stands there doing all kinds of weird things and never sits to watch the movie. Makes it a little distracting for me to focus on the movie. Once he was caught and asked to leave, but he started complaining saying he was being discriminated against and I couldn’t enjoy the movie. Parents bring their newborns in strollers and young kids to the last shows of the night regardless of the movie’s rating. This is also an annoying thing because the kids make so much noise and the parents do nothing! I’ve seen some other guests walk out because of the annoying little kids. The last show movies usually end at or near midnight and these kids should be at home sleeping especially with school the next day. I can’t understand why these people wait to the last show of the night to bring the whole family regardless of age. Anyways, like I said, you can’t beat $ 3 for a relatively new movie and I’ll keep going there. This place was way better back in the day when it was the AMC-​Mainplace 6 theaters.

Like Jessica S. Said, you get what you pay for. Overall, i think its a super fun place to get high with your friends and just have fun watching and making fun of a movie. People be on their phones while the movie plays and you can even hear conversations. Like i said, place to have fun, not really for watching a movie that you want to pay attention to.

Cheap seats for recently released movies. I often take the grand-​kids here for lunch and a movie. You cannot beat the $ 1 to $ 2 price. They have a kids meal that includes popcorn, a small candy and drink for approx. $ 5. Add a $ 1 hot dog with that and you have some happy kids. The seats and bathrooms are worn and the theater not so clean. But since its located in the Mall. It offers a chance to shop and easy parking. Good Deal after all.

Anyone who says this place is ghetto, must not know what ghettos is. You get what you pay for. It’s cheap, so expect that it will be busy. Outthink the crowds. Simple. Bathrooms aren’t super dirty, but they aren’t super clean. I live 5 minutes away and go whenever I can. The seats aren’t the most comfy, but totally understandable because it’s only a $ 2 theatre. I’ve paid $ 12 for an actual theatre and their seats sucked too. Food is great, popcorn is good, prices are reasonable. Never had a problem with the employees. Always great service! Every time I see an employee, they have a broom to sweep up any spilled popcorn. My go-​to theatre for sure :)

Cute little place… almost got lost looking for it… but its all good. Hotel Transylvania for $ 2. Why would i complain about anything else?

Sometimes the bathrooms are a little gas stationy, and the seats aren’t the most comfortable, but it’s pretty darn cheap, it’s spacious, and they have dollar hot dogs (if you don’t want to hit up the Mainplace food court beforehand). I’ve seen Epic, Peabody and Sherman, Penguins of Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Home, Minions, and Hotel Transylvania 2 here with my students with special needs, to whom the Picture Show staff are always nice. Too bad the snack bar doesn’t have goldfish crackers.

Seeing a block buster movie on opening night and spending 50 bucks on top of the ticket prices is great, but then there are times where it’s not affordable. Hereto therefore… The Picture Show… 2 bucks generally, and 3 bucks after 6. Dollar hot dogs… sometimes you can catch a first run movie that other patrons are paying 10+ bucks to see… the moldy smell is gone, the seats are spacious, and screen quality is fine. Only drawback usually is a ton of kids running around sometimes… a cheap getaway…

Very GHETTO!!! The tickets are so cheap to entice you. $ 2 before 6pm or $ 3 after 6pm, but small selection of movies. Came in and saw security guards taking down a report so not the best type of ppl come here. Everywhere is littered with trash. Floors are sticky. Theater smells like pee. Rude Mexican kids movie-​goers without parents who talk so loud and call you bitch if you try to make them shut up. The seats are not ascending so would suck if you’re short. Speakers are not great so you dont get immersed into the film. I hated my experience here, and if you like it here, you might be part of the problem because otherwise it would not make any sense. You get what you pay for though. Seeing the other real comments here, seems like this place doesn’t give a fck and will stay this way. Will not come here again.
I don’t mind run down, its mostly the people. I also just realized that places this cheap will attract a lot of unclassy people and teenagers who can’t afford to go to the nicer theaters. Just be warned.

You get what you pay for. Meaning, this is the MOST GHETTO theatre I’ve ever been to.
I was expecting an unkempt theatre… That goes with the territory. I wasn’t expecting a red carpet, but gee whiz the bathrooms were DISGUSTING. employees hygiene was gross… I’m sorry to take it there but I have to comment. The cleanest looking employee got my drink, she had dirty hands and her chipped nail polish nasty nails she used to run her hand all over the lid. I wanted to vomit.
I went on a Saturday night … What was I thinking? This place was packed & not with our areas finest citizens. The demographic of people that come here are not the most upstanding. I went to a rated R movie that was packed full of children. Literally children 10 & younger, at least 3 crying babies and 2 strollers visibly present. Ummmmm is no one enforcing the age requirement???
Here is the cherry on top.
As soon as the lights went down & movie was beginning, the patrons in front of me began to engage in drug use. I was disgusted. I don’t care what you do, as long as you do that stuff at home.
I immediately went and got security. They didn’t do anything. They just sat behind us in the theatre. Umm get up and kick these losers out.
It’s my fault for expecting quality at a theatre that charges $ 3 for a ticket. NEVER COMING BACK AGAIN!!!
Go to the Brea dollar theatre or pay full price anywhere else for a better theatre.

I’m a fan of dollar movie theaters but this place is not my favorite. There are too many people, too many kids running around, too many ROUGH, shady looking characters, too many people making too much noise during the movie and a dumb girl actually brought a baby into the theater in a baby stroller. I’m also not a fan of walking through the dark mall and going out into the huge dark parking lot late at night, especially considering some of the people I saw who patronize this theater. Bring your mace with you!
As for the theater itself, the seats and the entire theater is nicer than Woodbridge which is our usual dollar theater pit stop. Still, I like Woodbridge much better, the crowd seems tamer, the kids, tweens and teens are better behaved and it’s a short walk from the car to the theater.
This is a good option for your cheap movie viewing needs if you live nearby. For us however, I don’t think it was worth the drive.

Favorite spot to watch a movie! Prices are GREAT. Times between new movies coming in and out are not to bad. All the theaters tend to be in decent to even clean condition.
My only complaint would be that the seat arms do not come up. (Kinda kills the vibe when you want to snuggle with your wife in a chick flick) haha. Still my favorite spot to watch a movie though!

My husband and I went to Picture Show at MainPlace for the first time tonight. Honestly, my husband has been wanting to try this theater out for years… we just never made it. Tonight, we did! This theater seems to carry older movies. Movies that are no longer in the bigger, name brand theaters. We wanted to go to a movie a bit later in the evening. So we decided to see San Andreas at 10:10PM. We had wanted to see that movie in the theater when it was first released, but never made it. It was now playing at this place. Perfect!!!
It was easy to find great parking at that time of night. We arrived at 9:45PM. The mall was like a ghost town. You get to the third floor over by the food court area. You buy your tickets on the second floor at the ticket booth, but later at night, you buy your movie tickets from the concession stand. There was a note clearly written at the ticket booth directing you upstairs to the concession stand. There was a couple of couples ahead of us in line. We only waited a few short minutes. We ordered 2 adult tickets (which are $ 3 each. $ 2 before 6PM!!!), a large popcorn, and a large drink. The total was $ 17!!! I think thats an awesome price.
So, we go to our theater. Im totally expecting a tiny little theater because, come on… this a theater in the mall!!! Other theaters I’ve been to in malls, were very small. Not this one… it was huge!!! There were 4 other people in there with us. So far, so good. Then we sat down. OK, this is the reason I took away a star. The chairs are awful!!! They are newer, cheaper seats. Made of, like a fake leather. The one thing thats good about them is that they can be cleaned/​wiped down. However, my husband hated them because he said they made him hot. I did not like them because when you sit down, if you don’t sit just right, then it feels like your legs are sloping downhill. You have to scoot your butt all the way back of the chair in order for your legs not to slope. AND whenever anyone moves in the seats around you, you can feel it. OK, with that being said… again, the tickets are $ 2 before 6PM. $ 3 after 6PM. Cheap, cheap, cheap. You cant expect plush recliners…
So, it comes down to this: Do you want to pay more, and have a more comfortable seating experience? Or do you want to just learn to get comfortable in the cheaper, cleaner, fake plastic seats? I think it depends on the movie and your mood. My husband and I had a fun time. We both agreed that we would visit this theater again. I think its a perfect date night place… give it a try.

2.4, tops. We are regulars, but can’t quite give a better score. Sorry.
The Picture show offers great films at the ridiculously low price of $ 3 or less. However, as it is so cheap, it also attracts many kids that talk during the movie and parents that bring in crying children.
As for the seating, it has a nice leather (faux, of course) cushion. But the downside is most of the rows have slanted seating (and not in a good way), so your cheeks constantly slide forward. I guess they want you «on the edge of your seat,» lol.
The movies played here are often slightly older ones, but if you’ve never seen them, then technically they’re still new. So why pay $ 12+, when you can get the same level of entertainment at a fraction of the cost? Also, the hot dog is $ 1! Seriously!
In summary, great place to go on a budget, but really a roll of the dice. Find a chair that’s level, and avoid teens/​infants/​toddlers. Seriously, some of the parents just don’t give a sh*t.

We recently took our son to meet some of his friends at this theatre to see Night at the Museum 3.
We bought our tickets and then took the escalator upstairs to meet our friends. This place was so crowded that we were afraid we weren’t going to find our group.
We finally found our friends and some seats inside the movie theatre. Besides the sticky floors and that kid kicking the back of my seat during the entire movie, it really was a decent place to watch the movie.
On the way out of theater, my husband mentions that it was only $ 2 for each of our tickets. At these prices, we could have taken all my son’s friends to see the movie and bought them all snacks as well!
Even though it’s so busy here, the employees remained friendly. The staff works so hard to keep things clean, and I saw plenty of people intentionally drop their trash on the floor. I felt so bad for those hard-​working employees!
We’ll probably go back to this theater during the week when it isn’t as crowded. For family movies at great prices, this is a nice place for the entire family to see a movie!

I’ve tried my share of discount movie theatres because movie tickets can be pricey these days so why not wait a few weeks for movies to be shown here! Out of the ones I’ve been to, this one is the cheapest ($ 2/​ticket), but it’s also the dirtiest and most run-​down. They have about 8 or so theatres. The ones I’ve been to have all been pretty big (3 sections — 4 seats/​row in the left and right sections, about 10 seats/​row in the middle), which is nice since it does get busy on the weekends. Just a heads up, these theatres aren’t stadium seating so hopefully nobody tall sits directly in front of you or else you’re gonna have a hard time seeing. Also, the seats aren’t that comfortable. They’re plastic-​y leather so it feels like you’re slipping out of them half the time.
Concession prices are what you would expect for most movie theatres except they have $ 1 hot dogs. I like how they have various popcorn seasonings instead of just butter. Few theatres I’ve been to offer this. However, it seems like most people get food at the mall and bring it in. You’re technically not supposed to, but there happens to be a Wetzels Pretzels right outside so I’ve seen several movie go-​ers grab food there.
Anyways, you can’t expect much for a $ 2 movie. It’s not the cleanest or most comfortable theatre and you’ll probably hear crying babies or rude people talking, but the movie sound and picture are fine. I’ve been a few times already and never really had a problem.
Located on the top floor of the Main Place mall.

2 stars for a $ 2 theater.
This theater is the epitome of, «you get what you pay for.» They show movies that have been out for a while and are close to coming out on DVD.
Yes, you read correctly movies are only $ 2 regular price and $ 1 on Tuesday. It is located at the Santa Ana Westfield Mainplace mall on Main st. Go towards the food court and you should see the main ticket box which was closed when I got there around 9:20pm. The theater is located on the third floor above the food court. There will be signs pointing you in the right direction.
Pros:
— Cheap, cheap, CHEAP, oh did I mention CHEAP prices for movies. $ 2 regular admission, you can’t beat that price.
— food prices are relatively inexpensive too, I’m talking like $ 1 for a hot dog and around $ 6 for a huge tub of popcorn. Prices are about $ 1-​$ 2 cheaper than the insane overinflated regular movie theater prices for snacks.
Cons:
–because it is so inexpensive it gets super crowded. I was there to catch a late 9:45 showing and there were kids running around everywhere. Kids were yelling, screaming and just otherwise being bratty kids. Like other reviewers have said, the place attracts a kind of more ghetto crowd.
–lines were long to buy a ticket. I read in the tips that they had an automated ticket machine but sadly I could not find it. It probably would have saved a lot of time since you have to buy your ticket from the concession stand but most of the people in the line were also getting food and drinks. So my suggestion is to plan accordingly, the lines do get really long.
–the floors were super sticky. Trash cans were overflowing and there was popcorn all around them. Check your seats before you sit down, some of the seats had like gross grease stains probably from the fake butter people drown their popcorn in.
–seats were uncomfortable, seriously the absolute most uncomfortable seats ever. I kept moving around and fidgeting because I could not get comfortable.
Anyways, I can see why this theater has 3.5 stars. You really cannot beat the price, $ 2 is the cheapest you will probably find for a movie theater that is not terrible but not fantastic. However, it gets 2 stars in my book because this is the worst discount theater I have ever been to.
I do not even remember the last time I paid full price for a movie ticket. So I am not a stranger to discount theaters but this one was just bad and unpleasant. The crowd, the sticky floors, the uncomfortable seating, it was all just unpleasant. There are so many more pleasant and comfortable discount theaters. You just got to do your research, or keep reading because I will list them below.
Brea 5 — $ 4 for regular and $ 3.25 for matinée.
Academy cinemas (pasadena) — $ 3 for regular and $ 2 for matinée. They have a Wednesday date night special $ 10 for two tickets, two popcorns and two sodas!
Woodbridge 5 (irvine) -$ 3 regular and $ 2 matinée
La Mirada 7 — $ 3 regular and $ 2 matinée
Check them out, I have been to the Brea and Pasadena one and trust me, that $ 1 extra makes a huge difference.