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Movie Chain expanding captions at its theaters

AMC Entertainment movie theaters plan to offer open captioning for new movies in every market where it owns theaters.

These captions will be displayed on the screen in a similar manner to subtitles. The rollout will involve 240 theaters in about 100 markets. Captioned showtimes will be a mix of weekend and weekdays, evenings and matinees, and will change as the company gets feedback from viewers. AMC will continue to have assisted listening devices available at all of its locations nationwide.


Gallaudet professor Christian Vogler told the Washington Post the move is a “big deal.”

“AMC is the first major chain to do so, and moreover they are doing so voluntarily. Deaf and hard of hearing advocates have been asking for expanded access to open captions since forever. To date, open-captioned shows have been far and few between, and often at inconvenient times.”

AMC says the expanded captioning would arrive at theaters in time for showings of Marvel’s Eternals, which features Lauren Ridloff, who is plays Marvel's first deaf superhero.


AMC executive Elizabeth Frank said:

"By adding open captions to the variety of presentation formats we offer, AMC locations become a more welcoming place for millions of Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as many for whom English is not their native language. Initial consumer response has been very positive, and we anticipate strong demand with growing awareness of open caption showtimes at AMC.”

The move puts pressure on Regal Cinemas and Cinemark to make similar options available. Read more about it from AMC here.

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