Overlaps in releases definitely occur with such specialty theaters and are often problematic because the lack of screens. But the logjam that happen with the Mary Poppins/Aquaman/Bumblebee trio is a rare enough occurrence as to not be as damaging to theaters as one would think. Theaters are pretty good at predicting what shows their local market are willing to pay an up-charge for.
In the case of the Disney Springs AMC, to do another comparable to #1 sized Dolby (with 271 available tickets) they would have to convert either #2 (with 533) or combine #12 and #13 (at 360 each - 720 for both). Just on ticket sales at their current price either conversion with a standard 2D full house is more valuable that a full Dolby house at that size. More available tickets at the base level are almost always going to translate to more bodies in seats that will spend more money on concessions.
(The caveat to all of this is going to be how the AMC A-List effects enough movie going habits and if that trends to needing a different set up.)
That’s the tricky thing with the idea of a Dolby upsell, this tech will be the norm at most movie theaters in less than five years just. A location like DS doesn’t have the same needs as the suburban theaters, where they’ve installed the lazyboys, because they have the tourists and the locals. DS also (And there’s a whole tangent to be had about how AMC hasn’t really promoted these to the public. The two Saturday night Dolby screenings I’ve seen at the Cherry Hill Mall did not sell out.)
Having said that, those times of the year where there are overlapping Dolby releases also happen to be the busiest times of the year; the summer and holiday seasons. Just for those times alone, there’s a strong incentive to have more than one Dolby auditorium. But, to your point, they would also need the raw seat capacity which brings us to...
Does AMC introduce a reclinerless Dolby Vision/Atmos product? That solves for the screen availability problem and your seat capacity issue. Looking 5-10 years out, that makes a lot of sense for them.
(I’m curious as to how A-List plays out for them. Those members having a halo effect on friends and family seeing more films together with them and possibly becoming members themselves seems likely. As far as the capacity issues are concerned, they are raising prices soon to $25/month in most states so they’re looking to prioritize stability over growth at all costs cough-MoviePass-cough and avoiding straining their venues’ capacities.)
