Ren Cen 4 Theatre

Hidden city gem! Evening 4 for $ 35 movie, pop, & popcorn! First run! Great deal! In the rencen second floor! Never packed! Great place to see a movie! Before 6pm specials! B

I picked the wrong movie (INTERSTELLAR) for my first visit here, but think I will be returning from time to time for the convenience and mostly pleasant experience.
The cinema is nestled in to the checkerboard of the Ren Cen, on the second level of the main atrium area. Signs direct you where you need to go from any of the main entrances, although you need to look closely, as the cinema is highlighted in a different font color than the rest of the signage. A weird circular atrium area is immediately outside the cinema itself, but it does have a small seating area and actual display of the movie posters currently showing; the latter detail seems to be an increasingly lost art of moviegoing.
I was very surprised by the inexpensive $ 8.50 admission, especially on a Friday night. The box office and concession employees seemed happy and comfortable working as a team. Concessions are also on the lower end of average prices; I paid $ 5 for a medium popcorn that had smaller kernels than your average offering, and was thankfully not overflowing. The theatre also offers Little Caesar’s pizza slices and cocktail choices, which I may take advantage of on a future visit.
Parking in the nearby Beaulieu Garage is just $ 2 with validation — be sure to ask for this sweet deal when you buy your ticket! And be sure you’ve parked in the right garage, where the Atwater Garage is confusingly adjacent to the Beaulieu’s entrance. If you’re getting to the cinema via the People Mover, the Ren Cen of course has its own stop.
Finally, the screening rooms themselves. The one I visited, second from the left, was shockingly small by modern standards, with the now-​anachronistic «bowling alley» style seating layout and a narrow wide screen. Although this arrangement is not well suited, IMO, for blockbuster-​style visually expansive movies such as INTERSTELLAR, I can see it working okay in other settings. Just be sure to sit closer to the front of the room, as long as you are comfortable with that.
The theatre seems selective with its programming, not always grabbing what’s expected to be the #1 movie of the weekend. I’m not sure if this was a trend this fall or has lasted for a longer period of time.
Once I got settled in to the smaller than current standards viewing arrangement, I felt it was an ultimately comfortable experience, and continued to appreciate the ease and opportunity of coming to see a film downtown, rather than driving to Royal Oak, Southfield, Dearborn or some other metro area location. It is this ease, and the pleasant, welcoming demeanor of the staff, that will probably draw me back to the RenCen for another film before too long.

For being inside Detroit’s signature skyline landmark, (if you’re not counting the train station) the Ren Cen 4 sure is a less-​than-​impressive multiplex. The hallways are narrow and the screen in my theater was pretty puny. I sat really close to the front, which I don’t usually do, just so I could feel like I was actually at a movie theater. The movie I went to see, Detropia, was a fairly quiet movie, and I could often hear loud battle sounds from Resident Evil, showing in the next theater, bleeding through the thin walls.
The woman selling tickets and doing the concessions was nice enough, but there are better places to see a movie. Detropia wasn’t all that good of a movie, but it sure would have seemed better had I seen it at Cass City Cinema.

Who knew such a nice theatre lurked among the Esscher inspired labyrinth of the Ren Cen? Aside from the many employees of GM and Ford, the businesses downstairs, downtown residents… it was still a surprise for me.
The beau and I ended up catching the most recent installment of the Mission Impossible franchise after plans fell through and we were feeling a tad housebound. The Ren Cen had the next showing and we felt like visiting Detroit’s iconic towers after dark when most of the businesspeople cleared out. That alone was a majestic trip back to wild 70s planning that needs a ball of string and a Greek princess to navigate. Detroit’s next sports franchise should be called the Minotaurs! If they can get to the theatre, despite all the signs and helpful docents, they have direction sense like a mofo.
Fine, so after squeezing into tiny elevators hidden in columns and going round and around to the same destination I’m sure I saw twice before, we ended up on the cinema deck. We had parked in one of the pay garages and unfortunately, not the one the Ren Cen Theatre validates for 3 hours. We ate the $ 5 cost, but be sure to confirm on their website or with an employee which garage gets reimbursed. Unfortunately I lost my knowledge of where my car was relative to me, other than up, after the second skybridge. The theatre is a surprisingly quiet place even on a Friday night, but the employees were having a good time chatting with one another and seeing guests through. With a light load, their relaxed manner was a welcome addition to a bit of a busy night.
I bypassed the usual theatre grub — loaded with bad stuff I don’t need, like Jacked Up Prices — but I was amused to learn Little Caesar’s is up here. Okay, it’s a Detroit icon, I suppose I shouldn’t be. But feel like blubbering into a veggie slice at a French drama? You can do that. Stuff yourself silly in another boring rom-​com, or choke on a breadstick at the latest Apatow shenanigans. I wonder if they keep the paramedics busy? Either way, popcorn, pop, and a host of little snacks at inflated charges are here to keep hunger at bay.
The star of the show really are the cinemas. They forego some of the fancier effects found in the new googolplexes showing 518 screens of Twilight, like the stadium seating, fancy headrests, and expansive seating areas you could park the Titanic and Lusitania in. Cinemas used to have fairly comfy seats sloping towards the screen with fine-​tuned systems that worked well. They served an audience the size of a village rather than a small city. Ren Cen 4 revives these old traditions where you can sit in peace and quiet, watching a movie with 50 or 60 other people scattered around in the evening. Another new showing got plenty more, so I imagine seeing a blockbuster opening night won’t be as spacious and uncrowded. The beau and I had room to stretch out and toss our winter coats to the side without being in someone else’s lap, and there’s leg room here for the height endowed, like us.
The cinema isn’t the shiniest or decked out with every last Dbox option or LucasArts effect. It doesn’t need to be to see a movie at a reasonable price, and the tickets aren’t quite as expensive as the mega-​cinema complexes in the burbs. Going out for a night shouldn’t cost an arm, a leg, and your neighbour’s jewelry collection. Ren Cen 4 is like Detroit: keeping it real, and letting you enjoy the simple pleasures in life without a lot of clutter.

I was so happy to find out this theater is still open. I haven’t been here since the first Nutty Professor came out, haha.
The ticket lady was very nice which was a plus and there were cocktail tables to hang out at before we decided to go sit in the theater. It is a little outdated but the seats we’re comfortable enough to enjoy the movie. I was kind of… no super annoyed when some classless act decided to answer her freaking cell phone in the middle of the movie. If I had a soda in my hand it probably would have hit the back of her head… hard.
I will be coming back here since it is a nice change in scenery from suburbia to go to the movies at the ren cen and then be able to hang out downtown still.

The only reason this place is getting 2 stars is because of the convenience factor. I live close enough to a people mover stop that I can just ride that to the Ren Cen, rather than having to drive out to Royal Oak or Birmingham to see a movie.
During my latest visit, though, things seemed to go from bad to worse. When we got there, the lines to purchase both tickets and concessions were quite long. So we split up in an effort to make the process more efficient. My «ticket-​line» friend got to the front first and got our tickets with no problem. However, when my «concession-​line» friend got to the front of the line, I joined him, and the staff completely ignored us for a good 2 – 3 minutes. When I finally caught one of the employee’s eyes, she asked us if we wanted to buy tickets. When we replied that we wanted to buy concessions, she told us that we had to go to the end of *another* line, which was a good 10 people deep. Since there was no clear signage that we were in the wrong line (which was at the concession stand and NOT the ticket counter), I thought it would have been reasonable for her to serve us after they’d completed with their current customer, but no go.
So we skipped the concessions completely (I didn’t really need that bottle of water on a 100 degree day!) and headed to the theater. It reminded me of one of those old movie theaters at the mall. Old, non-​stadium style seating, and because there’s no surround sound or other modern audio system, they seem to compensate by just turning up the volume as loud as possible. Then (and I know this isn’t entirely within their control), we were at an R rated movie (Ted, the one about the foul-​mouthed teddy bear) and there were multiple small children in the theater. Poor parenting at its finest. One of the «parents» who was sitting directly behind us even proceed to answer his cell phone (and have a conversation) in the middle of the movie. Unless I’m desperate (or drunk), I probably won’t go back and will make the trek out to the suburbs for any movie-​viewing in the future.

This theater is a toss up to me. Its a maze to get into, you have to pay to park and the screens are small, but on the plus side, the theaters are virtually empty, super clean and being at the Renaissance Center it is kinda fun if you give yourself a couple of extra hours to explore and nosh. Its not a theater that I’d hit all the time, but every once in a while its nice to go somewhere that has movies plus something else to do.
If I had a gripe at all it would be that the Renaissance Center (except of the theater) is closed Sundays. Sunday is a good day for brunch and a movie people! Open up your shops and restaurants dagnapit!

I recently went to see Takers at the Ren Cen 4 with there summer movie event (21 & up movie nights). It is a nice theater, but I hate that you have to walk so far and take multiple escalators to get to the movie in the ren cen (compared to just going to a regular movie theater). I have to leave 20 minutes early to valet park and walk to the theater. But they do offer discounted valet (only $ 2) so that helps. The concession stand is priced comparable to other movie theaters.
The popcorn has where you can pick a flavor (butter, ranch, etc.) and they have Little Caesars pizza slices for $ 5. I tried the pizza and it was actually good. They also had alcohol served for those who bought 21 & up tickets. The $ 18 I bought was good for a movie and a buffet. But since they didn’t have many people buying those tickets (I don’t think they did enough promoting of the idea) they gave you pizza, hot dogs, popcorn and a drink as a substitute. They even threw in a dinner/​movie pass to the Palladium.
I took my little one to a movie there before (early afternoon when tickets were $ 5). He enjoyed it and the staff was pleasant on that occasion as well. It would make a nice date night since Andiamo’s is right downstairs and the River Walk is open to the public.
TIP: Valet parking is safe, so you don’t have to worry about getting a ticket or your car getting stolen. If you go to the movies after 8pm on the weekend expect alot of traffic and young people as they come down to the River Walk and come in the building to use the bathroom or walk around.

This quaint little theater is located in GM’s international headquarters. A building so big, so gargantuan that you can slip a movie theater in and if you weren’t paying attention, you might never know it was there. I digress. The associates were so nice. There was a man and a woman behind the concessions counter that had a sibling-​like relationship with the good hearted quips that were going back and forth.
I wish I could give a five, but the popcorn and nachos were really not that great — the jalapenos didn’t taste good at all.
Will I return? Of course I will return. Next time, though, I will park in the lot that accepts validated tickets so that I don’t have to pay for parking.

I went to the Ren Cen 4 Theatre with #2 son on a Saturday before 5PM (all tickets are $ 5 before 5 PM).
The theatre is clean, the crowd well behaved, concessions good (sticker shock, as with any movie concession these days) and they validate your parking ticket (the charge is $ 2 with validation) for the public parking garage. Just take the enclosed pedestrian bridge into the Ren Cen, follow the map (still difficult to maneuver in this place) and you are at the theatre.
There have been other attempts to make it a go with theatres in the Ren Cen. Its a great location for that «dinner and a movie» date, hanging out with a few friends, or take the kids to a movie. Along with the parking validation, its definitely worth it.

This theater inside the Renaissance Theater has recently been bought and renovated by the same Uptown Theaters that run the Palladium and Birmingham 8 in Birmingham.
They’ve done a great job inside and with the concession stands, and now the bonus is, you can always catch a movie without the crowds being out of control, and the movies are rarely sold out.
So clearly this is a win-​win situation for everyone involved.