The original title for this article was “Periemeter Pointe 10 – My last trip ever”, but since I found the photos I wanted on Google Maps, I’m going to spare myself going one last time. I’ve been enough. This is a dollar-theater still charging premium prices. So let’s start with the pricing, and we can’t do that without first mentioning this…

No reserved seating!

I think this is the only theater near Dunwoody, other than the hit-or-miss NCG Peachtree Corners, that doesn’t have reserved seating (more on NCG later). Perimeter Pointe feels like an economy airline that’s trying to cram as many seats into a row as possible. God forbid you actually have to sit next to someone you don’t know, because you won’t be strangers after 2 hours. You’ll accidentally touch at least once.

It’s been at least 10 years since theaters realized people don’t like showing up early to fend for the best seats. The fair-reward for being able to plan your life a few days in advance (or even just a few hours) is you get to pick where you’d like to sit. That’s now the norm, and let’s be real, Regal knows it.

So tickets must be WAY less right??

Well let’s compare prices to Springs Cinema and Taphouse, North Point Mall and the Regal Avalon, which for me are the top 3 theaters in the area for quality. Here’s the breakdown for Toy Story 4, non-matinee, standard showings (non-3D) all about 7pm.

Regal Perimeter Pointe – 1.2 miles away
$13.60 Adult $10.62 Child

Springs Cinema & Taphouse – 3.4 miles away (reserved reclining seats with heaters)
$13.95 Adult $9.16 Child

AMC North Point Mall 12 – 9.4 miles away (reserved reclining seats)
$16.04 Adult $12.81 Child

Regal Avalon – 10 miles away (reserved reclining seats)
$16.37 Adult $13.14 Child

So drumroll… A family of 2 adults and 2 kids is paying…
– $46.22 at Springs Cinema & Taphouse (best price and best seating 👍)
– $48.44 at Perimeter Pointe
– $57.70 at North Point Mall
– $59.02 at the Avalon

I’m excluding the NCG Peachtree Corners from my price comparison list because as most parents in Dunwoody already know, the tickets are significantly lower, but that theater is a different beast entirely. I’ll give it a full review later (and no, I don’t totally hate it), but I consider it a second-run theater that’s somehow playing new releases. Put it this way, I would never see a Star War there.

So it’s not cheap and the seats suck, but could it get any worse?… You bet your last token it could!

Tucked into the lobby is their tantrum-inducing Arcade. If you can call 7 machines that take different forms of payment an “Arcade”. Seriously, some of these operate on quarters. Others operate on tokens. It’s important to figure out which is which before breaking your last dollar, because you might find yourself playing the claw machine when you wanted to play OutRun.

You read that right, there’s a working OutRun machine. I don’t think its the original 1986 version, possibly from the 1990’s but either way. It’s old. Definitely not some nostalgic re-release. The screen has seen 20-plus years of burn-in.

Here’s what I don’t understand. Why is Regal still holding onto that thing? Why is ANY of this carnival crap still in a Regal theater? Your brand name means “fit for a monarch”. Does any of this junk up your brand? About 5 years ago, I actually purchased an AMC employee’s shirt on eBay just to play head games with the manager at this Regal about the arcade.

And last but not least, the gumball machines…

So let’s recap. We’ve…
– Bought overpriced tickets
– Most likely paid for snacks / candy
– Dumped our last quarters in the lobby

Now we just need to get our tickets ripped and go to our seats. And that’s when they hit you with gumball machine alley.

This is the Boss level of unnecessary theater expenditures. You’re carrying 3 drinks, 2 popcorns, and you’re probably using your mouth to hold your tickets, so at this point you’re basically just muted and getting robbed. I’ve gone down gumball alley with the kids just pulling money out of my pockets because I couldn’t physically stop them and mumble much more than “shhfftop it”.

I give Perimeter Pointe 0 out of 4 stars. Plus 2 thumbs down.

Here is an accurate depiction of the experience with kids…