Maxi-Saver

This place is officially closed

Yet another Pittsburgh area movie theater bites the dust. The Maxi Saver closed in January, 2013 when the building owner didn’t want to renew the lease. Shame too because Carmike was about to do renovations on it.

About all you can ask of a dollar theater. Decent quality & sound. Aloof staff. Mediocre cleaning. Pretty recent movies. Occasional deals on food, don’t really care if you bring your own. Biggest downfall is the super musty smell. Would it kill them to spray a little febreeze in there?! Geez… Hey, that’s a good idea… Bring your own fabreeze, snacks, and drinks for a fresh & cheap movie experience.

It’s definitely outdated and dirty but you really can’t beat an evening at the movies when you AND your mate can get in for under $ 5! They only show films that are close to DVD release, but how many times have you «meant to see that movie» and couldn’t find the time before it left theaters?
The place gets a little sketchy at night on the weekends so I prefer to go to earlier shows during the week. There have been times that J and I have been the only two people in the theater which is great for people who do not enjoy crowds or people chewing popcorn in their ear plus it’s like your own private viewing.
Oh! And when you go, dont forget to stop at the Dollar Tree across the parking lot and stock up on snacks!

Ah yes, the Maxi-​Saver! Sticky floors, greasy seats, old people frowning. This place is as ghetto as it gets… but its a buck! Honestly, for a dollar theater, this place isn’t that bad. We take our 2 year old here for kid movies we’re not sure she has the patience and/​or willpower to sit through. She gets in free, which is pretty rad since we’re there for kid movies. I’m not sure when they will start charging for her but its pretty sweet.
I’m not sure the history behind this theater, but I’m guessing it was a nice new theater in the 70s or 80s that, along with the area, fell on hard times and started playing dollar movies. That all being said, its not like falling apart or anything. The seats are moderately comfortable. Most of the theaters are decent-​sized. The acoustics and the screens aren’t horrible. Honestly, for a buck this theater is pretty rad.
They generally get movies about two months old. And they stay there for a good bit. As long as you don’t mind waiting a couple of months and don’t need the whole Loew’s experience, this is the spot. What I like best about this place, however, is they usually always have a couple of kids’ movies. My little girl loves this place. She gets her popcorn and soaks everything in. We first took her here because we thought she was old enough for a movie but we weren’t about to spend $ 30 taking her to a real theater and end up having to leave. Luckily, she’s pretty good and in the event she’s not feeling it, hey… we’re only out a few bucks. I would recommend this place to anyone with kids.
The concessions are a bit expensive for a dollar theater. Still, they’re cheaper than a regular theater. For a large popcorn and soda, you’re looking at like $ 11 or so. Most other dollar theaters I’ve been to have a $ 1 size popcorn and soda. Luckily, they have this 2011 bucket that costs like $ 15. Its about a square foot of popcorn. And you get to refill it at any Carmike theater for $ 2.50 for the entire year. It will basically pay for itself on the fourth visit, as large popcorn is $ 6.70. I don’t know if they still do it, but on Tuesdays, they used to have a «Tub Tuesdays» promotion. You got to bring in a bucket and they’d fill it up for a quarter. We saw people with big serving bowls, dollar store buckets, garbage cans… whatever…it was awesome. For a quarter.
At some places, you get what you pay for. Here… you actually get a good bit more. This place is awesome for kids. And its really not a bad theater if you don’t mind waiting a couple months for the movie to get there. Its pretty well taken care of for just being a buck.

I found this theater by accident — I was optimistically hoping a certain movie would still be playing somewhere, even though it was released nearly two months earlier. Carmike’s was the only one. I saw the 99 cent price tag and was a bit confused; surely, I was missing something! Was there a catch? Some secret I didn’t know? I logged on to Unilocal but couldn’t find an answer. So, for those that are suspicious, here it is…
For 99 cents, you will see a movie that was a new release at least a month ago, after all the major theaters have already stopped playing it. I assumed for the cheap price the place would be packed; it wasn’t. We ended up reserving our tickets online (for an additional 99 cents each… still worth it) because we assumed hordes of people would try to take advantage of the discount. We were wrong! On the day before Thanksgiving (usually a big movie day) we were one of maybe ten people in the theater. Once we sat down, we knew what made it cheap. The theater was old, kinda dirty, and the seats could use a re-​upholstering. They weren’t uncomfortable but my girlfriend (wisely) chose not to put her purse on the sticky floor. The screen was kinda small, the sound quality was nothing special — but for the kind of movie we watched it was irrelevant. For those minor sacrifices, it’s totally worth the 99 cents.

Its a .99cent movie — why not?
The screens are small, its not very clean, the chairs are old and uncomfortable, the crowd can be loud and inconsiderate, the movies that play there are old or giant flops from the bigger theaters — BUT — its 99 cents! So if you are bored some night and super broke, theres always the Cheap Seats!

You get what you pay for it and here it is definitely the case.
So the theater isn’t the cleanest place you’ve been to, and sure they don’t have Dibs at their concession stand, and the screens are smaller and they show an absurd amount of ads before the movie but it only cost you 99 cents to see a movie. Don’t come here on your first date to try to impress your lady, come here with a bunch of your friends and soak in the seediness of a dollar theater! Rather than downloading that flick at home, next time get some fresh air and nachos and see it here.
Tuesdays are their recession special day — $ 1 popcorn, $ 1 soda and of course $.99 tickets.
And seriously, if you’re gonna charge 99 cents on a card, you deserve the 99 cent fee.

This is my favorite place in the world. Movies cost $ 1.50 here, and they’re worth every penny. It’s the perfect place to go see that movie that you’re horribly embarrassed to admit that you’re kind of interested to see. Then you tell your friends that it’s the only thing that looks HALF-​decent, and hell, what else are you going to do in West Mifflin on a Thursday night?
This place is totally dirty. The ticket taker guy is 80,000 years old. The employees are jaded. The crowds will yell at the movie in the theaters and put their feet up on the seats. And all of that is what creates the total charm of «The Welfare Flicks».

Your absolute last chance to see that blockbuster flop you’ve had your eye on for too long. On the big screen. For almost no money.
Of course, you need a car to get here. I mean, there’s probably a bus, but it’s not worth the trip. Or you could get your mom to drop you off, which is what most of the movie-​goers here do. It’s that kind of crowd.
A trip to this theater can also be combined with a trip to the world’s slowest Taco Bell. ..