The movie makeout session has always been a furtive act; cramped seats, disapproving glares, couples hiding in the dark in the back of the theater. But this summer, there’s good news for cinema lovers looking to cool off — and have a hot time.
The AMC Loews theater on West 84th Street got a racy renovation in May, adding fully reclining red leather-like loveseats to its six auditoriums, allowing for a lot of lights, camera, action.
Each auditorium now has between 110 and 183 upholstered love seats, making it the only cinema in Manhattan to boast a seating option that cries out for amorous activity.
AMC’s only other fully-dedicated love seat theater in NYC is in Fresh Meadows, Queens, but the company, which has other racy recliners in cinemas around the country, plans to expand the model nationwide.
The spot on West 84th Steet was dubbed the Worst Movie Theater in NYC by Gothamist earlier this year — and received a “C” grade from the health department — but now that couples can cozy up, all that is bound to change.
Today, it’s become the best makeout multiplex in Manhattan — at the same $13.50 adult ticket it was before the renovation. Now that it’s no longer a stodgy old movie house, the staff says nearly every show sells out. And although Hugh Jackman’s seriously unkempt talons in “The Wolverine” (out in late July) don’t exactly scream romance, you never know when there might be some infamously ill-timed ticket-holder passion (think Jerry Seinfeld’s “Schindler’s List” makeout session).
“Couples love it! We caught two couples making out during ‘Man of Steel,’” says Beatrice, an AMC Loews attendant who asked that her last name not be used. “We gently told them to stop.”
The new loveseats are a huge hit with teens. Upper West Sider Richard Velazquez, 40, was seated in the same row as an enthusiastic teen couple at a “World War Z” showing last month. “Even before the previews started, they were going at it,” says Velazquez.
“She was not entirely on top of him, but a quarter of the way there. When the movie ended, they were still at it. I was thinking, ‘Get a room already,’ but the theater was their room!”
So even if you’re not old enough to take your date to an R-rated movie, can the loveseats still help a teen guy score?
“The seats don’t make it hard,” boasts 17-year-old Jonathan Santiago, who was recently cooling off at an afternoon showing of “World War Z” with his girlfriend of two months, Diosmayra Bueno, also 17.
“We put the seats back and got cozy together. At the scary parts, she kept grabbing onto me.”
As for whether AMC actually welcomes couples getting hot and heavy, AMC spokesperson Ryan Noonan would only acknowledge that it was “a great date-night theater, perfect for couples.”
Even adult couples agree.
“We used our jacket as a blanket, making it more romantic,” says Stephen Elms, a 37-year-old digital marketing consultant who opted to skip the fireworks on the Fourth of July to relax in the air-conditioned theater with girlfriend Anne Jacobson, 39. Elms likens the loveseat scene to Black Friday shopping madness: “As soon as the doors opened, it was a free-for-all. Everybody was reclining.”
Sholom Mann is just happy he won’t need to borrow the car of his future in-laws any more just to find a theater with the leather loveseats.
“We went to Queens when that theater first got the seats,” Mann, 29, says of the AMC in Fresh Meadows that debuted their loveseats last year.
And privacy at the movies has become serious business for the film-buff duo: “I don’t want people finding out about this theater — I’m not telling anyone!” admits his fiancée, Rachel Wolfson, 32, a CPA.
Natasha Potashnik, a 23-year-old Columbia grad student, recently hit the theater twice in one week with her boyfriend of three years, 24-year-old Kirby Fears.
“When it’s fully reclined, it’s like we’re lying in bed together,” she says.
“Everyone in the theater was excited about the seats. It kind of feels like one of those outdoor movies they show on the Hudson River piers, where everyone is lounging on blankets. Most couples were holding hands and leaning against each other.
“I always thought that a date night at the movies didn’t make sense, because it isn’t interactive or romantic. But the new seats do change my opinion.”
Which is to say, fellas, that if you can’t score here, you have no game: “This is definitely a must for any guy taking a woman out on a movie date,” insists Andrew Smith, who’s schlepped the 20 miles from his Hartsdale home in Westchester three times in two weeks specifically for the loveseats with his main squeeze, Jenn Gomez.
“It’s perfect because it’ll feel like they’re just relaxing at home on his couch,” says Smith. “Plus, he can hold his date during the scary parts, since the armrests go up.
“It will help him get closer to the girl,” Smith adds. “He’ll get cool points for finding a theater where she can comfortably snuggle up with him.”
dlewak@nypost.com