For the first time in its 25-year history, the AMC Waterfront 22 movie theater in Homestead has received a makeover.

Beginning in April of this year, major renovations took place throughout the cinema’s interior, from the lobby to the theaters and beyond.

Cassie Ward, AMC on-site general manager, at a media tour on Wednesday, said that with its pre-existing Dolby and IMAX theaters, the AMC Waterfront 22 was an important theater and was prioritized for renovation.

“’Wicked’ in particular was a busy weekend for AMC, but it was very busy here, because people travel. If you’re going to see a movie on the big screen, you want to see it on the biggest, best screen possible,” she said.

The flooring of the theater has been updated throughout with new tile and carpeting. Both lobbies have also received makeovers, and movie posters throughout the theater’s hallways have been placed with nostalgia in mind, giving the whole theater a fresh look.

One of the biggest changes is the brand-new bar area on the first floor with a more comfortable seating area. The bar and restaurant have been discontinued from the upper floor of the theater, and the former cafe-style stand on the first floor has been changed into a MacGuffins Bar, where beer, wine and hand-crafted cocktails will be available for purchase. They will also have the same food options as the ones that were previously available.

“There was a seating area here (before), but it was metal benches. … It’s very nice now, and it’s nice to see a lot of our guests use this to come and sit with their friends,” Ward said.

While the main concession stand at the theater’s center has been relatively untouched, the small satellite stands at the end of the theater’s hallways have been removed.

The seating in non-premium theaters has all been replaced, either with recliners or “rockers,” which are larger and more comfortable stadium-style seats. This process has about halved the seating in some of the theaters — Ward said that one theater with new recliners went from a capacity of more than 200 to 107. About 70% of the theaters now have recliner seating.

Each reclining seat also has a heating element that works on two settings.

The entrances to the theater’s three elevated experience auditoriums — the Dolby theater, the IMAX theater and the AMC Prime theater — also all have “portals,” or branded entranceways that add another layer of “cool” to the theatrical experience. While the Dolby portal was already in place before the renovation, the IMAX and AMC Prime portals are new; in fact, this is the first theater to have an AMC Prime portal installed, according to Ward.

The AMC Prime theater features an HD lens over its laser projector and the sound is 7.1 instead of 5.1.

“They were able to split the channels to give more of an atmospheric sound,” Ward said. The exclusive-to-AMC theater experience is also housed in one of the large auditoriums, and it contains more recliner seats.

The restrooms, lighting and hallways have also been updated.

The theater remained open between the time that renovations began in April and when they were completed on Oct. 26. Each of the two sides of the theater was shut down in turn for remodeling, but operations continued throughout.

Ward said she did not know how much the renovations cost, but offered Zoom interviews with AMC corporate for additional information on the project.