If I am being completely honest, the main reason I pitched this column was for this article right here — the one about Nicole Kidman and her legendary speech that has been cut short for a reason I cannot fully comprehend. In case you’ve been living under a rock — or just don’t go to the theaters — I am, of course, referring to the AMC Theaters commercial starring Kidman that runs before the start of every AMC movie.
Originally, starting in 2021, the commercial was written as a way to convince audiences to return to the theaters post-pandemic. The commercial features the movie star in a stunning pinstriped suit entering an empty theater. As she monologues, clips from box office hits play on the projector screen, and the lights dim.
This, dare I say, award-worthy performance sparked an impressive response from fans and other celebrities, as people began to recreate the commercial on TikTok and recite the monologue at their own AMCs. It even made its way into the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live.” In the SNL sketch, Kidman (played by Chloe Fineman) is joined by an almost cult-like audience who recites her monologue along with her, mirroring the impact the actual monologue had on theatergoers.
In 2021, the commercial was 60 seconds long but now if you enter AMC theaters you can only enjoy the 15- and 30-second long cuts. The 30-second cut no longer features one of the most iconic lines, “Heartbreak feels good in a place like this.” The new cut lacks the eagerness for new media and the appreciation of how films can be an opportunity to experience a variety of emotions over the course of just a few hours.
Additionally, the movie clips shifted from “La La Land” (2016) and “Wonder Woman” (2017) to “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse” (2018) and “Elvis” (2022). While Kidman is a welcome face to still grace our AMC screens, the changes made to the original commercial completely take away from the magic of the original. More specifically, the shortened length is a tease to audiences, reminding us that Kidman is still there, ready to tell us about heartbreak, but she can’t deliver completely because the monologue has been cut short. Instead, moviegoers are forced to sit through a Coca-Cola ad that feels out of place right before the lights dim.
The original 2021 commercial is nothing less than marvelous. Kidman, despite the campy nature of her words, delivers completely. We truly know it's time to get lost in a movie when she says the line: “And we go somewhere we’ve never been before; not just entertained but somehow reborn.”
Although we still have the new, slimmed-down versions of the monologue, if AMC truly wants to continue to “Make Movies Better,” the original, minute-long speech from Kidman needs to rejoin theaters.
