I haven't seen your other responses so I may be repeating someone else so my apologies if I am.
Anyway, I love to go to the movies with girlfriends, my kids, my hubby and even by myself. AMC Theatres does offer $5.00 seats Monday through Thursday and if you have their MovieWatcher Card than you can get a free small popcorn on Wednesday's. The Movie Watcher card is free and you accumulate points which earn you coupons and occasional free stuff.
I haven't heard of any Mommy and Me movie times or programs except during the summertime I know our local Dickinson Theatres offer special kid shows and times in a cheap package deal. We always get these through our school but I'm sure you could check this out directly at the box office.
I enjoy AMC Theatres popcorn and accommodations but I agree that they are pricey and I totally avoid the AMC Theatres at Town Center off of Nall Avenue in Overland Park, KS since they went to "assigned seating". I even called and wrote a letter to their corporate office to let them know how awful my recent experience was at that location because of "reserved seating". It was a HUGE ordeal to try to get a seat next to my girlfriend since we didn't buy our tickets together at the exact same time. We met at the theatres like we always do and were surprised to learn that instead of going into the theatre and choosing based on a first come-first serve basis (like a grown-up) where we'd like to sit, we ended up having to find our assigned row and seat number. The couple sitting behind us commented how other people were sitting in their seats anyway so I just think this is going to end up causing confrontation between customers/movie-goers. Plus, it takes the spontaneity out of going to the movies if they expect everyone to use the internet and buy their tickets online and be forced to choose a seat ahead of time like you do if you're going to a huge concert event. We even ended up getting stuck behind some extremely tall guy since our "assigned seats" were right behind his...total bummer!! I obviously wouldn't have choose that seat if I'd gone into the theatre first and been able to evaluate my choices.
Anyway, there is only one drive in theatre in the KC area but I'm not even sure if it's still open.
Anyway, in today's times it still can be a fun escape to go see the latest flick but if they don't keep it affordable for the middle class then I hope these big corporations and Hollywood actors and actresses see their profits take a HUGE nose dive. After all...who do they think pay their salaries?
Really you can't go wrong with just renting from Redbox too plus you avoid all the crowds, hassles and germs.