The only discount theater in Irvine has raised its ticket prices, switching from showing second-run movies to new releases.

AMC CLASSIC Woodbridge 5, at the Woodbridge Village Center adjacent to Woodbridge’s north lake, now charges $4.99 before 4 p.m. and $6.99 after that for adults ($4.99 for 2-12 years old).

Ticket prices were $1.99 before 4 p.m. and $2.99 after 4 p.m., when the theater was showing popular films several weeks after they’d been released at regular theaters. The change took place in late July.

“Guests in Irvine are now able to see the latest Hollywood movies as soon as they are released at a value price,” AMC stated in an email to the Register, adding the company responded “to the needs of the Irvine market.”

The theater also offers touch screen soda fountains and new concessions items.

But some residents aren’t so happy.

Shima Madani, 29, grew up just down the street from the theater and walked there to see movies with her friends in high school. Ticket prices were cheap enough to justify the outdated amenities, she said.

She said she moved back to Irvine to raise her own family and has since been taking her 4-year-old daughter to the theater almost every weekend.

“That movie theater was a such a special place. It was so family-oriented you can take everybody without worrying (about money),” Madani said. “Almost every weekend, we had to sit in the front row, because it was super-packed.”

She said she won’t go there anymore because she’d rather pay more to see new movies at newer theaters nearby.

The changes at the theater came in the midst of a $30 million renovation of the Woodbridge Village Center, which opened in 1979 but had struggled to keep tenants in recent years.

Developer Irvine Co. will expand the inner courtyard to create a broader area for outdoor dining and gatherings overlooking the lake.

“I’m glad there’s another place I could walk around, other than the Spectrum, and hang out at the lake and grab dinner,” said Irvine resident Christy Berman.

Most recently, FOCUS Dance Center has opened. Extreme discount market Grocery Outlet is set to open Oct. 5, followed by the grand opening celebration on Oct. 7.

The Irvine Co. said Yogurtland, Sessions West Coast Deli, CHA FOR TEA, The Artist Lab and Magikid Robotics Lab have also signed leases in the center. A Shell gas station is also coming to the center in early 2018, according to the developer.

But Berman, 47, said she will miss the low prices for the theater, also known as the “Woodbridge dollar theater” and as a go-to place for mothers.

“Customers are much more easy-going and don’t get as upset if a child starts crying,” she said about the theater. “Moms don’t mind leaving mid-movie if their child becomes fussy because they only paid $2. It’s not unusual to see a kids movie sold out months after its release date because of this reason.”

Berman, who grew up in Irvine, said it was a big deal when Woodbridge 5 opened in 1980. It was the first movie theater in town.

“That was a place where teenagers hung out on weekends,” she said.

Starplex Cinemas took over the theater in 2005 and outfitted it with new equipment, seats and carpet, while keeping its smaller neighborhood theater feel. Tickets were $1 on Tuesdays and $2 at other times.

The theater became part of the AMC group after AMC bought Starplex and its 33 theaters in 2015. In April of this year, the theater became AMC CLASSIC, the company’s low price brand.