Tokyo movie-goers get VIP experience at $300 a seat

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Japanese movie fans are booking up new luxury box seats which, for nearly $300, come with a glass of champagne to get the reel going.

Shinjuku Piccadilly, a new cinema complex in Tokyo is offering "platinum" seating for 30,000 yen ($278) per film, at which movie-goers can enjoy a private box furnished with custom-made Italian leather sofas and a surround sound system.

"We started taking orders yesterday, and we already have several bookings," said a spokesman for the cinema complex.

To complete the V.I.P. experience, customers have their own entrance, a private elevator and a secluded waiting room, the spokesman said.

And if you can fork out an additional 30 million yen ($278,200), the private box will be yours for the whole year.

The complex, the biggest in its scale in the Tokyo metropolitan area, opens its doors on Saturday.

Although economic data points to a persistent weakness in Japanese consumption of luxury goods, the experience adds to a long list of promotions aimed at the growing class of super-rich and wealthy Asian tourists, including a $15,000 diamond martini and a $108 hamburger.

(Reporting by Mari Saito, editing by Miral Fahmy)