After Chuck E. Cheese's announced plans to drop most of its animatronic bands, sparking outrage from fans, the pizza place and arcade chain has announced that it will keep a few more bands.
The company plans to increase the number of remaining animatronic bands to five, a company spokesperson said in a statement to The New York Times on Thursday.
The move comes after The New York Times detailed plans to phase out animatronic bands at all but two of Chuck E. Cheese's more than 400 locations in the U.S. by the end of the year. The company says it wants to update the Chuck E. Cheese's experience for a new generation of digitally curious kids.
The backlash was swift, with some distraught fans contacting the chain's CEO, David McKillips, by personal phone, pleading with him to keep at least a few of the animatronic performers known as “Munch's Make Believe Band” alive.
The company announced in November that the band would remain based in Los Angeles and Nanuet, New York.
Now three locations have been added to that list: Pineville, North Carolina, Hicksville, New York, and Springfield, Illinois.
The stores will undergo long-planned renovations but will retain the beloved robotic anthropomorphic musicians, Chuck E. Cheese spokeswoman Alejandra Brady said.
Brady said the outcry from Chuck E. Cheese's die-hard fans and nostalgic regulars has intensified over the past week, flooding phone lines and mailboxes and causing unrest at stores across the country.
Mark Kupferman, the chain's chief marketing officer, said the decision to keep the three more older bands was not so much about business reasons as it was about honoring the kids who have helped make the chain successful throughout its 47-year history.
“It's an obligation to our traditions,” he said.
“I don't think anyone at Chuck E. Cheese would be comfortable doing this,” he added.
After the COVID-19 pandemic closed many locations and forced the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the summer of 2020, Chuck E. Cheese's executives focused on modernizing, replacing its animatronic characters with digital screens and dance floors.
After hearing from enthusiasts of the animatronic band, Chuck E. Cheese's tried to make sure the band represented the various configurations that have come and gone over the years, Kufferman said.
The five surviving bands are from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
“We will do everything in our power to maintain these characters and keep them running flawlessly,” Kufferman said.
Jesus Jimenez Contributed report.