It's been years in the making, and it's finally ready for showtime: Marina's new five-screen Cinemark theater opens tomorrow, Oct. 8, and after a look inside today, I'd guess Marina residents and everyone else on the Peninsula will be happy with the results.
Cinemark Marketing Director Bryan Jeffries was at the theater today giving tours to press and local officials, starting at the concession booth. Jeffries pointed first to the butter bar for popcorn ("Huge hit with kids," he says), and added that things like kettle corn will be offered, as will Vitamin Water.
"These are small things, but for some customers, they're big things," he says.
Jeffries emphasizes that unlike some older theaters that have been retrofitted with more modern equipment, this one was built from the start to harness the most modern theater technologies on the market.
Two of the theater's five auditoriums will seat about 100 people, another two about 200, and the "XD" theater will seat 300. The screens in all the auditoriums go floor-to-ceiling, and the all seats are upholstered with pleather—immaculate, for now—with drink holders in every armrest.
Jeffries exudes the most enthusiasm about the XD theater, which has speakers on the ceiling and up and down the walls.
"People come in thinking about the visuals," he says, "and they leave talking about the sound."
Inside the XD auditorium's projector "pod," Jeffries shows off the hulking Barco projector that can switch to 3D with the flip of the switch. It can also play any movie the theater has—unlike IMAX, any movie can be played in XD—so the state-of-the-art sound system and massive screen will be on tap for any film that's proving the most popular at the moment: Jeffries says they can change the movie for that auditorium mid-week, it's all about what people want to see.
The Barco projector also has the brightest bulbs of any brand, he says, and uses the film The Martian as an example. "When there's a dust storm on Mars, you're going to able to see the dust."
Times and films for tomorrow can be found on Century Marina's website.