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Chicago

Batavia approves construction of $10M movie theater

The theater will have a auditorium for a 94-foot by 53-foot screen

Batavia, Kane County, Movie Theaters,
(iStock)

Batavia, a far west suburb of Chicago, is getting a $10 million cinema with a screen the height of a seven-story building.

The City Council approved a measure that would add an addition to an auditorium that will house the 94-foot by 53-foot screen, the Beacon-News reported. The new theater, developed by Michigan’s Emagine Entertainment, will replace the city’s only movie theater, which closed two years ago when its owner filed for bankruptcy just before the pandemic unfolded and theaters shut down across the nation.

The additional auditorium will be about 12,000 square feet and is what the company calls a Super EMAX theater, a proprietary technology similar to IMAX. It includes 4K laser projection and 64 channel Dolby Atmos® immersive sound, according to the company’s website. The Super EMAX auditorium will seat about 400 people.

The theater, at 550 N. Randall Road, will also include a renovated lobby and concessions area as well as other auditoriums.

“We’re very excited as this (the Randall 15) was the only theater in town and we’d like to offer residents an entertainment option again,” Batavia City Administrator Laura Newman told the outlet. “The Randall 15 was an extremely popular place for people to go and we’ve missed having a theater since 2020 when it closed.”

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Many theaters shut down during the pandemic. The industry has been slow to recover as theatergoers shunned indoor activities near others because of the risk of transmission.

Paul Glantz, co-founder of Emagine Entertainment, said he doesn’t anticipate having challenges bringing people back to theaters.

“A similar thing was said about books,” Newman said. “Those were going to go away too, because now we can get them in the digital format and we don’t have to go to a store and purchase this book.

He cited the popularity of the “Top Gun” sequel. “To see it in a theater with a 94-foot diagonal screen would be an amazing experience compared to what it looks like on my living room TV.”

Emagine anticipates opening the new facility in spring of 2023.

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Kane CountyMovie Theaters