Rave Motion Pictures North Haven Movies
NORTH HAVEN >> During the first half of the 20th century, elaborate venues where motion pictures were shown were dubbed "movie palaces."
With the opening of the new Cinemark North Haven theater this week, that term may come back in vogue again. Dallas-based Cinemark spent in excess of $16 million tearing down the former Rave Cinemas location on Universal Drive and replacing it with a lavish new 57,000 square foot, 14-screen multiplex that pulls out all the stops in an effort to lure the movie going public out of their homes.
"The industry is going more and more towards making the customer's experience something that they can't get by staying home," said Bryan Jeffries, Cinemark's marketing director. "In this case, bigger is better."
The new theater's features include:
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Over 1,200 electric-powered, luxury reclining seats with footrests
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The ability to buy beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages that can be consumed in any of the 14 auditoriums in the theater.
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Self service concession stands.
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Eight screens capable of showing 3-D movies.
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One screen that is 68 feet wide by 32 feet high.
The theater had a special Tuesday night private screening of movies for employees of the new theater and their families as well as the construction workers who built the new theater. Wednesday night was for members of business community in the New Haven area as well as for area residents who had reserved special passes through a variety of distribution channels, including social media.
The theater opened to the general public on Thursday.
The old theater closed about month ago and was torn down earlier this week. Rubble from the old theater will be removed and the theater's front parking lot will be fully restored by the end of September,
Cinemark purchased six Connecticut Rave Cinemas locations in March 2013 as part of a 32-theater $240 million deal. Jeffries said Connecticut was an attractive market for Cinemark.
"The theaters that we acquired here had been around for a while and were ready for upgrades to be made," he said.
In addition to the North Haven location, Cinemark also has a theater in the Westfield Connecticut Post mall in Milford and locations in Enfield and Manchester. Cinemark is the nation's third largest movie theater chain, with 335 locations and 4,498 screens in 41 states.
North Haven officials will be working with Cinemark's real estate company to develop four retail spots at the front of the Universal Drive property.
First Selectman Michael Freda said Wednesday the first location will be filled by fast food chain Chick-fil-A, which opened its first Connecticut location in Brookfield last fall and has a New Haven area location on Route 5 in Wallingford. Plans for the North Haven location for the chain will begin going before town board before the end of the summer, he said. Freda hopes to lure at least one more restaurant and two retailers to fill the other space.
"Over the course of two years, it has been an amazing journey, seeing this vision become a reality," Freda said during a ceremony held Wednesday night. "This wonderful theater is also a beginning. This whole area is being rejuvenated and this is at the core of it."
Call Luther Turmelle at 203-680-9388.
Rave Motion Pictures North Haven Movies
Source: https://www.nhregister.com/connecticut/article/Out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new-Cinemark-movie-11343396.php