Editorials > Village Roadshow To Open Luxury Cinemas, Charge $35 Per Ticket

Not paying enough for your cinematic experiences? Never fear, Village Roadshow is teaming up with Act III, Lambert Entertainment, and Retirement Systems of Alabama to bring you Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas. According to Variety, fifty theaters will be built across the country over the next five years, the first two being built in Redmond, Washington and South Barrington, Illinois, suburbs of Seattle and Chicago, respectively. Fairview, Texas and Scottsdale, Arizona are also in the planning stage.

Each complex will sport theaters featuring 40 reclining armchair seats with footrests, digital projection and the capability to screen 2-D and 3-D movies, as well as a lounge and bar serving cocktails and appetizers, a concierge service and valet parking.

But the circuit will especially push its culinary offerings – made-to-order meals like sushi and other theater-friendly foods from on-site chefs (a service button at each seat calls a waiter). Moviegoers will have to pay extra for any food they order, however.

The Burbank-based company's hoping to attract 10 million "upscale and affluent" consumers per year to its theaters that will be housed in high-end shopping centers and malls. Each complex will typically house eight screens.

If they've got one thing on their side, it's the fact that recessions only help the movie business. The fact that people will have less disposable income won't stop them from dropping 90 bucks on a dinner-and-a-movie date. Or at least that's the idea.

-David Morgan