CARMIKE BRINGING IMAX-SIZED SCREENS TO SMALLER TOWNS

Sixteen months after opening its first “BigD” theater in Savannah, GA, exhibitor Carmike Cinemas is scheduled to open its 21st today (Thursday) in Hickory, NC with a Hunger Games “marathon.” The 247-theater chain said that the new theater will sport a 70-foot screen with a seating capacity of 570. Tickets for the marathon, which will see the original The Hunger Games screen at 4:45 p.m. and the new The Hunger Games: Catching Fire at 8:00 p.m., will go for $15 with a large popcorn and large fountain drink priced at $1 each. The concession snacks and the ticket to the movie can be purchased together at the box office. (Self-serve Coca-Cola machines have been installed in the lobby.) Carmike is making a direct challenge to IMAX and claims that in most locations its screens are larger than IMAX’s and its sound systems superior. The BigD theaters are also being overhauled with leather high-back rocking seats arranged stadium-style. Carmike theaters are primarily located in small to mid-sized markets.