The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 59

dimM iWWMH WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 18 1996 WL3 on aniDroacIi Fasten your seat belts: With huge aviation murals and airplane replicas Cinema 17 at Auburn SuperMall dwarfs all previous in the area Bv9 The News Tribune I ft on final approach: wheels down cockpit alight runway in light It's a jumbo movieplex rather than a jumbo jetliner that will be landing Friday behind SuperMall of the Great Northwest But if moviegoers have a tough time idling one from (heather an opening day the mix-up will be understandable When they step through the doors of Cinema 17 at the SuperMall the first thing crowds will see will be a giant replica of the cockpit panel of a Boeing 777 hanging over the snack bar complete with throttles and lighted instruments When they look to either side see enormous murals painted on lobby walls showing Boeing jumbos parked outside open hangar doors Theytf look down and see a tiled runway flanking the snack bar and swooping right up onto the wall of the conidor leading to the auditoriums Then look up And then maybe duck Because overhead is the fuselage of a lowered! paseengerjet with wheels 1 mg in far a landing Abig jet A very big jeL How lag? Mary Newport a spokeswoman far ACT HI the theater chain that will be operat- athe Cinema 17 said the original design ed for a full-sole mock-up of a 737 La Kit MtanTkc New flseuw track-mounted cranes workers hustle to put final touches on the Ctnema 17 multiplex at SupotMall of the Northwest fuselage to be installed in the lobby That idea was eventually discarded because a 737just wasn't in keeping with the scale of the place It was too small They don't call these things megaplex-es for nothing The aircraft motif is meant to reflect the character ofthe region Newport said And for this region Boeing was an obvious choice Megaplexes such as the Cinema 17 are all the rage in the movie-showing business these days The gargantuan theaters number their screens in the double digits and nave seating for thousands The Auburn plex is fairly typical of the new breed It has 17 auditoriums and seats around 3600 people Individual auditoriums range in size froml20-to400-seaters While the Auburn complex is big (that word again) it's hardly at the top end as these behemoths gm Dallas for example has a 24-screen an assist from In Auburn Not all movie horrors are on screen terms and the Candy Band But the Candy Bandh pretty cool Coming attractions: Getting a preview can be a lot of fun But aren't they getting longer? And don't you in- (Noneofthis applies if you're i a Irish film If you're at a 101 motions" matinee kiddie noises within reason are part of the ambiance) IWksm: There are many kinds of talking: to characters reading words on the screen asking questions anticipating the future I bet Art the stating the obvious (That Moviegoing is fun And the wave of plush new theaters with large screens and stadium seating holds the promise of even man erqayment Buttoomany things can still wrings lot of the pleasure out of a trip to the movie house For example: Ticket pricss: Movie tickets are up to But Aubumh (Snema 17 is the largest theater of its kind to open in the Northwest (Until now ACT nih largest complexes contained no more than nine screens) It eclipses the Meridian 16 Cinemas opened by Cineplex Odeon in the heart of downtown Seattle less than two weeks ago That 16-screener seats only 3000 In January the region'll two new megas will be joined by a 13-screen complex ACT III is building in Renton Several megaa are on the board in Bellevue and another this one with 11 screens is for downtown Seattle It will be built within a block of the IS in New York They remain around I than still too expen- $6A0 here and 1 every plot twist? Annoying amfisnee members: Theatergoing is communal It requires courtesy And many people seem to get irritated at people who remind them of this Babies and cNkken: Infants never sleep through a movie At best they kid gurgle and cool At wont they scream When it happens too many parents just sit there Even older kids up to about 6 eventually will start stomping down the aisles and throwing candy It's not their fault little kids with short attention spans But they are irritating for the rest of us who dont like having our attention spans artificially shortened by a restless tyke Parents deserve their fun too but that doeent mean they have the right part th wwnmiml Mpmww flwiVj audieVgobd" fchartT (Be MrtBMnt MJstftj sive Especially fir families Matinees are better Daytime prices are around its not as ifthey add special effects for the evening shows ConcosakM prices: Acouple attending a matinee will often spend more for a soft drink and a beg of popcorn than they paid for their tickets The concession stand is where most the-aters make their profit Bid that doesn't mean we have to like it Waiting In the daricTWo years ago movie screens were cluttered with ads Fortunately those have mostly disappeared Now it's mostly just Who do exhibitors think will patronize these complexes? Based on its research ACT HI expects the Auburn theater to draw from a 15-mile radius bringing in moviegoers from Tscoma and Burien and even Renton until the 13-screener in that city opens And why would someone want go to a mega when many of the same movies will be on the screens of older nearer multiplexes? Larger screens will be part of the appeal said Zach Sheets general manager of the Cinema 17 AQ screens in all of the auditoriums will stretch from wall to wafl There will be none ofthe post ngr stamp-sized screens commonly associated with older multiplexes And the theater is touting what it calls StadiumRiscr seating Uh- thosf forgettable "memorable jno- to compromise an se.