Lynchburg’s new movie theater: Not the cheap seats

The first time I stepped into a stadium seating movie theater was in 2002.

It was the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college, and I was doing an internship in New York City.

One night, a friend and I decided to check out a movie theater in Times Square, and I was astounded at what I saw. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced growing up in Lynchburg.

For quite awhile, I was convinced that only big cities like New York and L.A. had those kinds of theaters. I’d spin tales for my friends about the big-city movie experience. Huge, comfortable seats. All that leg room. Food options way beyond a simple bag of popcorn or a box of candy.

I guess the joke was on me.

I’m not quite sure when the wake-up call came that stadium-seating theaters exist everywhere — well, everywhere except Lynchburg until recently — but I’ve now been to my fair share of them.

Still, it was a shock to walk into River Ridge mall last week and find a theater where Value City used to be.

I don’t mean to make Lynchburg’s new Regal Cinemas sound like it’s the second coming, but it is a big deal for those of us who grew up here and never had one.

That side of the mall feels like another world — one I like very much.

The 57,000-square-foot theater opened last Monday for three days of $1 screenings for charities such as the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lynchburg, and then had its official grand opening on Friday, when ticket prices went back to their usual $9.50. 

The lines never seemed to dwindle at the beginning of the week. Just as many people were there at 10:45 on Tuesday night — my first experience at the theater, a late-night screening of “District 9” — as there were at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Jewel Barao, Regal’s northern region marketing manager, said that between sales of tickets and concessions, they raised $13,500 on Monday, $12,000 on Tuesday and $16,000 on Wednesday.

It’s not surprising. Several people I talked to had been to the theater multiple times, some even multiple times each day, to take advantage of the $1 movies.

But it wasn’t just the bargain prices that got people out.

Many were just as excited as I am to finally have a theater this size in the Hill City.

A quick round-up of its stats: there are 14 screens, for a total of more than 2,400 seats; the two largest theaters seat 314 each; one theater is equipped solely for 3D movies; and the concession stand offers things like coffee and cappuccino, hot dogs, pizza, ice cream and egg rolls. Yes, egg rolls.

“It definitely livens up the place a little bit,” Lynchburg resident Mike Lynchard told me. “I wanted to check it out and see what the vibe is like.”

Opening night also did steady business, said Barao.

And nobody seemed to mind that the $1 prices were done.

“Watching a movie in the theater is about the experience,” said Shannon Justis, who was there with her husband, Steve. “I don’t mind paying more for a better experience.

“The first time walking in, my whole thing was, ‘We’re not in Lynchburg anymore.’”