Cineplex to open 10-screen movie theatre at Lansdowne this year
By Michael Woods, OTTAWA CITIZEN February 24, 2014 12:13 PM
OTTAWA — Cineplex Entertainment is planning to open a 10-screen movie theatre at Lansdowne Park sometime this year, it was announced Monday.
The new theatre will be “one of Canada’s most luxurious and technically advanced movie theatres,” Cineplex said in a release.
The Lansdowne theatre’s future had been in doubt since the summer when Empire Theatres — which had signed a lease to operate a new luxury cinema at the former fairground in the Glebe — abruptly bailed out of the movie business.
Toronto-based Cineplex, which operates more than 160 theatres across the country, had been in exclusive talks with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group — the group of land developers and sports businessmen who partnered with the city to renovate Lansdowne — to run the cinema.
“Our theatre at Lansdowne will be one of the most impressive buildings of its type in Canada,” the company’s president and CEO Ellis Jacob said in the release.
Three of the screens will be “VIP Cinema auditoriums,” luxurious adult-only theatres which are licensed to serve alcohol, have reserved seating and offer food and beverage service to individual seats. Another will be an UltraAVX auditorium.
“Cineplex is Canada’s top theatre operator and today’s announcement is a big win for Lansdowne and Ottawa moviegoers,” said John Ruddy, a partner in the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group.
The news may come as a relief to moviegoers whose only current downtown options are the ByTowne and Mayfair Theatres, which cater to more specialized audiences.
The future of the theatre at Lansdowne had been in question since the summer when Empire Theatres announced it was selling nearly all its theatres and dividing them between Cineplex and Calgary-based Landmark Theatres.
But Empire’s two downtown locations, the functioning cinema at the World Exchange Plaza and the still-under-construction complex at Lansdowne, were left out of the deal.
The cinemas at World Exchange closed in December after Landmark and property management company Bentall Kennedy couldn’t reach a longer-term deal beyond the lease’s expiration.
Empire Theatres had already closed its cinemas at the Rideau Centre in March.
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