Northwoods Stadium Cinemas to open in time for holiday weekend

The Lowcountry's newest movie theater will blast on the scene Wednesday as one of the few new cinemas in the nation this year.

The space-themed Northwoods Stadium Cinemas, with celestial symbols scattered across the carpet and two small space shuttles angled skyward and spinning above two columns at the covered entrance, will open in North Charleston across from Northwoods Mall just in time for the bustling four-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

With the opening twice put on hold over the past month because of construction delays, the theater will debut its first eight of 13 screens in what was the former AMC Northwoods 8 movie house, which closed in 2008. The remaining five screens are under construction on the back side of the totally renovated facility and should open within 90 days, according to John Snodgrass, district manager with family-owned Southeast Cinema Entertainment.

The Charlotte-based company also owns the 16-screen movie megaplex at Citadel Mall, which opened a year ago with an aquatic theme.

The new screens are among only about four dozen new ones in the nation this year.

There were 39,233 movie screens across the U.S. at the end of 2009, according to Patrick Corcoran, spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners. As of Nov. 10, the nation had 39,284 indoor and drive-in screens.

"There has not been a huge amount of screen growth this year," Corcoran said.

That's mainly because theaters are in the midst of converting to digital cinema at a cost approaching $75,000 per screen, he said.

But Charleston has bucked the trend.

With 16 new screens last year, eight more this year, five others on the way and a new screen being added at the Terrace Theater on James Island by Dec. 10, the movie business appears to be doing well in the metro area.

"Charleston is a good theater market," said Bryan Smith, managing partner and family member of Southeast Cinema Entertainment. "The Citadel Mall theater has exceeded expectations. We try to get as close to malls as possible."

He attributed Charleston's movie theater growth to its healthy populations of military service members, veterans, retirees and college students.

"You have people with money and time on their hands," Snodgrass said.

They decided on a space theme for the new theater because it gave them more options on how to decorate the nearly $10 million renovation project.

"We want everybody to be entertained and enjoy the experience," Smith said.

At the new 49,000-square-foot North Charleston theater, workers scurried about in the past few days to install the carpet, hook up plumbing fixtures and hammer together last-minute touches in the all-stadium-seating complex, which carries a blue-and-orange theme from the walls in the lobby to the swags in the auditoriums.

"We have brought an early 1980s building up to current standards," Snodgrass said as building inspectors and workers in hard hats roamed the facility. "We widened the hallways and took out some interior walls. It was a very confusing layout before."

It also includes an extra bathroom. There are now three for women and two for men.

The first eight auditoriums range in seating capacity from 77 to 246 while the final five being built each will hold 67 movie-goers.

"Megamind," "Unstoppable" and the latest "Harry Potter" film are among the first movies the theater will be showing when it opens at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday with its 20 employees.

Each Monday through Thursday, movie prices will be $5. From Friday through Sunday, admission prices are the same before 4 p.m. but then go to $8 for adults. Senior citizens and military members will pay $6.50 and children will pay $6. The price is $2 extra for all 3-D movies.

Also, for the first 16 days, concessions will cost $1 for a medium fountain soda, $1 for a medium popcorn and $1 each for a choice of six candies. The promotion ends Dec. 9.