The new Carmike 13 promises “the ultimate movie experience.”

With a screen over three stories tall and 80 feet wide, luxurious high back leather seating, DLP digital projection and Dolby Atmos digital sound, Carmike 13 will be Champaign’s latest state-of-the-art entertainment complex, located at 910 Meijer Drive. Formerly known as the Beverly 18, the theater was closed last February and completely demolished last year to build an entirely new complex with enhanced theater amenities intended to provide an advanced movie-watching experience. 

The theater will celebrate its official opening on Thursday, following a pre-opening night charity event on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Some of the pre-opening event’s profits will be donated to the United Way of Champaign County. Attendees can also enjoy discounted prices for admission and concessions, with tickets, popcorn and fountain drinks all $2 each and free refills on fountain drinks. While Wednesday night’s available movies will not be the latest releases, Thursday’s opening celebration will feature the newest released films. 

Scheduled to open last summer, the theater took longer than expected to construct. Martin Platz, Carmike 13 general manager, said everything is now on schedule for its Halloween opening.

The over 60-thousand-square-foot theater complex features 13 screens, with enough seating to accommodate over 2,800 moviegoers. The auditoriums feature stadium-style seating, complete with retractable armrests and cup holders. In addition to the wall-to-wall screens and digital projection and sound, the theater is home to the critically acclaimed theater environment known as the “Big-D,” their version of an IMAX theater, according to Platz.

Carmike President and CEO David Passman expressed excitement over their new Big-D format, unique to Carmike Cinemas, Inc. 

“With the opening of the new location, the Champaign area joins a select and growing list of communities across the nation offering Carmike theater-goers the exciting new Big-D format,” Passman stated. “The Big-D auditorium will seat nearly 600 guests in luxurious comfort.”

Passman went on to say, “The Big-D Experience features cutting edge theater amenities, which will immerse the theatergoer in the movie experience. The Big-D auditorium features the incredible wall-to-wall screen measuring over 81 feet wide and three stories tall.”

He added that the audio system is one of the best in the industry and that the new digital projection produces better than HD resolution in both 2-D and 3-D features, which add to the Big-D experience. 

Platz explained how all of the screens have improved tremendously.

“Our largest screen at the old facility is pretty much our smallest screen in this one, so all of the screens are significantly larger, with five of them being 3-D capable. All of them are equipped with Adobe 7.1 surround sound, a huge improvement from the sound at our old building,” Platz said.

In addition to their new, upscale screens and auditoriums, Carmike 13 has a sleek, new lobby to match, featuring numerous concession areas and Coca-Cola Freestyle drink centers. The theater will also have one-stop ticketing and concession stations allowing guests to seamlessly purchase their tickets and concessions before seating themselves.

The theater will also add new concessions to its menu, including beer and wine. The addition of alcohol to many theaters’ concession stands has stirred up controversy across the United States, but some members of the community do not see it as much of a problem.

“I don’t suspect a problem with us selling alcohol. We’re just trying to provide another concession item to let people enjoy their experience at our movie theater which isn’t available at most theaters in the area,” Platz said.

Aneta Basalaj, junior in LAS, also expressed limited concern.

“The new movie theater near my house now serves alcohol and does a good job of ID’ing people, so I haven’t seen any problems and don’t expect to see problems from the Carmike 13 theater if they follow the same rules,” she said.

Platz said regular movie tickets will be $9.50 for adults and $7.25 for students. 3-D films add on a $2.50 surcharge and Big-D films a $4 surcharge. 

Anyone in the community can experience deals every Tuesday on what the theater calls “Stimulus Tuesdays.” On these days, soda, popcorn and candy are discounted.

“We also have what we call ‘Super Bargain Matinee’, in which movies between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. are only $5.50,” Platz said.

On opening night, “Ender’s Game,” a sci-fi action, and “Free Birds,” a 3-D animated comedy, will be the two major releases expected to show. The theater will also be showing movies that have been recently released. 

Platz said the theater expects to see a variety of both college students and members of the community for opening night and hopes that the Big-D experience will keep them coming back.

Elizabeth can be reached at [email protected].