West suburban theater to reopen after renovations, major enhancements
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BATAVIA, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Roof supports were delivered Wednesday for, what is touted to be, the theater that will have the largest movie screen in Illinois.
Imagine seeing Top Gun: Maverick or any of the Marvel movies on a screen that’s 96 feet wide and about 50 feet tall while sitting in heated, reclining seats. That’s what’s being built in Batavia along with the renovation of rooms with 11 other movie screens in the theater on Randall Road.
Paul Glantz, chairman of Emagine Entertainment, said his company is trying to give people more than they can get at home.
“I like to say that the rumors of our demise in the movie theater business, have been greatly exaggerated," he said. "However, you correctly point out that we have to give our guests a compelling reason to leave their homes to be entertained."
Glantz said the theater is the “one that’s going to knock everybody’s socks off.”
The Super EMX theater will seat about 350 people. It will have 70 channels of immersive sound and will have “a spectacular picture driven by hundreds of thousands of lumens out of a laser projection system.”
Margaret Perrault, president and CEO of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce said the Super EMX Theater is a great thing that’s coming to her town.
“We’re just so excited to have this theater that closed before the pandemic to have new life and, not just re-open, but open better with a bigger theater and new ideas."
Mayor Jeffery Schielke agrees that the Super EMX and the newly-renovated theater will be a good thing for Batavia and the Fox Valley.
“It’s certainly good for the community to have something like this happen. I think there’s going to be people coming in here from quite a wide area," he said.
"You’re only about three miles north of the full tollway interchange in Aurora at Orchard Road.”
The Emagine Batavia Theater is expected to open in June.
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