Wilcox Theaters at The Vicksburg Mall has undertaken an expansion of sorts recently. After years of planning, the cinema at the city’s main retail mall has added two additional screens, complete with 60 high-back, padded stadium seats with cup holders. The renovation is something of a final step — for now — of a larger list of goings-on at the cinema since it started a move to digital projection in 2012 after years of fuzzy, old-style film, owner David Wilcox said.
The screens are 32-by-30 feet, as opposed to the 30-by-80 feet dimensions of the older four screens. That means cutting the cinema’s older theaters to 60-seat venues as opposed to the current arrangement of between 178 and 250 people.
“We got it up and going because the mall agreed to finance the expansion,” Wilcox said this week, adding his company has sunk about $800,000 into upgrades to the projection system and other renovations at the Vicksburg location since taking over the operation in 2008.
By upgrading the aging film projectors to digital, shrinking the screen size and changing the seating arrangements the theater is betting the public wants a cozier experience.
“If the public takes a liking to it, we’ll split up the other four and put new seats in there,” Wilcox said.
“It’s all in what Vicksburg can handle,” Wilcox said. “I think the 60-seat shows are good for the second, third, fourth weekend because you won’t sell out the larger ones.”
Rotating up to 10 movies a month instead of just six might add to a business that’s picked up in the four years since the mall’s current ownership took over, Wilcox said. Challenges of operating theaters — where the average markup for popcorn has exceeded more than 1,000 percent for years — in small markets like Vicksburg abound. Wilcox is hoping to stem the flow of customers to the Grandview Theater in Madison.
Mike Carlisle, general manager for Vicksburg Mall, predicts the renovation will add some excitement to the 2014 summer blockbuster movie.
We know that we’ll enjoy the smaller venue, comfortable seating and state of the art projection and we bet you will too.