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Mar 09, 2023

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The Grand Screen at the new B&B Theatre in Creve Coeur is 70 feet wide, and an

The Grand Screen at the new B&B Theatre in Creve Coeur is 70 feet wide, and an extended image can be projected onto the side walls as well. Photo courtesy of B&B Theatres.

CREVE COEUR — The area's newest movie theater opens in Creve Coeur on May 18, and so does the area's newest bowling alley.

In the same building.

The B&B Theatres Creve Coeur West Olive 10 is a movie theater with a bowling alley attached. Or it's an amped-up rock-climbing wall with a video arcade attached, plus a fast-casual restaurant and a full bar.

But mostly it's a movie theater.

The facility — the Kansas City-based company's fourth in the St. Louis area — is on the site of the old AMC West Olive 16, which closed in 2020. The new theater, at 12657 Olive Boulevard, boasts 10 screens.

The new B&B Theatre in Creve Coeur also includes a bowling alley, climbing wall and other non-theater amenities. Photo courtesy of B&B Theaters.

Most of the auditoriums are traditional, though with reclining, heated seats. However, one will have a Premium Large Format Grand Screen, about 40 feet high and 70 feet wide. Certain films will be projected on the side walls as well as the center screen, creating an immersive, 270-degree viewing experience similar to an IMAX dome but without the projection on the ceiling.

The image is not stretched out to fill out the side walls, said company spokesman Paul Farnsworth. Instead, studios are adding the side content themselves to enhance the image as well as the interactive experience.

"The presentation on the front screen would be what you see in a traditional theatrical presentation," he said.

In another auditorium, the seats will jiggle with the action, and the audience will also experience narrative-appropriate rain, wind, fog, bubbles, scents and other ankle-tickling — literally — shocks and jolts.

One auditorium is designed for children's films, complete with an in-theater playground and 30 minutes of staff-run playtime (music, games) before each screening.

Another auditorium is decorated to recall the silent movie palaces of 1924, when the first theater of what is now the B&B chain opened in Salisbury, Missouri; it will be dedicated to independent films, classics and first-run blockbusters. Fitted with its own separate bar, the 48-seat auditorium is also available for rental.

In each auditorium, the films will be projected with laser projectors, which Farnsworth said leads to "brighter brights and darker blacks." Because they use lasers, no projector bulb will dim and need to be replaced.

The 10-lane bowling alley, called B-Roll, will be given its own wing in the building far enough from the theaters so the sound of strikes and spares will not bleed over into the auditoriums.

Along with a concession stand, the theater will have a place to pick up fast-casual food to go, as well as, eventually, a sit-down restaurant. Food from all locations, and drinks from the bar, can be consumed anywhere in the building, including the theater auditoriums.

The chain's other area theaters are in Festus, Wentzville and Wildwood. All are traditional theaters; none has the extra amenities other than the Grand Screen, which is not available in Festus.

NPR reports that the nation's largest movie theater chain made the announcement on Feb. 6. The changes are part of AMC's Sightline initiative.

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