By Sarah Knight
Elegant crystal chandeliers cast a warm glow over the room. Walls act as canvases for colorful hand-painted murals. Skyward reaching columns resting on granite floors eloquently render classic Roman architecture. No, it's not a five-star hotel, art gallery or grand ballroom. It's the lobby of the new Krikorian Metroplex movie theater in southern California.
Once your eyes stop focusing on the beauty of the stately room, your nose welcomes the enticing aromas of hot buttered popcorn and freshly brewed cappuccino. Your mouth begins salivating at the wide selection of candy, colorfully arranged inside the concession stand display case.
You surrender to temptation and purchase a large tub of freshly buttered popcorn, a box of Junior Mints and a Diet Pepsi (simply even out the calories). Once inside the theater you discover the chairs are positioned like a stadium making every spot ideal. The days of overextending your neck to see past the lady with over-teased hair are gone. Even if that tall guy absolutely has to sit in front you when there are 50 other seats available it won't result in a crisis situation. However, you'll still wonder why he had to choose that seat.
Once the movie trailers begin, you sit down and discover the seating is as comfy as your favorite chair, and you get a beverage holder on the side. The fear of you or someone else kicking over your Diet Pepsi subsides. You move your feet around and smile because for once they do not stick to the floor.
Just when you thought your movie-going experience couldn't get any better, the feature presentation begins and dynamic lifelike sound fills the room. You suddenly feel like part of the movie and, if you are lucky, it stars hunky Brad Pitt or sex-kitten Jennifer Garner. The next two hours disappear without warning and the movie is over. While exiting the auditorium you briefly consider sneaking into another movie but come back to reality and remember that course you took on ethics and morality (or at least you should).
During your drive home, you can't get over how high society you felt just by going to the movies. Everything from the custom-made Italian crystal chandeliers hanging in the lobby to the dynamic sound inside the theater was amazing.
And this is exactly how Krikorian Premiere Theatres wants you to feel when leaving one of their theaters. In fact, their slogan is "Where Movie Going Is A Premiere Event."
With their new Metroplex opening in May, Krikorian wants to set a new precedent for excellence in design and performance. This 18-screen theater is currently under construction in Buena Park, Calif., and will cover approximately 100,000 square feet of prime commercial space. It will have the capability of seating close to 5,000 guests at one time.
Krikorian currently operates theaters in Chino, Redlands, Downey, San Clemente and Monrovia, Calif.
According to Krikorian officials, the Metroplex at Buena Park is a revolutionary design concept for movie theaters in the United States. It will not only offer its customers the best of service in the movie industry but also will provide them with the most elegant and exciting movie-going experience possible. The theater will feature all stadium seating, digital sound and virtually every amenity a patron could want.
In order to provide their guests with the most dynamic cinema sound, Krikorian chose Klipsch to be their exclusive audio partner on this project. The theater's mix of auditorium sizes will house a variety of Klipsch speakers designed exclusively for Krikorian Theatres to achieve the highest level of performance for the space and an ideal rotation of blockbuster films.
"We chose Klipsch because of their supreme reputation and phenomenal products," said George Krikorian, president and chief executive of Krikorian Premiere Theatres. "We want our guests to know we are serious about providing them with the ultimate movie-going experience both sound wise and visually."
In the four largest auditoriums, Klipsch KMX-4-T Grand speakers will be installed. These are customized versions of Klipsch's KPT-MCM-4-T Grand, the world's first and only fully horn-loaded, THX®-Approved four-way cinema sound system offering the ultimate in audio performance for the world's largest and finest theaters. The KMX-4-T Grand successfully passed a series of rigorous quality and performance tests that include various frequency evaluations in order to receive the THX® Certification.
The Klipsch KMX-4-T Grand delivers exceptional sound through no-compromise, high efficiency horns that further lower distortion levels and increase dialogue intelligibility.
"The Klipsch sound experience is state-of-the art, best of class audio solutions for the cinema industry," said Lance Jones, Klipsch senior vice president of corporate development. "People who have never experienced Klipsch will witness the dynamic range and realistic reproduction from the quietest whisper to the most massive explosion."
According to Jones, Klipsch is very proud to be a valued partner of the Krikorian organization and believes this alliance will bring the most elite movie-going experience to California.
George Krikorian's industry perspective is to expand their operations throughout the western United States to provide state-of-the-art movie presentation to areas, which are under-screened and areas having tired and outdated theaters. Next time you're in California be sure to check out a Krikorian theater or maybe you'll get lucky and Krikorian will build one near you.