Any student who has attended Central has undoubtedly become frustrated on more than one occasion at the lack of cinematic options Mount Pleasant has to offer.
Even a trip to one of Mount Pleasant’s neighboring hotspots, Alma or Midland, doesn’t offer a whole lot of help; hell, you’ve gotta go all the way to Lansing to see “Dogma.”
And the longer you’ve been here, the longer you’re laundry list of missed movies is: “Fight Club,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Chasing Amy,” “Lost Highway,” need I go on?
And even when a smaller film does come here, like, say, “Boogie Nights,” it comes here so shockingly late that it’s already passe´.
Well, Mount Pleasant movie buffs, your prayers have been answered.
Construction has begun on Mount Pleasant’s newest and largest movie theater and will be complete this summer.
That’s right, the signs that state that there’s a new theater on its way (that have been here since at least 1996) are finally being acted upon.
Bulldozers are breaking ground for Celebration! Cinema, an 11-screen, 1600-seat, 31,000-square-foot theater located on 4935 E. Pickard Road. Jack Loeks Theatres Inc., a family-owned business based in Grand Rapids, owns the theater.
Ron Van Timmeren, vice president for Jack Loeks Theatres Inc., said the theater has been in the planning process a long time, and has a $5 million budget.
“For several years now we’ve been looking at that site to build on,” Van Timmeren said.
He said the theater is developing “not a moment too soon.”
The theater will be complete with stadium-tiered seats, which provide a clear view of the screen from every seat, he said.
Van Timmeren said the stadium-tiered seating is now the industry’s standard for construction and gives “a new perspective to the moviegoer.”
The theater will be “akin” to Lansing’s Celebration! Cinema, according to Van Timmeren, which has gone over “extremely well” in its marketplace.
“We’ve been embraced very well, and we’re seeing a real good response from the community and from Michigan State students as well.
“Last weekend, the best screening we did there was a 10:30 p.m. ‘Dogma,’ so we see that college kids like the late movies,” Van Timmeren said.
Van Timmeren said that the new theater will offer much more showtimes than the theaters in Mount Pleasant currently do, which is good, considering that a midday screening on a weekday is nothing short of revolutionary in this town.
“We’ll be staying open later as well; past midnight, undoubtedly,” Van Timmeren said.
Van Timmeren said that another one of the goals of the new theater is to offer screenings of smaller and more alternative films, as well.
“There’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to do that 52 weeks a year, but we’d like to try and do that at least 26,” Van Timmeren said.
And Van Timmeren labeled the original target grand opening of Memorial Day as “wishful thinking,” saying it’s more likely to be near the end of June.
The theater will contain the latest sight and sound technology such as wall-to-wall screens and digital sound. Just like the screens in south eastern Michigan!
Jack Loeks Theatres Inc., owns the Cinema 4 Theatre, 816 E. Preston St., and Broadway Theatre, 216 E. Broadway St. and leases Ward Theatre, 216 S. Main St.
Van Timmeren said Ward Theatre will no longer be showing movies when the new theater opens, but the Cinema 4 will continue to run films, “atleast until something else happens,” Van Timmeren said.

E-mail the author: Dorothy BourdetLIFE Staff Writer