By next fall, the Downtown Mall will officially welcome the Violet Crown Cinema, featuring a bar, restaurant and theaters.
The Violet Crown Cinema will take the place of Regal Cinema, which will have its final showings at the end of this month. Renovations could begin as early as December.
The Charlottesville cinema marks the third location of a Violet Crown Cinema, with two others in Austin, Texas and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
David Gil, marketing manager and programmer for Violet Crown Cinema, said Charlottesville was chosen for its “wonderfully vibrant, sophisticated community.”
The Regal theater, which has been on the Downtown Mall since 1996, will be extensively renovated to accommodate the new cinema.
“We’re gonna be gutting the building that were going to be at and putting in a full service restaurant [as well as] a mezzanine that’s going to be added,” Gil said. “There will be bar and lounge areas on both levels.”
Anything ordered can be taken into the theater, and the locally-sourced menu will include items such as hummus, tapas and organic foods.
“[It’s] quite different from a normal movie-going experience,” Gil said. “We place an emphasis on the cinema viewing experience as a whole.”
The Violet Crown Cinema will play primarily indie and international films and documentaries, and will play comparatively few advertisements. Ticket prices will be “in line with most other theaters,” Gil said.
Austin resident Bill Banowsky owns the cinema company, as well as Carolina Cinemas, which has locations in Raleigh, Asheville and Charlotte.
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