It’s been open and showing movies for a few weeks now, but this weekend will mark the official grand opening of the new ArcLight Cinemas location at Westfield Montgomery mall.
The Los Angeles-based theater chain is using the release of Matthew McConaughey’s new science fiction feature “Interstellar” and the Disney animated comedy “Big Hero 6″ to draw crowds to its first location outside of California.
The company has been busy promoting showings of “Interstellar” on 35mm and 70mm film. Paramount and Warner Bros. released the movie on film on Wednesday — two days early for the most serious of movie buffs.
And true movie buffs seem to be a big part of ArcLight’s target audience.
Last month, ArcLight officials gave a tour of the 16-screen theater at Westfield Montgomery’s new Dining Terrace and pitched it as the place, “Where movie lovers belong.”
“In L.A., it’s a passion brand,” said Larry Krutchik, ArcLight’s top public relations man. “There are legions of people who won’t see a movie anywhere else.”
There will be a few trailers shown before each film, but no pre-trailer advertisements that have become common in multiplexes around the country. Executive Vice President Gretchen McCourt said a movie at ArcLight typically starts within 6-8 minutes of the advertised starting time.
The theater will also have live question and answer sessions with actors and directors, plus interviews and other content about its movies produced by an in-house team.
Though likely unintentional, the ArcLight pitch was starkly different than the one new luxury movie theater iPic gave before it opened last week in North Bethesda/White Flint.
The Boca Raton-based theater chain pushed its extensive food and drink selection, developed by celebrated Los Angeles pastry chef Sherry Yard and mixologist Adam Seger, as well as its reclining chairs and in-movie iPad food ordering system.
While the two theaters focus on different aspects of the theater experience, there will no doubt be some competition between the two.
iPic, an 8-screen theater at Pike & Rose near Rockville Pike, is a roughly 10-minute drive from Westfield Montgomery and ArcLight.
Sensing the coming luxury movie theater competition, Landmark Theatres closed its Bethesda Row Cinema for a month last year for a complete overhaul of the facility’s interior, setting up cozier seating, a new gourmet food and cocktail menu and a reserved seating system in the process.
When asked about the competition, McCourt said Westfield — the Austrialian-based shopping center giant — was really the reason the L.A. company decided to come east.
“When their team approached us about Westfield Montgomery, we jumped at the opportunity,” McCourt said. “We think Bethesda is a great fit for the experience that ArcLight Cinemas provides moviegoers.”
