Ian, the Alberta Bair is alive and well; and it presents performing arts all the time almost exclusively. It does NOT do movies well, steep projection angle from the old booth, but these are only occasionally. But it's one of these things run by "committee" of society ladies, an environment from which any sensible person will run like hell. An unfilled need is for something that can handle "intermediate" events for which the Bair is just too big and expensive. As you know about the Bair, you may also know about the Babcock, dead in the middle of what we call Dreadful Downtown Billings. Also bad movie house with steep angle too. Insurmountable problem here is ownership by landlord who wants huge rents and thus nothing can work in the Babcock, hasn't for years. Sits empty. The whole downtown area is well known as a Graveyard For Capital and no knowledgeable business person would do anything down there.

It is entirely probable that Billings, MT is the wrong place completely for such a project, however it just happens that here is where I live. This used to be a good movie town before carmike came along, wrecked everything and drove people away. For the moment, conceptually the 10-plex is quite conventional for screens #3 thru 10.

One thing's a slam-dunk certainty, a multiplex properly run with good projection will take away most of whatever business carmike has left. The challenge will be to make people aware and get them to come back to the movies again.

Now is not the time to build anything. There are VERY worrisome danger signs on the economic horizon. At what I see now, no decision can be made on the financial practicality for another 2-3 years.

Anyway, I like my 10 plex layout. All theatres have the same basic equipment with digital sound, Christie projectors, same amps, same moveable masking, same 2:1 screens (!!). Though if there's any intelligence upstairs, they take the Simplex XL's from the closed locations and give them all to me
We have 2 large(er) auditoriums with 4000 watt bulbs instead of 3k like the others and much bigger screens. Its more equal this way and cuts down on people getting angry when a movie goes from a big theatre to a small one. I have Along Came A Spider in our smallest theatre and there are no complaints because the experience in the same, just closer.

At the gigaplexes, its the same way, except the big halls get bigger. Much bigger. And are promoted as much more of a shi-shi o-la-la experience.

Someone actually said "Yes, its 1985, and while Dolby is nice and all, I think we'll go the mono route. The people won't notice, they'll be too distracted by the pretty lobby." ???