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A movie theatre under construction in southeast Calgary has been badly damaged by fire.

The fire department was called to the soon-to-open Cineplex theatre in Seton at about 7 p.m. Sunday night.

The first crew to arrive struck a second alarm when they saw a large amount of heavy smoke coming from the building, fire officials said in a release.

About 50 firefighters, using 13 pieces of apparatus, worked through the night to bring the flames under control.

To limit their exposure to the cold, crews worked in rotating shifts, spraying water from above.

It's not yet known what caused the fire.

Fire officials are asking members of the public to send photos or video — especially of the scene before firefighters arrived — to piofire@calgary.ca.

A spokesperson for Cineplex says it's too soon to say how much the fire will delay the opening of the theatres in Seton.

Fire investigators were not immediately able to enter the building because the fire caused one of the walls to bow, making it structurally unsound, said spokesperson Carol Henke.

"You can see where the wall is damaged due to fire. That is one theatre and that is where we believe the fire originated," she said.

"Now, fire crews did a good job and kept the fire contained to that area, but there will be some smoke damage throughout the building."

Seton Way and Seton Drive S.E. were closed Monday morning because of the fire, the city tweeted.

When Cineplex Entertainment announced plans for the new theatre in 2012, the company said it would be the first in Calgary to feature VIP auditoriums.

The 43,000-square-foot complex was planned to have 11 screens with more than 1,900 seats.

A spokesperson for Cineplex said the company is thankful that there were no injuries in the fire.

"At this time we are assessing the damage so it would be speculative for us to provide a timeline for when the theatre will open," said Sarah Van Lange in an email to CBC News.

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Posted by Alexandre Pereira (Member # 9295) on 11-07-2017, 11:04 AM:
 
http://www.cp24.com/entertainment-news/cineplex-reports-q3-sales-and-profit-down-as-fewer-people-go-to-the-movies-1.3666908

The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, November 7, 2017 10:45AM EST
TORONTO - Cineplex Inc. saw its third-quarter profit and revenue slip lower compared with a year ago as fewer people went to the movies.
The movie theatre company says it earned $17.2 million or 27 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $26.0 million or 41 cents per diluted share a year ago.
Revenue totalled $370.4 million, down from $376.0 million.
Cineplex (TSX:CGX) says attendance fell to 16.8 million compared with 19.2 million in the same quarter last year.
However, while attendance was down, customers spent more.
The company says box office revenue per patron increased to $9.81 compared with $9.65 a year ago, while concession revenue per patron also increased to $6.01 compared with $5.69 last year.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-07-2017, 12:45 PM:
 
Are you saying this was Jewish lightning?
 

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Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 11-07-2017, 01:22 PM:
 
What are the exterior walls constructed from that it bowed in??
 

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 11-08-2017, 05:41 PM:
 
Hey Frank-
Any idea how far away they were from an opening date?
Just curious how much of the interior may or may not have
been there to burn.
Also, in the early stages of construction, there's often
no fire-walls or sprinkler systems yet.
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 11-08-2017, 06:01 PM:
 
It was set to open "within a few weeks", apparently. They held a job fair on the same weekend that it burned, so the staff had just been hired.
 

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 11-11-2017, 11:10 PM:
 
Here’s an alternative story showing the actual...and pretty spectacular...fire, as well as the aftermath. There’s going to be some tricky demolition work involved to repair this.
 

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