Cinema closes for remodeling

The Daily Inter Lake

The addition of two 100-seat auditoriums also is part of the $250,000 project, launched by Mountain Cinemas owner Polson Theatres, Inc.

Mountain Cinemas in Whitefish will be closed this month for remodeling.

Phase one of the construction plans includes an update for the bathrooms, snack bar and lobby area, full digital sound for the two auditoriums and new wall coverings inside the theaters. That work should be completed by Nov. 5, when the theaters will reopen.

The addition of two 100-seat auditoriums also is part of the $250,000 project, launched by Mountain Cinemas owner Polson Theatres, Inc. The new theaters will be built in an adjacent space that formerly housed Whitefish Physical Therapy and Sports Rehab.

The auditoriums will add about 6,000 square feet to the facility. The new screens will be slightly smaller than those in the existing theaters, and movies will be shown in surround sound, but the rooms won't be large enough to accomodate digital equipment.

Polson Theatres general manager Gary Dupuis said the goal is to have the new theaters complete for the busy Christmas season.

"For Whitefish and the northern Flathead Valley, we felt that with adding two more screens we can have a lot more product," Dupuis said.

The successful weekend art-film series, for example, might be expanded so that a production outside of the movie mainstream is shown on one of the new screens throughout the week.

Polson Theatres' investment in the Whitefish site is warranted, Dupuis said, because it's been the most lucrative market of the 11 theaters in the independent chain. Polson Theatres owns nine movie houses in Montana, including facilities in Polson, Havre and Dillon, and two in Idaho.

A possible increase in competition as the Kalispell business district expands northward, with theaters included in the preliminary lease plan for the proposed Glacier Mall, was taken into consideration. But Dupuis said his company has confidence in the Whitefish community of movie-goers.

"We're not worried about Glacier Mall, and there was even a proposal near Lowe's," he said. "We know that the community will support the Montana owned and operated company."