New movie theater opens doors Friday

By Dawn Kanoski
Iowa State Daily

Ames residents will have many more choices when it comes to seeing movies this weekend — 12 more choices, to be exact.

Cinemark USA, Inc. will open Movies 12 in Ames on Friday. The theater is located at 1317 Buckeye Ave., right off Duff Avenue near the Highway 30 exit.

Movies 12 will be Ames’ largest movie theater, with 12 screens and 38,000 square feet. The establishment also boasts a huge video arcade, two concession stands and two box offices, which will cut down on standing in line, said Diette Barnett, director of in-theatre marketing. The theatre will also be selling tickets up to four days in advance for shows.

Movies 12 will also feature state-of-the-art projection equipment, Digital Theatre Systems (DTS), Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) and Dolby Digital. The theatre boasts 2,200 seats, all with high-backed rocking chairs and cupholder armrests. A VIP party will take place Thursday, and the official public opening will be Friday night.

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Keeping with other theatre prices in Ames, Movies 12 will charge $5.50 per ticket. Matinee shows, those beginning before 6 p.m., will be $3.50.

Iowa State Daily, “New movie theater opens doors Friday” from 11 Jun 1998

Read the story here.

This weekend marks 13 years since Movies 12’s grand opening. When it opened, Movies 12 vastly increased the number of screens in town, which was already high — Varsity 2, Mall Theatres I and II, North Grand 5. At the time, ticket prices in Ames were $5.50. The movies playing that first weekend were: The Truman Show, Dirty Work, The Odd Couple II, Lost in Space, Barney’s Great Adventure, Paulie, Object of My Affection, Good Will Hunting, Can’t Hardly Wait, and I Got the Hook Up.

I’ve heard former theater employees in Ames that Cinemark came to town because of a deal with the developer of that retail space. With a new Staples, Cinemark could add a theater, and being a college town, the company opted to, despite (supposedly) not doing research on what currently existed. Though there wasn’t any organized opposition to Movies 12, some already believed there were enough movie screens. Shortly after entering the Ames movie market, Cinemark began buying the competition.