Work is progressing on the extensive remodeling of the CineLux Scotts Valley Cinema, and it could be completed as early as November, says CineLux owner Paul Gunsky.
The façade of the theater, as well as seven of its 10 auditoriums, have been rebuilt, replacing the slanted-floor layout with stadium-style seating, more legroom, larger screens and digital projectors.
“All-new everything,” Gunsky said. “(The remodel) was almost like new construction — it’s basically like starting from scratch.”
The cinema has expanded to 10 screens from six, allowing for more showings of popular films and a wider selection.
Gunsky, who owns seven theaters under the CineLux name throughout the Bay Area, including the 41st Avenue cinema in Capitola, said plans for the remodel had been in the works since he acquired the property in September 2009.
“It’s been in design for about a year,” he said.
The remodel is Gunsky’s fifth, and once it’s complete, the Scotts Valley theater will resemble the other CineLux theaters.
“We have a theme that carries through,” he said. “We have a lot of purple.”
The remodel, Gunsky said, began on the west side of the building and moved across the facility.
“We wanted to do it in a way that kept the theater open (during construction),” Gunsky said. “We did it very surgically.”
One of the theater’s new attractions is D-Box — a group of 28 seats in Auditorium 7 that move and vibrate in tandem with the camera angles in certain films, in a manner similar to the “Star Tours” ride at Disneyland.
Typically, Gunsky said, D-Box compatible movies are released every three to five weeks, most recently the film “Super 8.” The seats can be reserved and have been popular at other CineLux theaters.
Beginning in September, Gunsky said that work will begin on the final three upper auditoriums, the main lobby and the conversion of a little-used auxiliary concession counter into a wine bar.
The plan for the upper area targets an adult crowd, serving Santa Cruz Mountains wines alongside films that will appeal to adults.
“We plan on featuring a lot of local wineries,” he said. “It allows us to create a wing for the over-21 crowd.”
Gunsky said the moment he looks forward to most is when the theater’s new signs are installed during the final phase of the remodel.
“(The CineLux) flagship is going to be Scotts Valley when we’re done,” he said.
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