Coming soon: ‘Cinema of the future’ Cineplex Junxion entertainment complex set to open at Kildonan Place next month By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022

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Although it still resembles a construction site, by the next month the curtain will rise on what Cineplex calls the “cinema of the future.”

The Junxion — the first of its kind in Canada — combines aspects of the chain’s different locations, from the south-end VIP theatre to The Rec Room to St. Vital’s cinema.

The Kildonan Place complex will feature six auditoriums, a dining hall, arcade-style games, virtual reality offerings and an area for live events.

“It’s really about getting out and about, getting out of your house, being with other people,” said Judy Lung, Cineplex’s communications director.

“Whether you’re a family or a group of friends, it’s like, maybe you want to check out a movie, maybe you want to play some games,” she said.

On Tuesday during a sneak peek, visitors to the 35,000 sq. ft. space wore hard hats instead of 3D glasses. The six auditoriums were without movie screens and their combined 672 black Palliser recliners.

A construction worker swept the floor of the future 4,400 sq. ft. gaming corner — there will be more than 50 games, like what you’d see at The Rec Room in Tuxedo, according to Cineplex’s Kevin Matthews.

“It’s really… to create that out of home experience for our guests,” the executive director of operations for Manitoba and Saskatchewan said.

“You can have the biggest TV and the biggest, latest technology in terms of sound… but it’ll never be this.”–Judy Lung, Cineplex’s communications director

There are two virtual reality games (motorcycle racing and Hungry Hippos), an “experience hub” near the front entrance — think live music and magicians on stage, customers sitting on risers, in a 1,100 sq. ft. area — and food choices that go beyond the classic popcorn and soda.

“My favourite… (is the) Philly cheesesteak poutine,” Matthews said. “The offerings are… I think, enough to draw people in just for that.”

Chefs will create burgers, sandwiches, pizza. Beer and wine will be on the menu; folks can drink in the auditoriums or at tables in the lobby. A separate concession stand will dispense typical theatre fare.

Sometime after opening, moviegoers will be able to order food to their seats, like the VIP experience at Cineplex Odeon McGillivray, Lung said. An app for ordering is currently in the works.

Junxion’s largest auditorium — 220 seats — will have an UltraAVX screen like in St. Vital. Twenty of the seats will be motion activated, syncing with movie scenes (the gadgets are called D-BOX).

“We’re coming to the finish line first,” Matthews said. “It’s really exciting.”

Junxion is a pre-pandemic idea. In 2019, Cineplex announced one would open at Erin Mills Town Centre in Mississauga, Ont. in 2020. Already, the Canadian company faced competition from streaming services like Netflix and Crave.

Then COVID-19 hit. Theatres closed and new movies premiered on streaming platforms. Work stopped on the Mississauga location. It recently resumed and is slated to open next year. Cineplex reported a net loss of $230.4 million in its fourth quarter of 2020.

Despite the pandemic punch, movie theatres will prevail, Lung said.

Cineplex touted its best quarter in more than two years last quarter — a net income of $1.3 million, compared to a net loss of $103.7 million during the same time in 2021.

“You can have the biggest TV and the biggest, latest technology in terms of sound… but it’ll never be this,” Lung said, motioning around the mid-built Auditorium 6. “It’ll never be this, in terms of a group of people experiencing something together.”

The new entertainment complex replaces the decades-old Famous Players Kildonan Place Cinemas. Cineplex wanted to revamp the space; creating a Junxion instead seemed to be the right step, according to Matthews.

More Junxions are in the works, Lung added.

“I don’t think we would imagine a future where (all new sites are) Junxions,” she said. “There’s a lot of people with different tastes and different habits.”

“The atmosphere, the ambience. You hear the ‘ahhs’ and the ‘oohs,’ (people’s) reactions to the movie…when you hear everybody combined, I like that.”–Paulette Edwards, future patron

Meantime, the excitement for Winnipeg’s new theatre is seemingly growing, she said. Cineplex held a job fair last weekend — nearly 1,000 people applied.

“It was wild,” said Amanda Lau, Cineplex Junxion’s general manager.

She and three other managers must sift through the resumes and hire 60 staff. Twenty more will come from Famous Players Kildonan.

Successful candidates will get job offers later this week, Matthews said.

Paulette Edwards’s kids are “waiting impatiently” for the new space to open.

Edwards shopped at Kildonan Place’s Save-On-Foods Tuesday. She’ll go to the movies with her 13- and 19-year-old — it’s a family outing, she said.

“The atmosphere, the ambience. You hear the ‘ahhs’ and the ‘oohs,’ (people’s) reactions to the movie,” Edwards said. “When you hear everybody combined, I like that.”

Gord Fargey, another grocery shopper, said he wouldn’t visit Cineplex Junxion — there’s sports on TV to watch.

Still, he wished it well.

“With this COVID thing, everybody’s going out of business,” Fargey said. “I hope everything goes OK.”

There isn’t yet a date for Cineplex Junxion’s opening, though planners are eyeing early to mid-November.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com