Showtime Curtain rises on Kildonan Place’s Cineplex Junxion, first-of-its-kind entertainment complex By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 7:00 PM CST Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022 Last Modified: 8:46 AM CST Friday, Dec. 9, 2022 Updates

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The lights are on and Cineplex is calling action — its first self-proclaimed “cinema of the future” opens in Winnipeg Friday.

Cineplex Junxion Kildonan replaces the long-standing Famous Players Kildonan Place Cinemas as the area’s theatre. It’s the first of its kind in Canada, bringing features from different locations — like games from The Rec Room and the UltraAVX screen in St. Vital — under one roof.

“We are thrilled to be opening just in time for the holiday season,” Judy Lung, Cineplex’s communications director, wrote in a statement.

Six auditoriums, a gaming area and a live entertainment zone fill the 35,000 sq. ft. centre. A giant Hungry Hungry Hippos set and arcade racing modules are among the games lining the building’s perimeter.

Junxion’s largest auditorium has an UltraAVX screen — meaning a larger screen — and 34 seats that are motion-activated, syncing with movie scenes.

The 4,100 sq. ft. gaming area holds more than 50 games, including a virtual reality option called VR Rabbids. The on-site menu at Junxion’s food counter touts pizza, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and milkshakes.

Alcohol is offered, like in Cineplex’s VIP theatre on McGillivray Boulevard.

“We’ve finally got a good theatre in this area,” said Alyssa Ireland, who lunched at Kildonan Place mall Thursday.

She travels to Polo Park and Winnipeg’s south end if she’s in a movie theatre mood. The now-shuttered Famous Players, which opened in late 1989, had smaller screens, “not as comfortable chairs” and less selection, Ireland said.

“I want a big screen,” she said. “If you’re paying a lot of money for it, you want that experience.”

Movie ticket prices range from $9.25 to $12.50; gaming costs vary depending on how many credits are purchased.

Junxion’s opening comes after a hard-hitting couple of years for the entertainment sector. Cineplex, a Canadian company, posted a net loss of $230.4 million in the final months of 2020.

However, plans for Cineplex Junxions were in the works before COVID-19 became a household name.

In 2019, Cineplex announced it would open a Junxion in in Mississauga, Ont. Then the pandemic arrived and work was halted.

Plans for Winnipeg’s location had also begun; the prairie city’s construction process was faster.

“We had hoped to open Junxion Kildonan in November,” Lung wrote in a statement. “Opening dates are often fluid given that there are so many moving parts to a build of this size and scale.”

The Mississauga site is expected to open next summer.

“We know that, more than ever, people are looking to connect with one another and enjoy shared experiences,” Lung wrote. “Movies are an incredible opportunity to do just that.”

Cineplex is seeing an upswing in revenue and attendance. The chain reported a net income of $30.9 million this summer, compared to a net loss of $33.6 million in 2021’s third quarter.

Still, it’s not back to pre-pandemic levels. Its third-quarter box office revenue was $124.7 million — 70 per cent of the $177.9 million it garnered during the same period in 2019.

Cineplex reported 28.8 million theatre customers this year across Canada, ending Sept. 30. It’s a 193 per cent increase from January through September of 2021.

In 2019, the company saw 49.5 million visitors.

“Not since COVID,” Kildonan Place shopper Leah Labossiere said, thinking of when she’d last visited a movie theatre.

Then she remembered Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, which she’d seen with Arizona, her five-year-old.

“We’ll be going to the new (theatre),” Labossiere’s brother Jason said. “As long as the costs are not stupid outrageous.”

Cineplex has four other theatres in Manitoba and The Rec Room, an entertainment centre off Sterling Lyon Parkway. The business operates more than 170 theatres across Canada.

All staff from Famous Players Kildonan have been transferred to Cineplex Junxion Kildonan, according to Kevin Matthews, Cineplex’s executive director of Manitoba and Saskatchewan operations.

Another 60 people have been hired, he said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com