Cary’s CineBowl & Grille, CinéBistro aim to make splash in cinema scene

At the new CinéBistro movie theater in Waverly Place, construction workers gingerly unspooled a large swath of iridescent fabric to create the auditorium’s movie screen while visitors tested out the wide, electronic reclining chairs with pivoting trays.

About 14 miles away at Frank Theatres CineBowl & Grille, on the western side of town, visitors gave the shiny bowling lanes a test run under a sparkly disco ball at a soft opening Thursday evening. The theater opened to the public Friday.

The two movie theaters opening in Cary this summer are pulling out all the stops to woo movie buffs and those who may have turned away from traditional theaters in favor of a night home with Netflix.

They hope to thrive in a time of increasing ticket prices, growth in online streaming and declining numbers of people going to theaters.

In 2014, the U.S. and Canada box office of $10.4 billion represented a 5 percent dip from 2013, making it the second-lowest gross in six years, according to the Motion Picture Association of America’s annual report. The report also shows the number of tickets sold in 2014 – 1.27 billion – declined 6 percent from the previous year.

That’s why both theaters – the first of their kind in North Carolina for their respective theater chains – are placing an emphasis on luxury seating, dining and state-of-the-art sound systems to showcase the first-run films.

“We think there is a niche for the moviegoer who looks for the finer amenities,” said Fred Myers, vice president of CinéBistro, which is owned by Cobb Theatres of Birmingham, Ala.

Simply having 3-D or IMAX screens just isn’t enough these days.

“The issue is people are demanding better experiences,” said Bruce Frank, CEO of Jupiter, Fla.-based Frank Theatres.

Frank said theaters such as his will attract more repeat visitors than traditional theaters. Offering better seating, food and other entertainment is “the wave of the future,” he said.

“When we went with sloped floors to stadium (seating), that was a revelation,” he said. “Large oversized seating, serving like a restaurant, this is the new stadium.”

Attractive locations

The specialty theaters’ owners say they picked Cary for their concepts because of the town’s location and demographics.

CinéBistro, the eighth for Cobb Theatres, will help continue the revival of the Waverly Place shopping center at the corner of Tryon and Kildaire Farm roads. The 35,000-square-foot space once housed a gym, and before that, a movie theater.

CineBowl & Grille, which Frank says has been in the works for seven years, is serving as an anchor in the second phase of Parkside Town Commons, the 117-acre mixed-used development springing up on N.C. 55 near N.C. 540. To celebrate, the shopping center has a family day planned Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

CinéBistro will have six screens when it opens later this summer, half with 3-D capabilities.

For all of the talk about the theater’s technology, CinéBistro wants to be clear: They’re all about the food.

“We’re restaurant people running a movie theater,” said Isaac Stewart, corporate executive chef for the CinéBistro operation, at a media open house Wednesday.

Moviegoers make seat reservations and arrive 30 minutes before the film starts to order their meals. When the movie starts, service stops. The theater is geared toward adults with a menu – still being finalized – more suited to adult tastes and a bar with a wide selection of wines, liquors and craft beers.

Moviegoers under 21 may attend films before 6 p.m. if accompanied by an adult.

One-stop entertainment

The 60,000-square-foot CineBowl & Grille caters more to children and family nights with 16 bowling lanes and an arcade.

Michelle Hillison of Cary said she goes to the movies once a month, but her 17-year-old daughter, Hayley, goes almost every week. And while the prices at CineBowl are higher than at traditional theaters, Michelle Hillison said she doesn’t mind.

“If it’s newer, nicer and you get reserved seats online,” she said, adding that she can pay for her daughter’s tickets in advance instead of giving her cash.

Plus, she likes that the venue offers a safe place for Hayley and her friends to hang out before or after the movie. Other than the mall, there aren’t many places like that, she said.

“I feel a lot better if they’re in a confined environment,” she said.

Mike Chafin of Raleigh often does a guys’ night at the movies with Tony Senter, also of Raleigh, while their wives have their own night out. Senter owns Senter’s Plumbing, which did the plumbing work for the new CineGrille theater, and Chafin works for Senter. As frequent moviegoers, they like that they can get a meal and drinks in one place.

“Most of the time, you go to dinner or have drinks before or after,” Chafin said. “We get a steak and then go to the movie. It’s our night to eat wrong.”

The CineBowl menu is slightly more casual than CinéBistro’s. While there are three other CineBowl theaters on the East Coast, Cary’s “dine and recline” menu is new for Frank Theatres, with fresh salads, sliders, pizzas and even bacon-wrapped Oreos.

While Frank and Myers acknowledge their theaters’ differences, and their higher ticket prices, they say there’s room for both of them. Their hope is that the theaters will remind people why they love to go out to the movies – to see a film on the big screen. Both have more dine-in theaters in the works along the East Coast.

“We’ve found out in a lot of situations we’re not taking business from other movie theaters, we’re bringing people back who have stopped going because of the way the movie experience has become,” Myers said. “We’re bringing back a demographic that really has stopped going.”

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 8:34 PM with the headline "Cary’s CineBowl & Grille, CinéBistro aim to make splash in cinema scene."