MOUNT VERNON — The lobby of Premiere Theatres was heavy with the scent of fresh paint on Tuesday, but perhaps by Thursday night, it’ll change to the odor of garlic. In the midst of renovations to the six-screen movie theater, the blockbuster vampire film “Twilight” is slated to open Thursday night/Friday morning at a special midnight screening.
“We still have plenty of tickets left,” said Premiere Theatres assistant manager Melinda Levings on Monday, but sales are expected to pick up closer to curtain time, as the movie, starring the dashing young English heartthrob Robert Pattinson, has generated unprecedented interest. Teenage girls have been mobbing Pattinson’s personal appearances at malls throughout the country, and sales of the series of novels by Stephanie Meyer have sold 17 million copies. “Twilight,” based on the first book in the series, tells the story of a vampire, Edward Cullen, who refuses to bite Bella Swan, a willing young woman who loves him, because he has fallen in love with her as well. When another vampire tries to feast on the forbidden fruit, Edward must defend the innocent girl. The soundtrack to the film has already hit No. 1 on national music charts, and the movie should have no problem blowing the new James Bond flick, “Quantum of Solace,” right out of the water.
Just as the vampires are coming to town, the movie house has been getting a new flush of color, too. Throughout the year, renovations have been taking place at Premiere Theatres, starting last spring with the installation of new, more comfortable seats in some of the smaller theaters. Levings said that this spring rocker-style seats will be installed in the “stadium,” theater number four. Two of the halls which lack subwoofer speakers (located behind the screens for maximum deep-bass impact), will have them installed, bringing all six screening rooms up to state-of-the-art quality.
The lobby is seeing, in addition to new colors, new tile, new carpeting and redone box office and concession stand counters, all to be installed within the next month, while the movie house is still open for business. Levings said that it has been a challenge to remain open, routing customers around painters and the lot, but that it has gone well.
“It’s not as bad as we thought it would be,” Levings said.
She added that many patrons are looking forward to the final seat renovations.
“They keep saying, ‘When are you going to get the new seats?’” she said.
Levings has worked at the facility eight of its nine years, and she said that a decade of wear made it the perfect time to spruce up the venue, decking it out in the chain colors of burnt orange and green.
Final renovations should be completed late this coming spring, so that a grand re-opening celebration can be held in the summer of 2009.
Until then, the burnt-orange theater will sit vividly on the hill along Upper Gilchrist Road, evoking the colors of sunset, the time when the movies roll ... and the vampires come out.
