Largest Movie Theater Screen In Illinois Coming To Batavia: City

BATAVIA, IL — Emagine Entertainment, the new owners of the movie theater at 550 N. Randall Road, has plans to bring the largest movie theater screen in Illinois to Batavia.

On Tuesday, City Council approved height and signage variances requested by the Michigan-based company — which also operates a theater in Frankfort and one in Chatham, a Chicago neighborhood — in order to build a Super EMAX auditorium. The larger signs will be installed along Mill Street to point to the theater, officials said.

In photos of the proposed theater shared from Emagine, the auditorium would feature a screen more than 94 feet wide and about 10 rows of heated seats plus a front row of coach-like seats. Comparatively, a typical movie theater screen is between 45 to 65 feet wide, and an IMAX screen is 72 feet wide.

The design plans also show the theater would have duckpin bowling lanes and separate party rooms.

The theater's former occupant, Randall 15 IMAX, filed for bankruptcy in February 2020, according to reports. The theater was first approved in 1996, and an IMAX auditorium was built following a 2006 ordinance that approved its construction. Now almost two decades later, Emagine plans to significantly enhance the existing theater, lobby and concessions areas.

The group proposed a 12,552 square foot addition to the rear of the building in order to accommodate the Super EMAX auditorium — a space with 4K laser projection, Dolby Atmos immersive sound and luxurious, power-reclining seats, according to city documents.

Along with the large movie screen, plans include upgrading all auditoriums to have reclining and heated seats. If approved, the change would reduce the number of seats by almost half — from 2,285 to,1,090, documents show. The number of auditoriums would also decrease from 15 to 12.

Locals shared their excitement for the theater in comments on the city's Facebook post Wednesday.

"wow! nice glad to see it remaining a theater and adding more ideas to it," one person wrote.

"I was wondering what the plan was for that theater. Glad to hear they are going to revive it!" another said.

"Looks awesome! We can hardly wait! Thanks for making this happen!!" someone said.

One commenter said the theater with extra entertainment options is "exactly what Batavia needs."