BLOOMINGTON - So many movie screens, so few moviegoers to sit in front of them? That's the question that may be reeling through the minds of Twin City moviegoers this weekend as their viewing options expand by half the present total. | Photo gallery

With Friday's opening of Wehrenberg Theaters' Galaxy 14 Cine on Bloomington's west side, the Twin Cities' screen sum leaps from 27 to 41.

The breakdown: Galaxy Cine, 14; Palace Cinemas, 10; Parkway Cinemas, 8; University Cinemas, 8; and Normal Theater, 1.

Having 41 screens marks an all-time high for the Bloomington-Normal market, whose numbers have always trailed far behind neighboring cities like Peoria (44), Springfield (33) and Champaign Urbana (36).

Come late fall, another 14-screen complex at north Normal's Constitution Trail Centre, the Starplex Cinemas, will push the total to 55 screens - and put Bloomington-Normal well in the lead among downtown markets of a comparable size.

But can the community put bodies in front of 55 screens 365 days a year to make this dramatic upswing in options profitable?

"I don't think this market needs that many screens or theaters, said Steven Holmes, CEO and president of the Texas-based Starplex Cinemas. "If it follows the historical pattern for one (a market) this size, something will probably close."

Whether Bloomington-Normal holds true to history remains to be seen, he added.

A persistent rumor in recent years is that the Carmike-owned University Cinemas in Normal - the first and oldest multiplex theater in town - would be the prime candidate for closure.

Three weeks ago, a spokesman for the Atlanta, Ga.-based Carmike Cinemas scotched the rumor by noting the 35-year-old venue was the recipient last fall of a $1 million digital projection makeover.

"We wouldn't have done that if we were closing it," he said.

Also the recipients of expensive shifts to digital projection during the past year: Carmike's somewhat younger Parkway Cinemas, which opened in 1990, and the Palace Cinemas, which opened in 1999.

Holmes' "historical pattern" prediction held true, more or less, when those two complexes opened.

Around 2½ years after the Parkway opened, the three-screen Eastland Cinemas in Bloomington's Eastland Mall closed; within two years of the Palace's arrival, the four-screen College Hills Cinemas in Normal went dark.

Meanwhile, the first of the new arrivals isn't making any kind of forecast.

"I really can't predict what the competition will do out there," said Ron Kruger II, Wehrenberg Theatres' president of operations, as he helped ready the Galaxy 14 for its grand opening today. "But we really feel that what we're bringing to the market is a brand new experience."

That includes stadium seating in each auditorium, complete with rocking bucket chairs, and digital sound and projection that will allow for alternatives to traditional film showings, a la this weekend's 3-D Hannah Montana concert movie.

Preferring the term "family entertainment center" over "movie theater," Kruger said "it will offer a whole different level of experience."

And therein rests the hope for the newcomers - both of whom are moving into a market traditionally dominated by a single chain.

From the '70s through the early 21st century, Springfield's now-defunct GKC Theaters ruled the roost, rivaled only by the equally-defunct General Cinemas Corp.'s Eastland Cinemas from 1973 through 1993.

Carmike bought out the GKC chain three years ago and has had B-N's multi-screen market to itself ever since.

Dale Hurst, Carmike's director of marketing, said the new arrivals "will definitely make it a more competitive market," but added "it will be business as normal" for the three Carmike cinemas.

Hurst pointed to the digital projection conversion at each location as proof that the company is committed to this market. Moreover, "I feel we still have the strong locations here," he said.

The St. Louis-based Wehrenberg chain first announced a west-side movie complex as far back as 1999, when 16 screens were promised.

Kruger said it took nearly a decade for the theater to become a reality "because of the evolution of the business in the early 2000s. The industry was set back a bit by some people doing a little too much over-developing and over-expanding."

The pendulum has now swung the other way, he said.

Both Kruger and Holmes pointed to studies Wehrenberg and Starplex have made profiling the Twin Cities' relatively affluent population.

"The last time we checked, we found that the existing theaters were earning $4.2 million box office," Holmes said.

"Part of what we're betting on is going into a lifestyle center (Constitution Trail Centre) with its higher-end retailers and restaurants. It will become a destination point for people."

Instead of spreading the audience thin over too many screens, Holmes said studies have shown new theaters have been known to cultivate a new audience "by as much as 50 percent."

Added Kruger: "It's all about raising the bar."

By the numbers

13 - number of B-N movie screens in 1980

19 - number of B-N screens in 1990

20 - number of B-N screens in 1995

31 - number of B-N screens in 2000

41 - number of B-N screens Feb. 1, 2008

55 - number of B-N screens due by fall 2008

More by the numbers

24 - current number of Decatur screens

33 - current number of Springfield screens

36 - current number of Champaign-Urbana screens

44 - current number of Peoria screens