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New tenant taking over downtown mall movie theatre

Imagine Cinemas , a small, independent movie theatre chain based in southwestern Ontario, has confirmed to NorthernLife.ca it plans to take over the former Rainbow Cinemas location in the Rainbow Centre mall.
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Rainbow Cinemas theatre in the Rainbow Centre Mall, which mostly plays second-run movies, will close Aug. 29. Photo by Heidi Ulrichsen.
Imagine Cinemas, a small, independent movie theatre chain based in southwestern Ontario, has confirmed to NorthernLife.ca it plans to take over the former Rainbow Cinemas location in the Rainbow Centre mall.

The theatre has been vacant since August 2013, when Rainbow Cinemas closed.

A local cinema co-op had expressed interest in the space, but was unable to come to an agreement with mall management, and is now working on securing funding to open at the former St. Louis de Gonzague school gym.

Gina Facca, the general manager of Imagine Cinemas, said she couldn't give a specific opening date right now, although she hopes it will be sometime in the late winter or early spring of next year.

Rainbow Centre mall is undergoing renovations right now, and mall management decided to complete work in the theatre before its new tenant moves in.

After renovations are done, Facca said her company — which also runs theatres in Timmins, Leamington, Tecumseh, Kitchener and Whistler — will spend $1.5 million on new seats, screens, projectors and other upgrades.

Imagine Cinemas has applied to screen first-run films at the theatre, going up against the city's only other cinema, Cineplex's SilverCity Sudbury.

“We're excited to be expanding to Sudbury,” Facca said. “We think it's a great market. I think it's a very underserviced market in terms of movies.”

She said her company has been considering taking over the space since Rainbow Cinemas closed, but only signed the lease in October.

“At the time, we were trying to decide between Sudbury and Kitchener,” Facca said. “We opened a theatre in Kitchener and then Whistler came on board. Other opportunities delayed our entry into Sudbury.”

Rainbow Centre mall manager Amanda Yeo said the fact that the theatre will soon be back in operation is good news for both the mall and the downtown.

With the Laurentian University School of Architecture ramping up to full operation in the next few years, there will be a lot of students in the downtown looking for something to do with their spare time, she said.

“It's been long awaited,” she said.

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Heidi Ulrichsen

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