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Progress at Scranton’s New ‘Movie Bistro’

SCRANTON — The company re-vamping the former Marquee Cinema in downtown Scranton hopes to have the new theater ready when the summer blockbusters come out...
ironhorse

SCRANTON -- The company re-vamping the former Marquee Cinema in downtown Scranton hopes to have the new theater ready when the summer blockbusters come out. It will be dubbed the Iron Horse Movie Bistro.

Scranton's downtown movie theater on Lackawanna Avenue looks a long way from lights, camera, action. The former Marquee Cinema, now managed by Phoenix Theatres, is a complete construction zone. The Mall at Steamtown owns the building and the mall's new owner is paying for its renovation.

"We're putting in new insulation, new curtains, new carpet, new everything will be here. You will see nothing that was here before," said Phoenix CEO Phil Zacheretti.

Zacheretti showed Newswatch 16 pictures of what the Iron Horse Movie Bistro will look like when they expect to open up in July. It will have modern decorations to replace the flashy colors many may remember about Marquee.

Leather recliner chairs will replace the old theater seats.

The theater's reclining seats will mean fewer seats. While about two hundred people could watch a movie in the theaters before, when the Iron Horse Movie Bistro opens up, there will only be about 90 seats in a theater. But, the owners say that's all part of the business model.

"We'd rather have fewer seats but more comfortable, and what that does is it increases our attendance, our frequency. Where someone might on average go to the movies every other month, they're now coming once a month,"  Zacheretti added.

Iron Horse Movie Bistro is marketing itself as a "luxury theater" which will offer restaurant style food and alcohol. That's an attraction shoppers think will work across the street the rebounding Mall at Steamtown.

"With the mall coming back, I think it will be a big draw at first because it's something new. Let's check it out. And then from there, you know,  I'm not really sure," said Janice Bauman of Peckville.

"It used to be pretty busy when I was younger, so pretty sure a lot of people were pretty angry when it closed down. It would be nice to see something else go in there," added Jonathan Albarran of Scranton.

There's still a lot to work out at Iron Horse Movie Bistro, such as tickets prices, but the owners are planning a mid-summer grand opening.

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