Apple Cinemas will be opening its theater complex in the White Plains City Center to the public on Thursday May 16, with movie showings scheduled to begin at around 4 p.m. Apple has taken the space previously occupied by National Amusements’ Showcase Cinemas. Showcase operated using 15 auditoriums.
Apple’s schedule for the movies to be screened starting Thursday indicated that there will be eight features: “If;” “The Strangers;” “Back to Black;” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes;” “Not Another Church Movie;” “The Fall Guy;” “Challengers;” and “Kung Fu Panda.”
White Plains Mayor Tom Roach joined with officials of the movie theater chain, the theater’s vendors and a few invited guests for a private ribbon-cutting ceremony complete with a buffet and self-serve popcorn from a new popcorn dispensing machine. The theater’s lobby has been refurbished and new signage greets visitors on the top floor of the retail section at the City Center on Mamaroneck Avenue.
Showcase had a 15-screen movie theater operation but closed in October of last year. Apple Cinemas is not related to the computer company. It has 12 theaters in six states with more than 100 screens. The company was founded in 2010. It promotes itself as offering a wide range of films, from family entertainment to art house and foreign films.
The 15-screen theater was a major attraction when it opened in on June 25, 2005, and had been a focal point in the city’s downtown ever since. It opened with approximately 3,200 seats but the seating capacity was reduced over time as the theater installed wider, more luxurious seating. Apple is opening with about 1,400 seats total in the various auditoriums it is using. Showcase added an IMAX auditorium where movies could be seen on an almost wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor screen. Apple says it will have an advanced type of IMAX projection system using Laser light.
