New movie theater planned for Wilmington

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Another movie theater company has plans to build a new mulitplex in Wilmington.

Stone Theatres announced today an agreement to build a 14-screen facility at Barclay Festival, a 34-acre retail mixed use development at Independence Blvd. and S. 17th Street, according to a news release.

Stone Theatres says the 55,000 square-foot, 14-screen, 2,800-stadium seat cinema should open by late fall 2016/early 2017.

According to Hill Rogers, Broker in Charge, Cameron Management Inc., Barclay Festival will also feature a grocery store, numerous restaurants and shopping, all within a walkable master planned community.  Included in the retail component will be numerous open spaces for community gatherings, outdoor dining and seasonal festivals.

“We are thrilled to have Stone Theatres committed to our project in Wilmington,” Rogers said in a statement. “Herman Stone and his team are a first class organization, known in the industry as a leading regional operator with decades of experience building and operating high end cinemas.  We expect this cinema will be a catalyst for drawing thousands of customers on a weekly basis to Barclay Festival. This development will create jobs and an economic boost to the community.”

Stone Theatres has four locations, including three in North Carolina (Fayetteville, Morrisville and Indian Trail) and one in Myrtle Beach. A second South Carolina location is also in the works.

Wilmington currently has two movie theaters: Regal Mayfaire Stadium 16 and Carmike 16 on Cinema Drive off Market Street.

Plans for new multiplexes have struggled over the last decade in the Wilmington area.

In 2008, plans were announced for a theater in Belle Meade Center off Carolina Beach Road. Carmike Cinemas said in 2011 it would build a theater in Monkey Junction in the same shopping center as Home Depot and Staples. Frank Theaters was supposed to build a cinema in the Villages at Brunswick Forest in Leland. None of those projects have come to fruition.

Two other movie theater complexes near UNCW went idle for years. College Road Cinemas across from campus closed in 2002 and was torn down in 2010. The old Carmike Cinema 6 on Oleander Drive sits empty a decade after its final screening. Likewise, a four-screen theater in Carolina Beach has been empty since 2010. Long Leaf Mall’s Hollywood East Cinema Grill, which was a full-service restaurant in addition to a movie theater that typically showed second-run films, closed in 2007.