A new theater coming to Tucson plans to combine the experience of dinner and a movie.
Roadhouse Cinemas is tentatively slated to open in August in what is now Grand Cinemas Crossroads 6 at 4811 E. Grant Road.
The theater will offer first-run movies in digital format on six screens, while serving meals to your seat, including burgers, flatbread pizza, macaroni and cheese, and stuffed naan.
Local craft beer and wine will be available.
Patrons can eat and drink on tables built into large leather reclining chairs in the theater. They also may dine in the lobby, which will double as a restaurant and bar.
More than $2 million will be invested into the project, said Scott Cassell, who is spearheading the upgrade efforts with business partner Vincent Mast.
The theater is based loosely on the Austin-born Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain and AMC’s “Fork & Screen” concept, Mast said.
“This isn’t some expensive movie night out,” Mast said. “This will be a fun place to come and have an experience different than any other movie experience in town.”
Roadhouse is 10 years in the making for Mast and Cassell, both Tucsonans. Cassell has a history in theaters. He has launched several in Southern Arizona.
In 2001, as a partner in the second-run theater company Grand Cinemas LLC, he helped open the Crossroads 6, the same theater that Roadhouse Cinemas is slated to replace. He left the partnership in 2002 and opened Oasis Cinema in Nogales in 2006.
Mast will handle the food side of things. His culinary background in Tucson includes developing the restaurants Suite 102 and Casanova.
Each theater will have 400 seats. Reserved seating for screenings will be available through the theater’s website, roadhousecinema.com online.
Ticket prices haven’t been finalized, but Cassell said that they will be competitive with other local first-run theaters.
Grand Cinemas is slated to close on April 20. Construction will begin on Roadhouse Cinemas in May.
“It will hopefully change people’s perspectives on the moviegoing process,” Cassell said. “You can go to the movies, have a good meal and watch a feature film all in one sitting.”
