The unveiling of a new CinemaWest in El Segundo marks the first movie theater to open this year in Los Angeles.
Located at Continental Park in El Segundo, a mixed-use campus by local developer Continental Development Corp., the new 65,000-square-foot theater going by the name CinemaWest Beach Cities is replacing a shuttered Arclight Cinemas.
According to CinemaWest, the theater has been completely reimagined and includes 16 reappointed auditoriums retrofitted with 1,270 luxury recliner seats, as well as a streamlined online ticket and concession-buying system.
“We are excited to have a flagship location in the South Bay with a theatre on par with private screening rooms at major studios,” Dave Corkill, owner of CinemaWest, said. “From the start, our vision for CinemaWest Beach Cities was to provide a one-of-a-kind, luxurious movie viewing experience.”
Of the 16 screens, the cinema will feature two flagship auditoriums for CinemaWest: 4DX, which uses motion seats and special effects to create immersive experiences; and ScreenX, a panoramic film format which presents movies with a dual-sided, 270-degree screen projectors on the left and right walls inside a theater. It will also have a large Dolby Atmos screen.
The CinemaWest Beach Cities ScreenX theatre will be the first of its kind in the South Bay and Westside of Los Angeles, according to a release.
In addition to the hi-tech screens, the theater also stands out as being the first ever to feature a Pink’s Hot Dogs outpost inside a movie theater. Pink’s Hot Dogs, a family-owned hot dog restaurant that started in Fairfax in 1939, will be the theater’s exclusive restaurant, in addition to the theater’s concession stand. Dubbed “Pinks and Drinks,” the restaurant will feature items from Pink’s famous menu, as well as offer full bar service to moviegoers and dining patrons alike.
The opening of the movie theater comes especially notable at a time when the entertainment industry is facing significant hardship. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the country has lost over 2,000 movie theater screens, according to a 2023 article by The Hollywood Reporter.
“I am hopeful that CinemaWest Beach Cities will provide some much-needed joy for our greater community during these challenging times,” Richard Lundquist, chief executive of Continental Development, said in a statement. “I am excited that CinemaWest selected our location for its initial unveiling of this one-of-a-kind movie experience.”
CinemaWest Beach Cities is currently finishing construction of its 4DX auditorium, set to be completed in early March. The rest of the theater is now open.
