Brownstein: Cineplex's Royalmount Rec Room to change entertainment and film game

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Shoot some darts, shoot some hoops, shoot some pool, shoot some duckpins on a bowling alley, shoot some hairpin turns on a VR racetrack. Even shoot some cockroaches — animated, of course — crawling through a kitchen.

It’s a good bet this wasn’t what the Lumière bros, Auguste and Louis, had in mind back in 1895 when they presented the first commercial screening of a motion picture to a paying audience in Paris. It was simply the magic and novelty of the movie-going experience that was enough to entice crowds to the cinema.

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Times change. In the ensuing 129 years, the ante has been upped considerably in trying to keep getting bums in movie-theatre seats.

On that note, say hey to the Rec Room, a mega-video arcade that officially opens to the public on Monday in the upscale Royalmount mall. The adventures available on this site, along with more mind-spinning video games and a few accessible sporting tests, are intended to provide some foreplay — or after-play — for those taking in a flick at the adjoined, new upstairs Cineplex theatre with its five state-of-the-art auditoriums. Also part of the package is a bar and restaurant that can cater up to 200 patrons inside and more than 130 on an outdoor terrasse during warmer times.

Sitting on 30,000 square feet, the Rec Room, which cost an estimated $10 million, is Cineplex’s first such venture in Quebec, and it’s hard to imagine there’s an arcade anywhere in town to compete with its more than 80 games.

This is all part of Cineplex’s “eats and entertainment” agenda, notes Daniel Séguin, Cineplex’s senior vice-president for national operations.

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Ever since the advent of television, harried theatre owners have been on the offensive trying to lure patrons. Then came competition from VCRs and DVD players. And then came the streaming services, which dealt a crushing blow both on the cost and tech fronts with ginormous TVs trying to replicate the theatre experience.

Movie chains, in turn, came back with even higher-tech visual and audio specs, as well as reclining seats outfitted with temperature controls. Plus, the drink and food services went up a few notches, and some theatres even provided these items inside the screening rooms, allowing patrons to knock back margaritas and shrimp bowls while reclining like quasi-decadent Romans in their seats.

But then came COVID, which could have been the knockout punch. Theatres remained closed for lengthy periods and even when they reopened, seating capacity had to be cut down considerably out of health concerns.

And then came the Hollywood actors and writers strikes, which curtailed movie production and significantly reduced prime theatre releases.

Hard to compete with the Netflixes, Primes and Apples of the streaming universe when all this is factored in. I know of many formerly avid filmgoers who haven’t returned to a multiplex in nearly five years as a consequence, and still others who haven’t been back since the pioneering Netflix started streaming fare in earnest over 15 years ago.

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Cineplex president and CEO Ellis Jacob remains undaunted. On hand for an advance peek of the Rec Room, Jacob, a native Montrealer now based in Toronto, recalls hearing tales of theatre doom when he ran the Galaxy chain before becoming Cineplex CEO in 2003.

“When I started Galaxy, everybody told me it was a dumb idea, because the VCR had come out and no one was going to come back to the movies,” Jacob says. “You know what happened? People soon got fed up with VCRs and started coming back to the movies again, because movies at theatres are an entirely different experience.

“It’s going to take a bit of time to get back on track again. The challenges we have faced have been significant, particularly during COVID, when we were in one of the countries where our theatres had to be closed longer than those elsewhere, and that hurt us. We still had to pay rent and work with our landlords. We were quite excited when it seemed that COVID was slowing down, and then came the Hollywood strikes that were to take a toll. But now we’re seeing product come back.”

Regardless, Cineplex, in light of recent events, had to revise its thinking in terms of becoming more than a movie platform.

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“Cineplex is both a movie and an entertainment company,” Jacob says. “The idea is to get people to do more than just watch a movie. They can also come to enjoy games. They can eat well. They can relax. It becomes an event.”

Albeit one that’s considerably more costly than an evening around the tube at home. But the thinking is that this experience should not be compared to that, but rather to taking in a concert or sporting event or simply a dinner out.

“Our goal is to create a social event for the family that can’t be replicated at home,” Jacob says. “The entertainment aspect has changed beyond the film side. But then again, so has the film-watching experience.

“When I started in this business, you saw a movie just one way. Today you can see it nine different ways, between our VIP rooms, and UltraAVX and Imax screens, among other screens, plus laser projectors and D-Box motion-seating enhancing the whole experience.”

This is Cineplex’s 11th Rec Room in Canada. Time will tell if another one will open in the province.

“We’ll see how this one goes. It’s quite the capital commitment in terms of looking for a return on the investment,” explains Jacob, who says Cineplex was the first company to sign a deal to open at Royalmount. “I’m confident the location should attract a lot of demographics. I’m excited. You have to be positive. That’s the focus of moving forward in any business.”

“This is really the first of its kind in Canada — it’s a hybrid by having a movie theatre inside the Rec Room,” Séguin says. “This is really designed for all ages. We expect a lot of families, but we also have two big rooms in the back both for birthday parties and corporate functions.

“Our goal is to become a one-stop entertainment shop, which, of course, also includes getting bums back in theatre seats.”

AT A GLANCE

The Rec Room will be open daily, starting Monday, from 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. at the Royalmount mall, 5050 Côte-de-Liesse Rd. The five upstairs movie auditoriums are expected to be open by Nov. 29.

bbrownstein@postmedia.com

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