History
The 21-screen movie theater was, at the time of its completion, the largest movie theater in the western United States. During development the Edwards company code-named it "The Big One", which remained the movie theater's nickname for a while thereafter until numerous other theaters eclipsed its screen count, particularly AMC's 30-screen complex at The Block at Orange. It was built for the express purpose of showing every movie currently in wide release, and features four large auditorium-style theaters for the currently popular films, surrounded by 16 smaller stadium-seating screens and an IMAX theater. The theater's opening attractions were "Toy Story" and the IMAX 3D feature "Into the Deep". Originally it featured four concession stands as well as a candy stand in the main lobby, but the IMAX concession stand and candy stand soon shut down, leaving only the main concession counter in the center of the megaplex and two of the satellite concession stands used during the heavy seasons. When Edwards Cinemas was bought by Regal Entertainment Group in 2000, the cineplex was heavily altered, much to the confusion of moviegoers. Entrances to theaters were relocated to less-visible locations, and many of them were converted to stadium seating which eliminated up to a third of their seating capacity. The theater was highly visible at night, bearing over two miles of pink and purple neon lights. This night-time visibility has since been reduced drastically by the addition of parking structures and the mall's second phase.
Read more about this topic: Irvine Spectrum Center
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