Bloomfield Hills-based MJR Digital Cinemas will break ground Oct. 3 for a $16-million movie theater in Troy, the company’s ninth location in metro Detroit. The 74,000-square-foot movie complex is expected to open next April.
Sited at the corner of Maple and Livernois, where a Kmart store once operated, the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema will house 16 screens with 3,200 seats and bring 70 new jobs to the area. MJR expects to draw over 800,000 patrons a year to the new theater complex, which will include a lobby bar and lounge.
“To have a theater this close to home is fantastic for the community,” says Jessica James, an actress and director of admissions at the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan, also in Troy.
One auditorium will feature the MJR Epic Experience, with overstuffed leather-like loungers that are up to 4 inches wider than typical movie theater seats, the latest Dolby sound technology, and an oversized 80-by-48-foot screen that is 30 percent larger than a typical movie screen.
MJR, operated by founder and CEO Mike Mihalich, along with businessman Tom Celani, has steadily expanded. The company’s hallmarks include a lobby screen that shows continuous movie previews, auditoriums equipped with high-definition, 3-D equipment, free refills on pop and popcorn, and a customer rewards program.
In November, MJR plans to offer its Epic Experience at an existing movie complex in Southgate. The company demolished two auditoriums to accommodate the larger screen.
