Opening set for new Tri-Cities theater, just in time for the holiday blockbusters

The new Southgate Cinema opens on Nov. 21, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Fairchild’s 10-screen cinema will be the first movie house in south Kennewick.

Online ticket sales begin at 1 p.m. Nov. 19. Star Wars tickets go on sale Dec. 3.

It will be similar to Fairchild’s theater at Queensgate in Richland, with a spacious lobby and tickets sold online allowing buyers to reserve their seats in advance.

The theaters will offer reclining leather seats in 10 separate auditoriums with a combined seating of about 1,000.

The two Dolby Atmos theaters seat about 170. The smaller auditoriums seat 80 to 95.

The Dolby Atmos spaces are larger than those at Queensgate, with screens that are 7 feet wider and theaters that are 10 feet deeper.

Each row of seating has 3 more inches of leg room.

Like Queensgate, they are packed with speakers and noise balancing systems that Fairchild says are particularly popular for action movies.

Fairchild has doubled up on insulation in its Kennewick location to prevent sound from traveling between theaters.

All seating is tiered to allow unobstructed views of the screens.

Washington law restricts alcohol to auditoriums with fewer than 100 seats, so beer, wine and cocktails purchased in the lobby will not be allowed in the two, bigger Dolby Atmos theaters.

The cinema is as 2823 S. Quillan St. near the Kennewick Walmart.

Fairchild Cinemas, owned by Jeff and Linda Fairchild of Kennewick, opened its first Tri-Cities theater in May 2007 off Road 68 in Pasco.

Five years later, the Fairchilds announced plans to put a new theater in near Queensgate Drive in Richland.

The Queensgate 12 opened in December 2015 just in time to show “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

The company also owns a theater in Moses Lake.

This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 10:38 AM.