Window Rock theater to open with new ‘Star Wars’ film
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero Closed since the 1990s, the Window Rock Cinema will be opening its door and entertaining moviegoers once again, on Dec. 18. According to Navajo Nation Shopping Centers, Inc., the cinema will debut with the premiere of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
A stepladder leads to an opening in the ceiling of the still-being renovated Window Rock Cinema Wednesday in Window Rock. The 206-seat theater will debut with the premiere showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens” when it theaters Dec. 18.
WINDOW ROCK
“Star Wars” fans in Window Rock won’t miss the premiere of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” when it hits theaters on Dec. 18, according to Navajo Nation Shopping Centers, Inc.
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Closed since the 1990s, the Window Rock Cinema will be opening its door and entertaining moviegoers once again, on Dec. 18. According to Navajo Nation Shopping Centers, Inc., the cinema will debut with the premiere of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Chief Executive Officer Nathaniel T. Begay told local business leaders at a December 2 meeting called by NNSCI in Window Rock that Window Rock Cinema would use the opening day of the new Star Wars film as the grand opening for the single screen theater.
“We’re really working hard to get it open again,” he said.
He also said the theater would plan events during the first four weeks, to include giveaways of the recently released “Star Wars” blankets from Pendleton Woolen Mills.
He said on Dec. 11 final checks of the projectors and sound systems will be made so the theater could be ready to open on Dec. 14. Developers plan to hold a soft opening for the theater, showing the Navajo-language versions of the original “Star Wars” trilogy on Dec. 16 and Dec. 17.
The theater will have the one screen with a Christie Cinema Projector with 3D capability and a 16-speaker sound system. The screen is 15 feet tall, 31 feet wide.
This marks the first time since 1991 that Window Rock area residents have been able to attend a movie theater in their own community.
The Window Rock Cinema operated for most of the 1980s and into the early 90s as a two-screen operation that played first-run movies in the beginning and then shifted to second-run movies in its later years.
Operators of the theater said the biggest problem they had in scheduling first-run movies is that they were obligated to keep them here for a certain number of weeks, usually four for major releases, because of the cost of the print.
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow