Landmark Cinemas opens new Windsor theatre Wednesday, betting people come back to movies

There's a new movie theatre in town — one that hopes to entice Windsorites back to the cinema with amenities you can't find in your living room.  

Landmark Cinemas opens Wednesday in the former SilverCity location on Walker Road. The sprawling building was vacant for nearly three years before an announcement earlier this year it would become a theatre once more. 

"We think we offer something really special that Windsor hasn't seen for awhile," said Dave Cohen, president of Landmark Cinemas.

"We're excited to see people come through the doors and really experience these kinds of really special, premium large-format screens to see movies the way they should be seen."

The eight-theatre cinema features different levels of seating and better projection technology, Cohen said, including private cubicle-like seats, heated seats and loungers. 

The focus is on a "premium" experience, Cohen said. The new multiplex will have four fewer theatres and about a quarter of the seats of the previous SilverCity.

It's an approach they're taking with an 18-plus theatre, and the normally neck-craning seats in the front row of the theatre. 

"In our front rows, we kind of recognize that it's not the greatest viewing angle for someone," Cohen said. "We've introduced these loungers that are almost like a daybed ... you're almost lying completely down to look up at the screen. We think it's ... just a better way to view when you're that close to the screen."

Landmark spent about $10 million on the development, Cohen said. 

While many people have wondered about the future of movie theatres in the world of home streaming, Cohen says it's an experience like no other. 

"All we need is good content and people are coming back in record numbers every single time," he said. "We saw it with Barbie, we saw it with Inside Out, earlier this year, Deadpool, and we're about to see it again with the Wicked and Gladiator. 

"You can't replicate the size of the screen, the immersion of the audio and really just sharing that cultural experience with an auditorium full of people."

Joe Mikhail is the owner of the property and a founding partner of Mikhail Holdings. The company has owned the theatre for years and has been public about the struggles to bring it back to life. 

The theatre initially had 12 screens and 3,000 seats but parent company Cineplex decided to discontinue operations in January 2022. 

But Mikhail says he's excited to see it working as a theatre once more. 

"Landmark saw value in Windsor," he said. "The City of Windsor and Landmark, which is owned by Belgium Group, took notice and decided to take the opportunity and take the chance to invest in the city.

"Between our company and Landmark, we invested a considerable amount of blood, sweat and finances to get this to where it is today."

Mikhail Holdings received community improvement program funding worth nearly $2 million. It stabilizes the theatre's property taxes at the pre-development level for 10 years, in a bid to incentivize redevelopment. Mikhail estimates his company spent more than $5.5 million on the property. 

The new theatre will have its first public screenings on Wednesday.