Fayetteville to Get Stadium Seating

Plans for a 17-screen stadium-seating movie theater in Fayetteville are still in the works, but it may take a little while because two theater companies have decided to make it a joint project, something they have never done before.

Malco Theaters of Memphis and Regal Entertainment Group of Knoxville, Tenn., already have theaters in Fayetteville, so they’ve decided to work together on the new $7 million, 70,000-SF building planned for CMN Business Park.

Malco owns the Razorback 6 Cinema and Mall Twin Cinema in Fayetteville. Regal owns Fiesta Square 16 Cinemas.

Since Malco’s Cinema 12 opened in Rogers in 2002, many Fayetteville residents drive there because it’s the only theater in the area with stadium seating.

Jimmy Tashie, senior vice president with Malco, said Malco has an option to buy land at the corner of Joyce and Steele boulevards for the new theater. The project will require eight or nine acres.

Tashie said he hopes to have the new theater completed in about 18 months. He said entire theater projects can cost as much as $1 million per screen by the time the land acquisition is factored in.