A movie theater will once again be open in the heart of downtown Springfield this fall. The building at 415 W. College St., formerly home of two different theaters, will reopen — with heated seats — as College Station Theater.
The grand opening will likely happen sometime in November, with a plan to be open when "Gladiator II" hits screens on Nov. 22, said Paul Tillman, property manager with Tillman Redevelopment LLC.
Tillman Redevelopment LLC manages commercial real estate in Springfield, owning and leasing several downtown buildings. According to Greene County Assessor's website, the building is owned by College Station Theater LLC, created in April with Scott Tillman as the organizer. Scott Tillman is also the owner of Tillman Redevelopment LLC, which has owned the theater building since 2008.
Moviegoers last enjoyed the cinema at the downtown location in January 2023, when the Regal movie theater shut its doors after more than 10 years of operation. The movie theater was originally a Hollywood Theaters Inc. facility and was a key part of the city's College Station project that aimed to redevelop the west section of downtown, according to previous News-Leader reporting. With the new name for the theater, the iconic red lettering on the building will be changed.
What will the new theater offer?
Paul Tillman said there have been discussions about leasing the property since Regal's closure but the talks made it clear that investment in and connection to the local community was a key component in the success of the business.
"We decided we didn't want to put ourselves in that position again, where we were giving a company that maybe didn't have as much love for Springfield as we do the ability to run things," he said. "No one's going to love and be Springfield-minded as much as us, so we decided we would just do it ourselves."
While they will retain all 14 theater screens, Tillman said the plan is to operate 10 initially and leave the possibility for expansion for a later time. Renovation projects began in early summer and involve updating the screening rooms themselves — including adding heated and reclining seats, new "top of the line" Christie laser projectors, and Dolby Atmos, a completely immersive surround sound system, in four of the theaters. He could not disclose exact investments, but noted that technological investments were the main focus though the theater will also undergo some light interior updates.
"The lion's share of the investment is all going towards making sure that the cinema experiences of the highest quality," Paul Tillman said.
Joining the local theater scene
The College Station Theater will join AMC, The Alamo Drafthouse and Moxie Cinema, Springfield's independent arthouse theater, in the city's movie theater industry. But with most of the major theaters located outside of the center city footprint, the goal is to reach a different demographic and provide a closer-to-home alternative.
"We felt like having a theater downtown served a group of people that are now unserved with it being closed," Tillman said. "Our hope is that we can, you know, provide that product back to the people who enjoyed it and had it before."
Joe Dull, the executive director at the Moxie, said he was excited for another locally-operated theater to join the scene. Because what the Moxie shows is so different from larger theaters, he said it is not really competition but rather a way to cater to all film lovers in Springfield.
"You might imagine, we're pretty big fans of movies around here, so we love more opportunities for people to see more stuff," Dull said. "Hopefully it just brings more attention to downtown, brings more attention to movies being played downtown."
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Dull said movie licensing for theaters, especially for new films, includes profit sharing, where a portion of the money from ticket sales goes back to the distributor. At the Moxie, he said those can be anywhere from 30-50%, while for larger films, his understanding is that the share percentage can surpass the 50% mark if there is enough demand for it. Tillman said the new theater will use a movie buyer service to license films screening at the theater.
A part of the management structure has been hired, he said, but final staff numbers will be determined by management and as hiring gets underway in preparation for the reopening, he said.
Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Have feedback, tips or story ideas? Contact her at mmieze@news-leader.com.
