WEST MELBOURNE, Fla. – Celebrating more than two decades of serving Central Floridians on the big screens, a Brevard County movie theater is offering some free showings.
CWTheaters located in West Melbourne is a family-owned franchise that first opened its doors in 2002.
“Twenty-one years ago we were the first stadium seating theater in Melbourne and it was at a time when people didn’t think Melbourne could sustain one stadium seating theater,” said CWTheaters Senior Vice President of Operations, Jim Deal. “One of our biggest movies was My Big Fat Greek Wedding way back in the day and it played for six months. I remember so many families coming in to enjoy that movie.”
The film brought, what was then called Cinemaworld, more than $191,000 in revenue. That movie was projected onto the screen using film.
“When we opened we were using 35mm film. We don’t have the film projectors anymore,” said Deal.
Now, everything’s digital. In fact, CWTheaters had the first digital screens in the area and has now upgraded as the first theater offering laser projections in Brevard County. The theater now has 15 screens with a CWX Theater combining Christie RBG Laser Projection and Dolby Atmos 360° Audio.
“The laser projectors use way less power than the older projectors, saving us about 25% in power usage,” said Deal.
To celebrate 21 years, the theater is offering two free secret shows, as well as a free fall and winter movie preview Saturday, October 21st. The events come with free popcorn and drinks. (Click the links to reserve tickets for the events.):
- Free Fall & Winter Movie Preview: Saturday, October 21st at 6 p.m. CWTheaters is hosting FREE secret movie screenings featuring both a PG & PG-13 rated film. But that’s not all – we’re also treating you to a Fall & Winter Movie Preview, where you can catch exclusive trailers and behind-the-scenes looks at the season’s biggest films. Plus, get a sneak peek at special programs coming soon to our theaters.
Deal said celebrating the 21-year milestone is important to him and his staff, especially after having to shut its doors for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This has been one of our more difficult times for the industry, at least in my career and I’ve been in this industry now for 30 years or so. We still see that support from the community of folks that even during the pandemic, were coming out and saying they miss seeing the movies in this format. We’re so grateful for the folks who have supported us for the past 21 years,” said Deal. “Folks can watch movies at home but there’s nothing like seeing that movie with a crowd and hearing the reaction during a scary movie or laughs during a comedy. That’s really the experience we offer. It’s been tough, I can’t lie about that, but we’re still glad to be here and looking forward to the future.”
CWTheater’s headquarters was originally based inside the West Melbourne theater, but the company has expanded to several theaters and the headquarters is now located in Vero Beach, Florida.
If you can’t make the freebie showings, the theater has lowered ticket prices to celebrate with what they used to charge when they opened 21 years ago.
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