Dinner, Drinks and a Movie: New Rochester Hills Theater Promises an 'Elegant' Moviegoing Experience

Imagine you're in the mood for a movie.

You grab your favorite beer, a slice of fresh pizza that's made just the way you like it and a small bucket of popcorn. You set your meal on the table next to you and settle into a comfortable leather chair. The lights dim and the movie begins – on a massive, wall-to-wall digital screen.

Obviously, you're not at home. No, you're at Rochester Hills' new Emagine Theatre, which could open as soon as this month.

Emagine Entertainment Inc., which has four other theaters in Michigan in addition to one under construction in Royal Oak, is in the midst of remodeling what used to be the Rochester Hills AMC on Rochester Road. 

That theater – which stood by while its AMC counterparts in Auburn Hills and Sterling Heights welcomed IMAX screens, stadium seating, digital technology and 3-D movies – is being gutted and remodeled to accommodate the numerous amenities Emagine Rochester Hills will offer. Those amenities will include:

• 1,900 stadium seats in 10 auditoriums
• Four 3-D screens
• All digital technology
• Online seat reservations — much like reserving a seat on an airplane
• A gourmet pizza kitchen that bakes its made-to-order pizzas in a wood-burning stove
• A cocktail bar

"As in all Emagine Theatres, we will have a cocktail concession area available" with a two-drink maximum for guests, said Ruth Daniels, vice president of sales and marketing at Emagine Entertainment. "We want people to be able to enjoy a cocktail, but we do have a limit."

Ticket prices will be comparable to prices at other Emagine locations. In Canton, matinees are $5, evening shows are $9.50 with $6.50 child tickets and $7.50 senior and student tickets and luxury seats are $2.50 extra.

Though Daniels remains cautiously optimistic that the theater could open in time for the highly anticipated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, which opens  Nov. 19, she said it will for sure be open by the end of the winter holiday season.

"We're so excited to be a part of the Rochester Hills community," said Daniels, a 20-year veteran of the entertainment industry. "It's a great city, and we think this theater is going to be wonderful and just what (residents) want.

"It's a return to elegance."

Emagine Theatre is hiring for its Rochester Hills location. Click here for a job application.