Feb. 6 Opening Set for Winnetka 20 Cineplex

Not wanting to be left out of the multiplex craze, Pacific Theatres will open two new mega-movie houses in 1998.

The 5,900-seat Pacific Theatres Winnetka 20, being built on the site of the former Winnetka Drive-In at Winnetka Avenue and Prairie Street in Chatsworth, will be the Valley’s new king of multiplexes when it opens Feb. 6. Its number of screens will surpass the 18 at the Cineplex Odeon Theatres on Universal CityWalk and the 16 at the AMC’s facility at the Promenade in Woodland Hills.

Next summer, Pacific Theatres will follow up its multiplex act with the opening of a 10-screen, 2,800-seat complex at the northwest wing of the Northridge Fashion Center, less than a mile from Winnetka 20.

“The San Fernando Valley is an area that produces one of the biggest grosses in the business today and it needs that . . . kind of number of screens and seats,” said Chan Wood, executive vice president of Pacific Theatres Corp. in Los Angeles.

Winnetka 20 was originally scheduled to open today, but was delayed by a change in the floor plan and unfavorable weather conditions, a spokesman said.

Wood, who also serves as the company’s head film buyer and director of advertising, chose the Feb. 6 date because of the scheduled openings of two high-profile films: “The Blues Brothers” starring Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi and John Goodman and “Replacement Killers” starring Mira Sorvino. The Northridge complex, which has not been named officially, is tentatively scheduled to open in August, he said.

Both multiplexes feature stadium seating and digital sound in all theaters.

High-back “love seats” will be installed in all auditoriums of the Northridge complex and in five theaters at Winnetka 20. The new JBL three-way speaker sound system, the first of its kind in the Valley, will be installed in five Winnetka 20 theaters.

Two auditoriums will feature screens that measure 70 by 30 feet. By comparison, the screen at Pacific’s Cinerama Dome in Hollywood measures 86 by 35 feet.

“There’s not a theater in the area with the whole movie-going experience with state of the art sound and studio seating,” Wood said. “We really feel that it will attract people from all over the Valley.”