LOOK Dine-In Cinemas Reston
11940 Market Street,
Reston,
VA
20190
11940 Market Street,
Reston,
VA
20190
2 people
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This theater should be changed to Open as of Nov. 2; Look Dine-in Cinemas reopened it after a remodel to install recliner seating and an expanded bar area with seven of the eleven screens currently in operation.
As I’m looking into why Bow Tie abandoned the MD/VA markets, I came upon this old multiplex I visited years ago. As with my other earlier posts, it has disappeared. After living on the west coast for a brief period, I came back to the area and visited this place with a friend. I saw Star Trek: Generations here..I’m guessing early ‘95 as it was playing in one of the last venues booking it in digital sound. I’m thinking DTS. It was in a tiny auditorium and I do recall the experience was hardly like anything I experienced at a Dolby Digital engagement outside of Spokane WA, or the really huge older Act III multiplexes in Portland OR and even one of the smaller but decently sized (400?), but THX certified smaller auditoriums at the former Manns Chinese. Not quite sure but I think parking was a premium here once upon a time and having to pay(?).
I imagine whomever takes over will benefit from the Bow Tie upgrades aside from whatever is added for the dining part of the business.
The theater closed in April 2022, but will likely reopen as a LOOK Dine-In Cinemas location soon: Reston, VA: Bow Tie Reston Town Center 11 & BTX Closed [May 3, 2022]
https://www.ffxnow.com/2022/04/12/heres-a-look-at-whats-replacing-bow-tie-cinemas-in-reston/
Bow Tie Cinemas will not be renewing their lease at this location, with Look Dine-in Cinemas set to take over and perform a full renovation for a late 2022 reopening. The article is short on details but all other look locations appear to follow the typical dine-in cinema setup with a full kitchen and bar and recliner seating. With how tightly built this complex is I can’t see them adding a full kitchen without removing an auditorium somewhere, or cutting out part of theater 5 (the BTX auditorium) which has the only large screen here. Hopefully they leave that one alone.
I’m forgetting are there ceiling speakers on the BTX auditorium? Maybe Bow Tie could relook at putting an object based processor/system here: DTS-X or even AuroMax
[sigh] no Atmos or ‘high frame rate’ on the BTX screen for ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’
finally made it over to see a movie on the BTX screen. I liked how the screen pretty much used the entire wall, and the 7.1 audio of ‘The Lone Rider’ was thunderous and aurally intense.
Bow Tie though must be given some credit, along with Cinema Arts (three of the six screens) and the new Angelika Mosaic in providing 7.1 surround sound in all of it’s auditoriums – Regal and AMC fail in this respect
“almost ready” isn’t cutting it, the first Hobbit movie is a top tier movie where Bow Tie should have had everything in place to compete with the Regal’s and AMC’s in the DC metro area – on the plus side, at least the film will be presented in 7.1 discrete surround sound.
Yes I just called this theatre and no it won’t be shown in HFR or Atmos. Me no like. The GM said it was almost ready for Atmos and they haven’t upgraded to HFR at the time I spoke to the General Manager.
I don’t who you talked with thebrat at the theater, but ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ on the BTX screen is neither in Atmos OR High Frame Rate [insert mad face]
question: so if the BTX screen can show a scope film without borders, how did it show ‘Life of Pi’ (which is 1.85) did they crop the top and bottom off? or did the film have side black borders? Is the theater really going to be ready for Dolby Atmos for the first Hobbit film – their own website is not advertising this fact.
“Skyfall” will be in BTX this Friday (starts at Midnight on Thursday), followed by “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II” the week after.
so it looks like ‘Flight’ will continue it’s run on the BTX screen and NOT ‘SkyFall’ [face palm]
according to their website – the BTX screen is debuting this Friday with ‘Cloud Atlas’ and since AMC did not book this at the Uptown, I’m thinking of trekking out to check out the new screen here.
so the screen can change between 1.78/1.85 and 2.35 – with no black borders above or below the image for the latter? That’s too bad the Atmos system won’t be up and running for ‘Chasing Mavericks’ (Oct 26th) – I don’t think I’ve read any news that ‘Skyfall’ will be released in 7.1, let alone remixed in Atmos :( On the plus side ‘Skyfall’ (the entire feature, like the trailer) will be released in 4K DCP
not to digress, but the 7.1 mix for ‘The Lion King’ (on the ETX screen) really DID suck – agree with you there. Even the 7.1 mix of ‘Finding Nemo’ was completely lackluster, my DTS-ES 6.1 DVD of the movie had better surround sound mixing than what I heard on the big screen.
I don’t go to the ETX in Tyson’s often. The only times I’ve watched a movie on that screen were Transformers: Dark of the Moon and The Lion King (3D reissue), both in 2011. The former surprised me with the unadvertised feature of Dolby 7.1, and even though Michael Bay films are too loud usually, it didn’t sound awful and pretty much rocked the house! The latter filled up the entire screen with its 1.78:1 aspect ratio and was pretty clear, even though the DCP was in 2K making fuzzy images a given when blown up to a giant screen, and the 7.1 remix sucked.
But back to the Bow-Tie, I forgot to mention that the BTX has yet installed ceiling speakers for Atmos. I haven’t asked the GM about what type of projector setup the auditorium has. Unlike the ETX, the screen is enhanced for scope films, so the full aspect ratio of the Bond trailer fit the screen. It is expected to be ready by November, to be opening with Skyfall.
any screen can give the ETX screen a run for it’s money IMO, recently ‘Finding Nemo’ in 3D looked terrible. I’m sick of the two projector’s not being correctly aligned. Is the BTX screen a single projector? You should have seen all the speakers if it’s BTX (above the standard surrounds speakers and the one’s in the ceiling) That’s very exciting news!
Had an awesome experience last morning. I was just checking out the place, not seeing a movie, and the general manager came up to me and gave us a demo of the BTX auditorium under construction. So I watched the Skyfall trailer being projected in 4K on that giant screen, and boy that was pretty awesome. It gives the ETX in Tyson’s a run for its money.
He also told me that the BTX auditorium is ready for Dolby Atmos and will be ready to show The Hobbit in 48fps.
the auditoriums that were untwinned were 1 & 2, and 3 & 4 (the latter which is now screen 2, is the largest screen). All the screens are now ‘digital’ featuring Christie 4K upgradeable projectors and can/will playback 7.1 audio
I always remembered that it was one of the first theatres in the DC area to be equipped with Dolby Digital EX surround sound, ‘Toy Story 2’ sounded amazing when played back as such. As for the seats ALL the National Amusements had these really crummy seats where they were both ultra-squeaky and/or reclined back so far that you felt like you would flip backward off the seat. Will be interested in seeing the detwinned auditorium. I hope that Bow Tie can install some of the auditoriums to playback discrete 7.1 soundmixes – something that Rave hasn’t done over at their Centreville or Fairfax Corner theaters.
Cineplex started the project in 1988 but didn’t finish it—National Amusements opened it in 1990. Cineplex lobby with NAI auditoriums…it never operated as a Cineplex Odeon.
I beleive this theater first opened as a Cineplex Odeon
As of Friday, 4/1, Bow Tie Cinemas will assume operation of the Reston Town Center 13. A phased top-to-bottom reconstruction will soon begin (allowing the theater to remain open during construction), which will include all stadium seating, bigger screens, all digital projection with 3D capability, brand new concession stands, all new amenities and decor, and brand new rest rooms. The theater originally opened as an 11-plex, and National Amusements later ‘twinned’ theaters 1 & 2. In the reconstruction, Bow Tie will ‘de-twin’ the theaters, turning the facility back to an 11-plex.