Commonwealth Center Stadium 20 & IMAX

Opened in July 2000.

Scheduled to open for the start of the 2000 summer movie season but construction delays prevented the theater from opening in time for Gladiator, The Patriot, and other big titles in May and June. The theater opened with only one side (theaters 1-10, the north side of the building and the left when facing the front entrance in the picture) open to patrons in order to generate revenue during the end of the summer while construction continued on theaters 11-20, which comprise the right/south wing. By the Thanksgiving/Christmas season of 2000 all screens were operational.

Consolidated sold all of its theaters to Regal in February 2008 and Regal converted all of its Richmond-area theaters to digital projection in 2009. Formerly the theater used Strong XL equipment. Due to the multi-phase construction, the audio gear was not all purchased at the same time, so availability constraints meant the north wing had only Dolby digital sound capability installed and the south wing had only DTS.

The Genito Forest 9, less than two miles away, closed just a few months after the Commonwealth completed its south wing. Various small, dumpy cinemas in the county were on their way out shortly afterwards. From 2002-2008 the only other first-run, mainstream movie theaters in Chesterfield County or the City of Richmond were the Chester 6, the Chesterfield Towne Center UA 9, and a Carmike across the street from the CTC. The Commonwealth boasted more capacity than all its competitors combined plus the latest in presentation technology and was strategically placed right at the exit to Route 288 with easy access to larger highways. The entire population of Chesterfield and Richmond that was closer to this theater’s location or the highway than to the Regal multiplexes at Short Pump and Virginia Center Commons tended to patronize this theater, explaining its extremely high attendance. In 2008 Regal closed down the mall theater at Chesterfield Towne Center and opened a brand new 14-screen complex at Westchester Commons, and the Bowtie chain opened its first Richmond location within the city at Movieland. Combined with the economic effects of the recession this marked the end of the regular 40,000-patron weekends at Commonwealth, though it is still a very busy and profitable complex.