Dueling Multiplexes

Just a week after Eden Prairie Center owners General Growth Properties announced that they would soon build a state-of-the-art 20-screen movie theater at the mall, LJ Technologies announced that on December 19 it will open the 16-screen theater it built in Coon Rapids for the Karasota Theater Group. The theater, dubbed the Showplace 16, has the same raised stadium seating and all-digital sound as the Eden Prairie Center project, but also has some special touches. Designed by the man who invented the cupholder for movie-seat armrests, the theater also features two 10-foot digital screens above the concession stands to play movie trailers and ads, seats with neckrests and armrests that lift to make a seat for two, and, of course, cupholders in all seats.