POPULAR MICON-ICS. Micon Cinemas’ seven-screen Eau Claire theater will see aesthetic upgrades this fall, including building out into the parking lot to add a bar area and sprucing up auditoriums.

Micon Cinemas is gearing up to do some major renovations to its seven-screen theater complex on Mall Drive after the Eau Claire Plan Commission approved a roughly $2 million project to expand seating and screens and add a bar area to the theater.

While this reflects a trend in bigger cities – where theaters frequently offer libations to their guests – it’s relatively new to the Valley. And for a smaller, local business like Micon, keeping up with and pushing trends is what keeps them relevant.

“We’re a small, independently run family business,” said Dan Olson, the general manager of the Eau Claire cinema, whose parents Mike and Connie Olson own the business. “Any way we can expand internally to be able to keep up with the big corporations who at any moment can, at drop of a hat, drop millions of dollars on a project and retro-fit them real quick. We have to plan our remodels accordingly and at the right times and keep up with what’s happening in the market.”

Wider seats naturally means fewer of them, as well as a decreased need for parking spots. So the plan is to build the bar area out into the parking lot. The bar would replace a fairly underutilized party room, and allow movie-goers to sip on a brew, a mixed drink, or a glass of wine before, during, or after their movie.

“If people have a little time to kill before their movie, they can come hang out. Or if you’re with a group of friends and your movie gets done, and you want to grab a drink, instead of everybody getting in their cars and trying to find a spot, they can just do it here,” Olson said. “It’s not meant to be a bar where you sit for six hours and drink.”

In addition to the bar, five of the seven auditoriums will get a facelift of sorts. Updating the carpeting, drapes, screens, lighting, and more – according to Olson – was long overdue. Olson admits these changes were probably necessary when Micon took over the place several years ago, and he’s excited to finally get some of these aesthetic upgrades done.

“The one thing we’ve never done here, is we’ve never done much with the auditoriums,” Olson said. “We’ve upgraded the sound, and we went to all-digital projectors, and lot of other behind-the-scenes stuff, but on the surface we’ve never really done much to them to really upgrade the experience.”

He said the project will be done in stages, minimizing the amount of time some auditoriums will have to be closed. The business is still waiting to finalize a budget for the expansion, but if all goes well, construction could start as early as August and be wrapped up before the holidays so the theater can run at full capacity during those busy, busy months.

Olson also said he wants to – sooner rather than later – implement seat reservation at this theater and the Downtown Cinema, to add an extra step of convenience for movie-goers. All in all, the movie-going experience is about to evolve into something much more than a few Minions flopping around on screen or dramatic lightsaber fights. It’s about making a night of it, and making it one to remember.