Century Theatres Inc.’s announcement last week of its plans for a 20-screen megaplex at the Jordan Creek Town Center stirs 2 1/2-year-old memories of less happy days for the motion picture exhibition industry  

Then, Des Moines exhibitors, mirroring a national trend, went through a strong and painful correction. More than 18 screens were shuttered. Experts at the time said the metro area, which had roughly 80 screens after the closings, still had perhaps twice the number of screens the area’s population could support.

West Des Moines was particularly hard hit by the closings. The Sierra 3 and Westwood 6 theaters were both located there. Other closings included the River Hills/Riviera complex, which was located on land where the Iowa Events Center is now being built.   

Des Moines’ problems were largely the result of overbuilding by huge national exhibition companies. After years of spending for fancy 20- and 30-screen multiplexes equipped with large public areas, stadium-style seating and expensive sound systems, economics caught up with them. Columbus, Ga.-based Carmike Cinemas and Kansas City, Mo.-based AMC Entertainment Inc., two of the nation’s largest movie theater owners, each filed for reorganization under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The past two years haven’t been all bad for Des Moines film buffs. The Sierra 3 has begun showing movies again and the Fleur Cinema and Café has opened.

The Jordan Creek project has always included plans for a theater. When Century’s multiplex is finished in the summer of 2004, it will be the biggest in Greater Des Moines. It will have state-of-the-art sound, certified by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas’s company, Lucasfilm.

Nancy Klasky, Century Theatres’ vice president of marketing, is full of superlatives to describe the future movie theater.

“The chairs’ risers are tallest in the industry,” she said. “The amount of leg space is largest.” Each screen’s speakers are “placed exactly,” which lets the moviegoer “see the film in exactly the manner that the filmmaker intended them to.”

But will it survive? And if it does, at whose expense?

“We already have more screens than we need in Des Moines,” said Bob Fridley, ” president of Fridley Theatres, which owns Copper Creek Nine, Springwood 9 and others. “I imagine some screens will close.”

There are a variety of reasons Century can expect to thrive in West Des Moines, though it will boost the number of screens in the area by more than 20 percent.

First, there is the tenacity and past success of the Syufy family, which controls Century. The company has survived for 63 years and sailed through the storm that capsized other exhibitors, said Stan Reynolds, president of Reynolds & Reynolds Inc., a Des Moines company that insures theaters across the country, including Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.

Des Moines isn’t the only place where Century is expanding. It recently opened a new complex in the Chicago suburb of Evanston. Over the next three years, it plans to add 250 screens – boosting its size by nearly a third.

In addition, there is the attraction of Jordan Creek itself. The $200 million mall will be Iowa’s largest when it is complete. Convenience is a factor. Century’s Des Moines theater will let moviegoers buy tickets on the Internet and print them from home.

Lastly, the population of Greater Des Moines has been shifting to the west. The theater’s location – on the southwest side of the metro area – will serve a rapidly growing region.

Almost certainly, experts said, the move means lost business for the multiplexes that currently serve the western side of the metro area: Cobblestone 9 and Wynnsong.

“It’ll hurt Wynnsong and Carmike’s Cobblestone; they’ll be the most affected by the new theater,” Reynolds said.

What’s it like?  The 75,360-square-foot Century theater will have 20 screens. The size of each screen will vary, but all will have stadium-style seating. According to spokeswoman Nancy Klasky, Century’s seats have above-average-sized risers to make sure that a moviegoer can see the screen, no matter the height of the person seated in front of them.

Each of the seats have a cupholder and will recline. In addition, the seats’ armrests can be lifted to create what Century calls a “rocking loveseat.”   “You can get real close, or you can spread out,” Klasky said.

The movie screens will have at least 24 speakers and be certified as Lucasfilm THX. The public space outside the screens will include a game room and a café, which will serve gourmet desserts and coffee.

“It’s going to be just about as amazing and fantastic a movie palace as you can find anywhere in the U.S.,” Klasky said.