Big Sean: "I hope this theater will become a hub of creativity." (Facebook photo)
Update, 2 p.m. Wednesday: Rapper Big Sean on Wednesday talked about his new movie theater with Emagine.
They're scouting for sites in Midtown and downtown, and construction won't be completed until 2020. But they do have a name: The Sean Anderson Theatre, powered by Emagine, reports Brian McCollum of the Detroit Free Press.
"We want to do something revolutionary with it," he saysd. "We don'' want to just make it a movie theater, traditionally. We also want it to be a hub for entertainment for the whole community. We want people to have an incentive to go the extra miles, to travel into Detroit."
Original article, Tuesday:
Downtown Detroit continues to grow, but has no movie theater. "This makes no sense," says Detroit-born rapper Sean "Big Sean" Anderson, who's working to change that.
He and Troy-based Emagine Entertainment Inc. plan to open a movie house at a downtown site to be deternined, Kirk Pinho of Crain's Detroit Business reports. It will also include a music venue.
"It is necessary to build a theater in the city, not only because of the joy and inspiration movies will bring to people's lives, but I hope this theater will become a hub of creativity — a place for intimate concerts, lectures, meetings, and other events," Anderson says.
Paul Glantz, founder and chairman of Emagine, says the envisioned theater would have 1,000 to 1,300 seats and 10 to 12 screens. He anticipates opening it in 2020.
While no first-run theaters are downtown, Detroit has places to see movies -- the Detroit Institute of Arts and Cinema Detroit in Midtown, the Redford Theatre at Grand River and Lahser, and the Bel Air Luxury Cinema at 8 Mile Road and Van Dyke.
The Ren Cen 4 theater closed in 2015 after almost three decades in operation.
