When Shane Pollock was a kid growing up in a small town south of Seattle, he would get on his bike and pedal to the nearest bus stop. He would catch a bus to the local theater, get a ticket to a movie, find a seat and then allow himself to escape into the story he saw on the big screen.
“I was a huge movie person my entire childhood,” said Pollock. “Every date was dinner and a movie. When I got older and I would buy a house, I made sure to always have a space where I could have a dedicated home theater space. It’s always been a great escape.”
Now, 35 years later, he’s bringing that experience to Hopkinsville in a way that has never been done before in a local cinema.
On Friday, Oct. 6, Pollock and his wife, Aubrie, will open The Showbox Dinner Theater and Cinemas in the former WK Cinemas off Fort Campbell Boulevard.
“We’re not just doing recliners and movies. We are doing this on another level. We want to create an experience that makes people want to come to the movies,” he said.
The Pollocks settled in Hopkinsville in 2018 and opened a general contracting company, Safe Construction, after he had served 16 years in the U.S. Army. He left the military with the rank of captain after receiving a medical discharge due to a hip injury.
“We fell in love with the people of Hopkinsville. Every town has its good sides and bad sides no matter what part of the country you are in. The difference is always the people that are in that town,” said Pollock.
Pollock had wanted to own a theater since he was 19 years old. A few years ago, when the owners of WK Cinemas considered selling the Hopkinsville theater behind Bradford Square, the Pollocks were the first call they made. The opportunity Shane Pollock had dreamed of became a real possibility. He went to work gathering the financial support needed to make his vision a reality. The Pollocks and their partners have invested hundreds of hours in labor and around $3 million to bring The Showbox to life, he said.
“There is nothing in this place we didn’t have to touch. From electrical to plumbing, all the drywall and framing; it all had to come down,” said Pollock. “We needed to scrub ourselves of anything that had to do with The Martin 5, WK (Cinemas), Carmike, AMC — anything that had to do with that we had to get rid of and start over.”
The Showbox will feature five state-of-the-art screens with 4k projectors, each in a room with its own style and seating capacity. The rooms are called The Stardust, The Prague, The Atlantis, The Metro and The Lancaster.
The Stardust is an intimate, 40-person capacity room that Pollock says will take the idea of dinner and a movie to a whole new level. The theme is inspired by 1950s’ Las Vegas.
On Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, customers will be treated to a full-service dinner with a salad course, entrée and dessert before the movie starts. In addition to dinner, customers will have access to a full-service bar and all the traditional movie snacks at the touch of a button.
When a customer wants something, whether it’s a drink or a tub of popcorn, all they have to do is push the call button for a server.
“It’s themed to feel like straight luxury, like it’s Vegas. Even our pre-movie PSAs are done by an actor who plays Frank Sinatra,” Pollock said.
The Prague, seating 79, will be where suspense and horror movies take precedence. The lighting and wall décor are meant to give a “creepy” vibe to enhance the viewer’s experience. The seats in The Prague are roomy with the ability to recline.
The Atlantis has a whimsical under-the-sea feel. It seats 91 and features reclining leather seats.
“We have aquamarine colors to go under the soundboards so the bottom soundboard will look like waves and splashing water,” Pollock described.
The Metro also seats 91 customers and offers reclining leather seats. In the previous setup, the theatre rooms would hold around 200 people. The Pollocks decided to sacrifice seats for comfort and a more enjoyable experience for patrons.
“We changed the floorplan and layout, giving the space for people to be in a full recline and then still have room for people to walk in front of the seats without being a pain in the neck,” said Pollock.
The Metro also features Dolby Atmos sound, a surround-sound technology that allows sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal nor vertical limitations. The Metro will feature action movies and concert films. The first concert film will be “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.” Showtimes begin Oct. 13 and tickets are available now.
The fifth room, The Lancaster, seats 121 and has extra-wide rocker seating. The Lancaster will also host e-gaming events. Pollock hopes the venue becomes a regional hotspot for e-gaming tournaments. The nearest venue for competitive e-gaming outside The Showbox is at the Cool Springs Mall in Franklin, Tennessee.
“If we offer prize money and have good sponsors like we do with GameStop and The Game Exchange, then we will have no issue courting teams to come here to compete. That gives us another revenue stream that helps us maintain profitability through the slower times of the year,” said Pollock.
The concessions have been completely overhauled with new equipment, a full bar and food options like wings, pizza, hot dogs, bread sticks and hot pretzels. The Pollocks included local companies when choosing providers — beer from Hopkinsville Brewing Co., coffee from by Campfire Roasters and wine from Paducah-based Purple Toad Winery.
The Showbox is set for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3 p.m. Friday. Tickets for shows are available online now.
Four films showing on opening day are “The Exorcist Believer” and “ Saw X,” both rated R, “Paw Patrol,” rated PG, and “The Creator,” rated PG 13.
