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History of Fox Lake Theater

Fox Lake Theater is owned by Classic Cinemas, which is a family run business that was started in 1978 by Chris, Shirley, and Willis Johnson. However, Fox Lake Theater was acquired by the company much later in 1995.

Tracing back the theater’s history, it all started one day in winter of 1993, when Shirley and Willis Johnson were scouting for a movie theater site. They got interested in Lakehead Shopping Center, as the inspection of the building revealed quite high ceilings, which is ideally suited for a movie theater. The Johnsons then toured the Fox Lake area and surroundings towns, accompanied by Sue McNally the village clerk, and mayor of the town, Mr. Hamsher. They liked the community living in these areas, and thought that a movie theater would prove to be a major asset for the people living in the area.

Soon a meeting was arranged with Dwight Yackley who was the developer in the area, and a decision was taken to convert the grocery store into a sprawling movie theater that would house five auditoriums, one office, and several storage areas and restrooms. The officials of the village were also quite enthusiastic about the project and helped the Johnsons with their guidance, and in securing the required permits.

The project started on 25 February 1995, with a grand ceremony that was attended by the Mayor, Village Clerk and other important village officials. Johnsons set May 1995 as the target date for opening the full theater; however, there were quite a few delays in the construction due to several reasons, and the opening was postponed, and the auditoriums had to be opened in stages. On 14 July 1995 two auditoriums were opened, which screened Batman and Pocahontas. In the three weeks that followed the remaining three auditoriums were opened, one on each of the Fridays. The whole project was completed on 4 August, Fox Lake Theater was operational fully with five screens, and an impressive opening ceremony was held on 31 August 1995.

In the lobby of Fox Lake Theater, a video monitor measuring 42 inches was installed on November 2002, so that people could view previews of coming films, and the installation coincided correctly for viewing previews of latest movies that were to be released in the holiday season. Fox Lake Theater received another face-lift, when digital sound system was installed in all the auditoriums in 2003.

With the growing popularity of Fox Lake Theater, Johnsons decided to add four more auditoriums, so that people received best value and added level of comfort. This happened in 2004, and all the nine auditoriums now had Digital HPS 4000 Surround Sound, large screens and very comfortable seating arrangements. In the same year, a party room was also added, where patrons could celebrate special occasions like birthdays, in the theater itself.

Full renovations of the Fox Lake Theater was completed on 15 June 2005, and a “Big Ticket” tearing event was celebrated attended by the Johnson family and Mayor Irwin. In March 2009 three auditoriums were equipped with 3D Digital projection systems, and on 12 March 2012 each auditorium got Datasat Sound Processor and 4K Enhanced Digital Projection.
For information on current movies showing at the Fox Lake Theater Click Here

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