May 12, 1999: Dragon comes alive in West Edmonton Mall's Silver City theatre
Theatre opening coincided with premiere of Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace
The opening of the Silver City movie theatre at West Edmonton Mall in 1999 generated buzz for its state-of-the-art features, including a 3.5-ton animatronic fire-breathing dragon.
The dragon at the theatre's entrance spat flames every 15 minutes, giving guests a warm welcome. The theatre also featured numerous fast food outlets and 12 screens, including a six-storey Imax 3D screen with 10,000 Watts of audio power.
This was the first Imax 3D screen in Edmonton.
"We spent a lot of money making this the best you can possibly get," Imax spokesperson Philippe Renoir said.
The theatre opened just in time for one of the year's blockbusters — Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace premiered on May 19, 1999, the first movie shown in the new theatre.
Fans of the Star Wars franchise lined up for days to ensure they could get tickets for the highly-anticipated movie.
The new movie theatre was part of the mall's Phase 4 expansion, accompanied by new Chapters and HMV stores on the west end of the mall.
In this week's archival video, CBC's Colin MacLean shows off the new movie theatre's coolest features on May 12, 1999, just days before it opened to the public.
