Wehrenberg Theatres opened up its 16th cinema, which is part of their Galaxy 14 chain, in Bloomington on Thursday, Jan. 31. Wehrenberg Theatres is the oldest family-owned theatre chain in the United States.

Galaxy 14 has many features to make it stand out from local competitor Carmike Cinemas, such as a bigger menu, bigger seats and a bigger arcade.

The key term for Wehrenberg seems to be bigger.

Their concession stretches from one side to the other of the main hall, with more than 10 employees ready to serve customers.

Galaxy 14’s menu includes cheeseburgers & fries, in addition to the typical popcorn and pop, along with ice cream, chicken strips and ravioli provided by Fred’s Foods.

Another feature is the auditoriums all have stadium seating. These “snuggle-seats” are big, flexible and include armrests with cupholders that can be raised, allowing for more room.

Galaxy also boasts the biggest movie screen in Bloomington, dubbed the “Mega Screen.” It is 64-foot wide and 32-foot high and is inside an auditorium of 450 seats. Bloomington’s Galaxy 14 will be only the third cinema in the Wehrenberg line to feature the Mega Screen.

The movie screens feature digital projection. Furthermore, Galaxy includes assistive listening devices for the hearing impaired for all stadiums.

Not enough? Galaxy also has birthday party rooms, to reserve and provide arcade games like Ski-ball, shooters, basketball machines, and even a Dance Dance Revolution Extreme arcade game, which hasn’t been seen in Bloomington since the Time Out Arcade in Eastland Mall closed.

Galaxy 14 also supports Wehrenberg Theatres’ MVP program, which rewards customers for going to movies via points. These points can lead to free food and snacks or even free admission for select movies, usually before 6 p.m.

Admission is the same as Carmike: $8.25 for an adult, $5.75 for a child in the evening, and $6.25 for matinees. Galaxy also has admission discounts for high school and college students with IDs $6.25.

Galaxy 14 is located at 1111 Wylie Drive, Bloomington, just north of Farm & Fleet and near Route 9 and Interstate 55. Further information is available at www.Wehrenberg.com