A Brand New 10-Screen Movie Theater Coming Soon to San Angelo

A new 10-screen movie theater is coming to the Blackshear area where the old K-Mart building currently resides, at 2020 N. Bryant. The city permitted a $3.6 million renovation project at the location. Stetson Snell, Tom Snell’s son in the family business called Icon Cinema out of Roswell, New Mexico said yesterday that work crews have already started demolition work inside the old retail space. The theaters will be open some time in March or April 2015, he said. “You won’t recognize the building when we’re done,” he said.

Stetson said what sets Icon apart from the large national movie theater chains is how his company caters to families. Movie tickets are sold in the same line as the concessions, and drinks and popcorn are sold with “unlimited refills,” he said. The cinema will also feature an ice cream bar, complete with dipping dots, and a 2,800 square foot modern arcade.

“The price of the movie ticket is dictated primarily by the movie studios,” Stetson explained. “Where we set ourselves apart is in how we handle the concessions, primarily.”

In addition to all-you-can-eat concessions, Icon will have larger screens and luxury seating. The front row of each theater will feature “true luxury recliners,” Stetson said. Some rows will be outfitted with what Stetson describes as Icon’s signature “Vibe Seating.” A “vibe” seat has speakers embedded into it.

The theater will feature larger screen sizes, too. Stetson explained that most modern cinemas feature approximately 40-foot screens and less. He said the San Angelo Icon Cinema would feature 45- to 60-foot screens, depending upon the size of the individual theater. The cinema will seat approximately 2,000 moviegoers total in the 10 theaters combined, Stetson said. Since the San Angelo Icon location is greater than five miles from the existing Cinemark Theater location, Stetson said they are allowed to offer the exact same first-run movies that are playing on the southwest side of town.

The Snell family originally owned a company that manufactured theater seating for large cinema companies across the country. About two-and-a-half years ago, the family opened their own theater in Roswell. The all-you-can-eat concessions concept proved popular, and the family is rapidly expanding. They have another theater opening in Albuquerque soon.

“A lady came told us about San Angelo one day. She was a customer at our Roswell theater,” Stetson said. “She talked about how it’s booming in San Angelo and that the K-Mart location may be a good fit,” Stetson said. Stetson headed to San Angelo to investigate.

What he found was that the lady was right. The old K-Mart was an ideal location and San Angelo was a happening place. The family worked with locally owned Texas Bank in San Angelo to secure financing and the rest is history, Stetson said. Stetson will manage the San Angelo location for the family enterprise. “I bought a house in San Angelo and move there in January,” he said. Stetson is a former student at Texas Tech.

Icon Cinemas has a website here.