ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Almost seven months to the date after Golden Ticket Cinemas announced it will be coming to the Ohio Valley Mall, it will welcome movie goers to their new location.

Director of media relations Joseph Horton said that this weekend was to be a soft opening for Golden Ticket in St. Clairsville. The theater’s official opening comes Thursday, Nov. 20, just in time for the release of “Wicked: For Good.”

Tickets for that movie went on sale on the cinemas website last month and Horton said that the community has been responding positively with many tickets selling fast.

He added that some showings have already nearly sold out and is expecting even more tickets to sell as the premiere approaches.

For its soft opening, the cinema will be showing “The Running Man” and “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” which both were released on Friday. The theater plans to also show movies that aren’t new, but have come out during the past year that Belmont County was without a movie theater.

“We’ll be playing at least those two films and some of the older films that have not hit this market over the last month or two,” Horton said. “We will probably pull in some movies like ‘Predator’ and maybe even movies like ‘Tron,’ just to make sure that people who’ve missed those films over the last month can come and see them.”

He added that he expects the soft opening to be a trickle of people coming in and taking the opportunity to check out the new cinema.

Golden Ticket Cinemas plans to provide a unique movie going experience that has not been provided in the Ohio Valley.

Horton said that a large part of the culture for Golden Ticket Cinemas is looking into small- to mid-sized markets that have theaters that need a little bit of love. He said the goal is to bring those theaters into the new generation of moviegoing.

“We love going into theaters like this and communities like this, because we know that once we put in these recliners, we give the love the theater has needed for so long. We have yet to see a community reject that they have come. We have seen our attendance increase dramatically,” Horton said. “I don’t think it’s only about the seats, but it’s about that experience.”

He added that the moviegoing experience is more than just going to see movies.

“It’s not just, ‘hey, let’s do something,’ but when you come here, it’s a memory, it’s a first date, it’s an anniversary, it’s a kids first movie. And we want to bring that back to the market,” Horton said.

He added that when Golden Ticket Cinemas started moving into the mall, it was a standard 1990s style theater with a few upgrades, such as what used to be AMC’s Big D Theater.

“When we came into the building, we wanted to do a lot more than just add new curtains and carpet,” Horton said. “So we’ve added in electric recliners with tables that will help with our expanded menu. We’ll have pizzas, wings, sliders, milkshakes, all of that at our concession stand. You can get it delivered to your seat or pick it up at the concession stand.”

He added that the theater has also tried to ease the process with drink and popcorn refills.

“We’ve always found a bottleneck of people coming back in the middle of their movie for more popcorn. So we now have self-serve popcorn, where you get your bucket, fill it up as much as you want, put as much butter as you want, and go into your auditorium and when you come out later, you just do it again without having to wait in the concession line.”

The theater will also offer a 27-tap beer wall which will be open once Golden Ticket Cinemas is approved for its state liquor license.

Golden Ticket plans to have local craft beers, as well as some national favorites and wine on the beer wall.

In addition to the theaters that will open at the grand opening, three large formatted screens will be opening with elite surround sound as well as heated recliners and laser projection. Two of the three theaters will open very close to the same amenities as the third, but Horton said his company is giving a little extra love to what used to be called the Big D Theater when AMC Theater operated the theater.

“It will have all the bells and whistles you could imagine for a state-of-the-art luxury cinema,” he said.