by GERRY MELENDEZ

Film fans in the Wasilla area will soon have a movie-going option closer to home. Coming Attractions Theaters, which owns and operates facilities throughout the Pacific Northwest, recently acquired Valley River Cinema, renaming it Eagle River Cinema. That same company has also announced this Friday’s grand opening of The Valley Cinema, located at 3331 East Old Matanuska Road.

The new theater houses 12 screens, features stadium seating and will present select 3-D presentations. It also includes the Backstage Bistro, which will cater to the 21-and-over crowd.

No word yet on what the opening day movies will be, and the phone number listed as the movie info line doesn't seem to work. Hopefully we’ll have the full listings in time for this week’s issue of Play.

UPDATE: For upcoming movies at The Valley Cinema, @kaseynicole passed along this link via Twitter. Based on this, it looks like "Rio" will be the first movie screened at the new theater. The 3-D presention starts noon Friday.

--Matt Sullivan