United Cinema UNICUS Chichibu

The Chichibu City once had a total of 12 movie theaters but all of them closed one-by-one, leaving the Chichibu Kakushinkan as the only movie theater operating in the Chichibu area until its January 17, 1993 closure. Throughout this long drought, people had to go to see movies in either Kamisato Town or Iruma City, a distance of nearly an hour, to reach the nearest movie theater.

As a result, many people requested that P&D Consulting, which manages the city and UNICUS, bring in a movie theater. Similar requests were made at meetings between the mayor and high school students, such as “There is no place for young people to hang out” and “We want a movie theater”. As a result, the city decided to attract a movie theater. In 2019, the Factory Attraction Ordinance, which was established to attract factories to the city, was partially revised to provide movie theaters with subsidies equal to the amount of property taxes they paid.

During COVID, United Cinemas decided to open a theater in the region that year. Construction started in the Spring of 2021 and opened on July 29, 2022, housing 7 screens and 650 seats. P&D Consulting, which manages UNICUS Chichibu, envisions the commercial area to be Chichibu City, which has a population of approximately 100,000, and five neighboring towns and villages, and estimates that the venue will attract approximately 130,000 visitors per year. From the outset, the plan also included plans to use the venue for purposes other than film screenings, such as hosting various performances and events, such as rakugo and music events.

Throughout its first whole year of operation, an unbelievable number of approximately 130,000 moviegoers visited the theater, achieving the initial user estimate. Screen 3 is the largest with 208 seats and five wheelchairs (while Screen 1 housed three wheelchairs alongside 149 seats, and the rest of the auditoriums have two wheelchairs). Screen 5 is the smallest with 42 seats, and the rest of the auditoriums have ranging capacities of 56-65.

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