KEY POINTS:
How to fight back against cinema-quality sound at home? Simple. Home-quality comfort at the cinema.
No longer will a choc-top and frozen Coke do. Now it's a bottle of wine, freshly frothed lattes and reclining leather seats.
Readings Cinema in Wellington was one of the first multiplexes to start the trend, with Auckland's Lido Cinema, Village SkyCity and Berkeley cinemas close behind. Now it's Hoyts' turn to up the ante, with a 10-screen multiplex opening at Mt Wellington's Sylvia Park today.
The third stage of Sylvia Park - known affectionately as "the men's creche" or the entertainment and leisure precinct - will be Auckland's second-largest cinema multiplex and boasts a Cinemaxx screen 30.6m wide and 13m high.
The mammoth screen has applied to Guinness World Records to be named the world's largest cinema screen.
The complex also features the country's first bean-bag cinema - the Halfpipe. Shaped like a skate halfpipe, the youth-oriented zone is decked out in bright purple carpet with giant, red beanbags from its sponsor, Jaffas.
For something more intimate you can check into Hoyts' La Premiere, where guests in pivate booths can order food and enjoy it in the comfort of reclining seats.
Those in the least expensive seats will also be more comfortable, with 65 per cent more legroom than the average New Zealand cinema.
Of the 10 screens, two will show arthouse films.
Marketing director Elizabeth Trotman said there would be between 14 and 22 films screening in an average week, four of which would be arthouse offerings.
Hoyts Sylvia Park celebrates its official opening with the local premiere of New Zealand horror comedy Black Sheep tonight.
* Online bookings: www.hoyts.co.nz
* Phone (09) 573 9000
