Intersection

Downtown’s new luxury cinema can’t admit anyone under 21—not yet, anyway

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A view of the Eclipse Theaters, an upscale, concierge-style venue on the perimeter of the Arts District.
Wade Vandervort

When Rogue One arrives in theaters this weekend, many of us will see it at Eclipse Theaters, a new upscale movie house that just opened Downtown at Third Street and Gass Avenue. Eclipse is a luxury operation all the way: the auditoriums have deep recliner seats, with food and cocktail service available at the press of a call button. Forget popcorn and soda; you’ll engage the Death Star with bruschetta in one hand and a glass of Malbec in the other.

You can forget bringing the kids, though. Presently, Eclipse doesn’t admit anyone under the age of 21, even with parental escort. You know that free-roaming cocktail service? Eclipse and the City of Las Vegas don’t yet have a plan to regulate it.

“It’s not the kind of thing that’s been in the city before,” explains city spokesman Jace Radke. He says Eclipse needs to apply for a review of one of the conditions of its special-use permit, the one that states, “Minors shall only be permitted in such areas [where alcohol is served] only in conjunction with regular meals and where dining tables and booths are provided separate from the bar.”

It seems likely Eclipse was compelled to go with a 21-and-over plan just to get its doors open for the guaranteed windfall of Rogue One. (The theater declined to comment on the licensing process.) And Radke says Eclipse is taking the necessary steps to amend its permit. “They’ve already expressed to the City that they want to do this,” he says.

For now, that means you can see a new Star Wars movie in a theater completely free of children, pressin’ that blue call button like it’s the one that fires the proton torpedo. May the Malbec be with you.

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