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Harry Potter and his gang of wizards won’t be the only ones spinning magic Friday morning when the final installment of the film hits Billings screens.

Carmike Cinemas Inc. is creating some sparks of its own as it rolls out the BigD theater Thursday night at Shiloh 14 with a wall-to-wall screen, digital high-resolution images, surround sound and cushy leather chairs. Billings will be one of four cities in the U.S. to get the BigD, said Terrell Mayton, director of marketing for Carmike Cinemas.

“It’s a very bright, crisp dynamic screen,” Mayton said. “The picture is edge to edge, with thousands of colors. It looks just like a flat-panel TV on steroids.”
Mayton said Billings was selected because of the loyalty of its moviegoers. Billings is the first city in Montana to get the new-style theater. Missoula is scheduled to get a BigD system later this year.

“Billings is a very discerning movie-going audience,” Mayton said. “It was the ideal place for us to put in this facility in Montana. We think that a community that is large in attending movies deserves the biggest screen in the West.”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” will be showing on all 24 Carmike movie screens at Shiloh 14 and Wynnsong 10, starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Most of the 365 seats in the BigD theater had been sold by Tuesday morning.

The first installation of the two-part film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1” will be shown in the BigD starting at 9 p.m. on Thursday, followed by the new film. A package ticket buys admission to both movies.

A $2 surcharge will be added to the price of a ticket to the BigD theater. Special pricing is in effect for the midnight screenings of the Potter film. Admission to the 2-D version of the new Potter film is $12 per person. Admission to the 3-D version of the film is $15.

The BigD is powered by a Christie Brilliant 3-D flash projector onto a screen measuring 78 feet wide and more than three stories tall. The theater will feature 7.1 surround sound and digital projection of both 2-D and 3-D films. Mayton said the new theater will primarily host blockbuster movies, but it will also present other entertainment, including screenings of opera and ballet.