ACX Cinema at Bayshore in Glendale has a 'soft opening'; work continues on restaurants

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
ACX Entertainment has begun a "soft opening" of its Bayshore movie theater, showing movies at the six-screen theater while work continues on the accompanying restaurants and bowling alley at the Glendale retail complex.
ACX Entertainment has begun a "soft opening" of its Bayshore movie theater, showing movies at the six-screen theater while work continues on the accompanying restaurants and bowling alley at the Glendale retail complex.

The ACX Cinema at Bayshore is having a "soft opening," getting in on the "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" bonanza as Main Street Theatres Inc. continues renovating the upper level of the rotunda at the Glendale retail complex.

The six-screen theater, operating in the space formerly occupied by iPic Entertainment at 5800 N. Bayshore Drive, began showing a full run of movies July 22. Also open for business: the video arcade in the lobby of the ACX theater.

Soft openings, designed to allow staff and management to work out the bugs before a formal opening, are common for restaurants, but less so for movie theaters.

Then again, new movie theaters don't open all that often. The last new movie theater to open in the Milwaukee area was the Silverspot Cinema, which opened in July 2019. The iPic theater opened at Bayshore in 2007; it closed its doors in 2018.

ACX Entertainment has begun a "soft opening" of its movie theater at Bayshore's rotunda. Work continues on the accompanying restaurants, including Backlot Pizza + Kitchen, in the Glendale retail complex.
ACX Entertainment has begun a "soft opening" of its movie theater at Bayshore's rotunda. Work continues on the accompanying restaurants, including Backlot Pizza + Kitchen, in the Glendale retail complex.

Main Street Theaters announced its plans to open a theater and restaurant complex at Bayshore last fall.

Since its opening, the ACX theater has been showing two of the summer's biggest box-office hits: "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer." Starting July 27, the theater also is showing two new movies: the Disney-ride-inspired "Haunted Mansion" and the horror thriller "Talk to Me." Tickets are available at the theater's website (acxcinemas.com/acx-cinemas-at-bayshore).

Work is still in progress on the accompanying bowling alley and restaurant spaces, Michael Barstow, executive vice president at Omaha, Nebraska-based Main Street Theatres, said via email.

Backlot Pizza + Kitchen, a Detroit-style pizza spot adjacent to the theater, should be open in a couple weeks, Barstow said. Buchanan's, a "U.K.-inspired" pub serving Scottish, Irish and British dishes, is expected to open in the former Bar Louie space across from the movie theater by the end of August, he said.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ACX Cinema at Bayshore in Glendale has a 'soft opening'