In Clearwater, Fla., 2000-seat multiplex movie theater with full captioning and audio description planned for 2012

From The Tampa Bay Business Journal:

A movie theater has been scheduled to open in the spring of 2012 at Westfield Countryside mall in Clearwater.

Cobb Theatres and Westfield Countryside said Cobb Countryside 12 would be built on the southwest corner of Westfield Countryside.

“City officials worked hand in hand with Westfield and Cobb, both renowned leaders in their respective industries, to bring this project from the drawing table to the onset of construction,” Mayor Frank V. Hibbard said in a statement. “This announcement represents a successful collaboration which will benefit the entire community for years to come.”

Plans for the theater follow a recently completed $12 million reinvestment of Westfield Countryside. Westfield Group (ASX: WDC) owns Westfield Countryside. The company, headquartered in Australia, has a portfolio of 55 shopping centers in the United States.

Cobb Theatres, based in Birmingham, Ala., operates 193 screens at 14 locations throughout the Southeastern United States.

The new theater in Clearwater will incorporate the latest technology into Cobb’s next generation design, a release said. Its 12 auditoriums will have more than 2,000 seats with stadium seating.

The theater will have Rear Window Captioning (pictured) that emits a caption that hearing-impaired moviegoers can pick up with a device that slips into their cup holder as well as a descriptive video service for moviegoers who are sight-impaired.