Movie Cricket

Thursday will mark 10 years since Larry H. Miller — car salesman extraordinaire and owner of the Utah Jazz — opened up his first movie theater, the Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons.

The Megaplex Theatres chain now encompasses 70 screens at five Utah locations — The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City, the Jordan Commons in Sandy, the District in South Jordan, the Megaplex 13 in Ogden and the eight-plex at Thanksgiving Point — and sets the region's standard for a comfortable, clean theater experience.

The theaters are also consistently setting single-day or opening-weekend box-office records for such franchises as the "Harry Potter" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.

The chain's history has not been all smooth sailing, though: There was the infamous 2006 incident in which Miller yanked a Megaplex 17 booking of "Brokeback Mountain" because he didn't cotton to no gay cowboys — while simultaneously allowing the "torture-porn" film "Hostel" to screen.

The Megaplex theaters will celebrate their 10th birthday with a special deal Wednesday and Thursday: For $10, you can get a ticket to a movie (depending on studio restrictions), refillable popcorn, refillable soft drink, and a piece of birthday cake.

Also, fans attending Thursday's Utah Jazz game will receive a gift candy card — worth anywhere from $1 to $100 in concessions at the Megaplex Theaters. (Think of it as atonement for the team's terrible play.)