The Sterling Theater in Sterling, Illinois is set to open on Friday, August 23, 2013, according to an article published recently on saukvalley.com:

After more than a year of waiting, Sterling residents soon will have a new theater.

The Sterling Theater, 402 Locust St., will open a week from today and will show movies on its two screens every Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the first month.

The brew-and-view style theater will serve beer and wine, non-alcoholic beverages and movie staples such as nachos and popcorn, along with small appetizers such as mozzarella sticks and Chicago-style hot dogs.

After a month, the theater will run movies every day and start showing first-run movies, theater owner Skip Huston said.

Click the Read link to view the full article.

Huston, of Avon Theatre Management Co., also operates the Avon Theatre in Decatur. Their first two movies will be Unfinished Song (Song for Marion) and The Way, Way Back, which are non-mainstream choices, and intentional choices for variety, according to the above article.

The theater's closest competition will be the Carmike Sauk Valley 8 in Sterling, but given the current difference in movie styles, perhaps there won't be an exact overlap that will cause moviegoers to have to choose between them. The Sterling Theater is planning to show the upcoming George Clooney and Sandra Bullock Sci-Fi movie Gravity, which the Carmike location will surely be showing as well, so there is sure to be some competition for the hearts, minds, and wallets of the public after all.