Yet the building went on, because everybody wanted a megaplex in the biggest markets.

ECONOMIST: Movie theatres

The theatre owners, who had been struggling to find ways to pep up a slow business, were thrilled by the megaplex.

ECONOMIST: Movie theatres

That is enough to fill a multiplex, or a small megaplex if you stick the popular films on a couple of screens.

ECONOMIST: Movie theatres

And universities in Asia--indeed, extending all the way to the Arab Gulf and the King Abdullah megaplex for science and technology in Saudi Arabia--are rising to offer an alternative.

FORBES: Side Lines

Not your typical megaplex affair, screenings take place in parks, along the water and, as the name suggests, on rooftops, including a graffiti-walled space atop a Lower East Side school six flights up.

BBC: Fresh-air flicks with a twist in New York City

At a time when Sanborn's fellow theater chains are filing for bankruptcy in droves--some recent casualties of the megaplex craze include Carmike, Edwards, and United Artists--the last thing they need is more costs.

FORBES: Pixel Perfect

For a start, the megaplex-building went crazy.

ECONOMIST: Movie theatres

And the Odeon in Blossom Street in York, an art deco gem built in 1938 with a Grade I listed interior, is struggling for survival against a multiplex on the ring road and a proposed megaplex in the centre.

ECONOMIST: Welcome to the age of the megaplex