The story
Classic Cinemas was founded in 1978 by Willis and Shirley Johnson, when after the previous operators of the Tivoli Theater, located in the Tivoli building owned by the Johnsons abandoned the theater, they decided to step in and run the theater themselves after they were unable to find another operator. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the company continued to grow by purchasing historical single screen downtown theaters, restoring and adding additional screens to the complexes. Classic Cinemas was awarded the Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award for “Stewardship” in 2011.
During a period in the 1980s when some major films were released with 70mm prints for select theatres, Classic Cinemas (then under the Tivoli Enterprises name) featured these wide-gauge prints at their flagship Tivoli Theatre for bargain prices once they had ended their first-run engagements. This might be the only example of a "sub run" theatre showing films in that format.
Classic Cinemas finished its technology overhaul in 2012 installing Christie CP4230 projectors, GDC SX2000AR servers, and Datasat AP-20 audio processors. Now all screens have 4K, High Frame Rate (HFR), personal captioning devices, descriptive narration, and hearing impaired systems. They are also installing micro-perforated screens for the ultimate picture quality. All theatres and auditoriums are equipped 7.1 sound. The chain has also introduced XQ, a Premium large format, along with installing power recliners at every location.
From Wikipedia’s article on Classic Cinemas, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3