“Cinebistro and several other concepts have been successful with food and beverage service,” he said, “and we believe consumers will be receptive.”

The Cinebistro chain has a six-screen facility at Stony Point Fashion Park in South Richmond.

Thomas H. Wilkinson, Carmike’s director of real estate and development, said his company has dine-in theaters under construction in Athens, Ga., and Bloomington, Ill.

The Midlothian Carmike rebuild is “not just a quick makeover,” Wilkinson said. “We’re tearing it all down, just keeping the walls. … We’re going to make this a first-class facility for our patrons.”

He said the company will have a full-service restaurant with a complete menu — “and you’ll still be able to get popcorn.”

The competition for entertainment dollars is fierce, he said, and a major factor in the appeal of combined dinner-and-movie theaters is the condensed time frame for an evening out.

“If you go for a dinner and a movie separately,” Wilkinson said, “you might spend an hour and a half at a restaurant, then 2½ hours at the movie theater. When you come here, you’ll be able to combine that time.