Cape Cod's new entertainment hub shows summer films, delays live shows

Cape Cod's new entertainment hub shows summer films, delays live shows

You can watch eight first-run movies ― like “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” ― every day at Bill Hanney’s Entertainment Experience, but you will have to wait another year for live theater at the Cape Cod Mall complex.

“I think I was probably a little bit optimistic on the time needed for the scale of what was being done,” Hanney said earlier this month.

The theater entrepreneur had planned to open the live Broadway-style theater in Hyannis this spring with a production of “Grease,” which played at his North Shore Music Circus in 2025.

He is aiming to create the feel of Las Vegas, Hanney said, without the casinos. "I promise. We won't go for a casino on Cape Cod," he said.

Already the owner of nine cinemas and live-theater stages throughout New England, including North Shore, Hanney took on a 40-year lease in August 2024 for the former Regal Cinemas behind the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis.

He refitted eight of the 12 theaters into state-of-the-art movie screens with 130 oversized recliners that each have their own tray tables. The other four movie theaters are being made over into the Broadway-style theater and a jazz club with live performances.

Hanney said he has also added plans for a glassed-in mezzanine lounge, overlooking the complex’s lobby (where everyone will enter.) The lounge ― serving drinks and dinner ― will be wrapped around the two-story live theaters, He also plans a lobby seating area overlooking the pond near the theater.

Hanney has done away with a planned IMAX screen in the stage theater, he said, because the equipment takes up "a whole room and I don't have the space. I have 50,000 square feet and I can't build up or out so I have to work with that." He plans to install another oversized screen with state-of-the-art sound that doesn't need as much space.

No detailed building plans have been filed with the town yet.

Hanney, a part-time Brewster resident, said the Bill Hanney Entertainment Experience is the first time live shows and movies have been housed in one place.

A piece of Las Vegas in Hyannis

The cinemas' opulence is found in touches ranging from the new extra-thick carpet to the 36-stall ladies room with granite walls and cloud-shaped mirrors. Other things already in place are digitized movie posters that project snippets of movie trailers and art deco-style chandeliers shaped like old-fashioned movie reels.

Also lining the main hall is Hanney’s personal collection of framed paper movie posters, going back a half-century to movies including “The Pink Panther” and Walt Disney's "The Aristocats.”

Hanney said he will be, shortly, announcing the 2027 schedule for his yet-to-be-built stage theater. People will be able to reserve tickets this summer, he said, but not pay until December.

Hanney has also been shopping for his dream complex. While at CinemaCon in Las Vegas in April, he ordered a $40,000 cocktail-making machine. That, along with a full menu, is planned to supply the jazz club and mezzanine lounge. Hanney envisions the space also being rented for community gatherings or weddings.

But in the meantime, Hanney was at the theater working on getting the new sign lit in time for Memorial Day weekend: The electronic sign came in wired for European rather than U.S. electric wattage and the discrepancy blew out all the bulbs.

Gwenn Friss is the editor of CapeWeek and covers entertainment, restaurants and the arts on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Contact her at gfriss@capecodonline.com.

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