Plans For Closed Captioning At Celebration Cinema Years In The Making

movie-js-0227
movie-js-0227

A representative of Celebration Cinema says the theater chain’s decision to add closed captioning services to all of its locations had everything to do with a lawsuit filed against the company, and nothing to do with it. A St. Joseph man filed suit last month against Celebration for its lack of accommodations to the deaf. Celebration Cinema spokesperson Steve VanWagoner tells WSJM News the chain had been holding off on installing that technology, but realized it was time to act.

“We were working on this for a few years, and almost two years ago we were ready to launch when the justice department decided to look at different rules for compliance,” VanWagoner said. “So, as we’re waiting for that, now here we are.”

VanWagoner says the closed captioning service will feature little screens that a customer can attach to their cup holder. The screen will then carry subtitles and other important descriptions. The service will not involve subtitles up on the big screen, as some have wondered. Also, Celebration Cinema is adding descriptive audio headphones for the blind. All of that new tech will be in the chain’s theaters by mid-October.