Consolidated Theatres has upped the ante – in more ways than one – with its Titan XC "extreme cinema" experience featuring the largest commercial movie screen in the state.

At 66 feet wide by 35 feet high, it towers above the audience. Consolidated installed the new screen and Dolby Surround 7.1 system in one of its larger Ward Stadium 16 auditoriums, which already had a 56-by-35-foot screen.

"It was a pretty big screen already, but we just made it bigger and better," said Rachel Gibson, promotions and events manager for the theater chain. "It goes wall to wall and then from the top of the ceiling nearly to the floor. You really notice it when you walk in."

Moviegoers also will really notice the comfy, wider seats upholstered in leather. The 487 rocker seats are high enough to allow you to lean your head back with support.

With such generous seating, moviegoers will no longer need feel claustrophobic when the house is packed, and there’s no jostling for armrest domination with your neighbor because there is plenty of room to relax with your arms at your side.

Consolidated also is offering, for the first time, the option of purchasing reserved seating in advance, so no more coming early on opening weekend to wait in long lines at the box office.

But just how much will moviegoers be willing to pay for such luxuries?

General admission tickets for Titan XC shows are $14.25; $11 for seniors and children. Tickets for 3D movies sell for $16.25 for general admission and $13 for seniors and children.

It’s hard to imagine an average family of four shelling out $58.50 for tickets to a 3D showing just for an extra 10 feet of movie screen – and that’s even before hitting the concession stand. Titan XC seems more geared toward aficionados who will appreciate the reserved seating system and first-class leather furniture, and the theater’s new 75,000-watt digital sound system with 7.1 audio channels.

Five times more powerful than a typical theater system, the sound comes from 18 speakers on the walls, 14 on the ceiling, and double the number and size of subwoofers.

At Wednesday night’s advance screening of Disney/Pixar’s "Toy Story 3" in 3D, some in rows closer to the front of the house said they didn’t have a problem keeping up with the action on the giant screen but were a bit shell-shocked by the sound system.

Movies show in Titan XC will be presented with a new NEC digital projection system, according to Consolidated, and 3D blockbusters will be showcased using the state’s only XpanD 3D system, which is too complicated to explain here. Suffice it to say the XpanD 3D glasses, with their flexible, rubberized tips, are lightweight and the most comfortable around.

"Toy Story 3" showings in the Titan XC theater at Ward Stadium 16 are at 10:30 a.m. and 1:20, 4:10, 7 and 9:50 p.m.

For reserved seating and other information, visit ConsolidatedTheaters.com.