Big Sean on new Detroit movie theater: 'We want to do something revolutionary'

With his planned Detroit multiplex, Big Sean is hoping to create a state-of-the-art entertainment destination that will inspire city residents while drawing audiences from across the region.

The rapper talked Wednesday about his new partnership with Troy's Emagine Entertainment, as they set out to build what would be just the second active cinema multiplex within the city limits. He called the shortage of Detroit movie theaters "super sad."

"I understand maybe why (that was the case) in the past," said Big Sean, born Sean Anderson. "But right now, as the city is in a complete renaissance, turning around and booming, I think this is a perfect time to bring a theater to the city of Detroit."

Sites in Midtown and downtown continue to be scouted, and construction won't be completed until 2020, but the complex already has its name: The Sean Anderson Theatre, powered by Emagine.

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Big Sean to help open Detroit movie multiplex

The multiplex will feature 10 to 12 screens and up to 1,300 in total seating, and Big Sean envisions a complex with auditoriums that can be converted into performance spaces, available for intimate concerts, seminars and comedy events.

"We want to do something revolutionary with it," he said. "We don't want to just make it a movie theater, traditionally. We also want it to be a hub for entertainment for the whole community. We want people to have an incentive to go the extra miles, to travel into Detroit."

Big Sean's talks with Emagine picked up steam in the fall, with the deal coming together during the past month. Details about the partnership were not provided, but Emagine co-founder Paul Glantz described it as a "long-term" deal.

Big Sean applauded the company's emphasis on quality control — "from the seats to the parking to the popcorn." 

"This is the theater that my family goes to when we go see movies together," he said.

Big Sean and Glantz spoke to media at Emagine Royal Oak, as hundreds of Detroit schoolchildren piled in for free screenings of "Black Panther," sponsored by the Free Press, the Detroit Lions, Ford Fund, Eminem's Marshall Mathers Foundation and the Sean Anderson Foundation.

A month away from his 30th birthday, the hit-making rapper sees the project as an important entrepreneurial step in his career.

"This is more than a dream come true," he said. "One of the aspirations, when you do something creative like music ... is to be an owner in something. So this is one of the first things outside of music that I'm actually an owner in."

Big Sean also addressed this week's postponement of his Unfriendly Reminder Tour, which was scheduled to start in the spring with a stop at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena. The tour was called off in favor of recording work, the rapper said, as he cuts the follow-up to last year's "I Decided."

"Truthfully, that was an intuitive feeling," he said of the decision. "As soon as I got back in the studio, the flow has just been undeniable. It's been amazing, and I don't want to interrupt that. I know how hard that is to come by sometimes."

He wouldn't commit to a timeline for rescheduled dates, but pledged he won't let the delay go in vain.

"This is something I really needed to do for myself. I really wanted to take the time out to create a project more special than anything I've ever done. And that takes time and extreme focus."

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.