THE region's own Star Wars is about to be played out when an £8m multi-screen cinema opens later this summer.

A string of Hollywood box office flops have failed to dampen enthusiasm for the movie-going experience.

Audiences in the region have more than doubled in the last ten years, prompting new interest from multi-screen developers.

The latest complex, developed by UGC, is due to open in Middlesbrough on June 1.

It is being built at St John's Gate and will have 11 screens and seat more than 2,800 people over two floors. There will also be a cafe and a bar, and a 650-space car park.

The scheme is part of the multi-million pound Middlesbrough Leisure Park development, which will also include a JJB Sports health club, a Pizza Hut and McDonalds.

It is hoped that 70 jobs will be created at the cinema and a recruitment drive has been stepped up this week for front of house staff.

To coincide with the opening, there will be offers and deals including cinema passes which allow people to see as many films as they want for £9.99, and special family deals.

The UGC development is due to go head-to-head with the 14-screen Showcase cinema at Teesside Park, and the Warner multi-screen, in Hartlepool.

The multi-screens have already seen off the older town centre cinemas.

Stockton's Classic Cinema closed in 1996 and the 1,000- seater Middlesbrough Odeon shuts in June.

Of the traditional movie houses, only Darlington's ABC Cinema remains, thanks to a combination of innovative advertising promotions and cheap ticket prices.

A spokeswoman for UGC said: "As well as the price and the facilities, the technology at our multi-screen will be state-of-the-art. For example, the sound and picture will both be digitally enhanced."

There will also be a wide variety of movies, with art house films becoming a regular feature alongside foreign and Asian offerings.

UGC, which has its head office in Paris, bought out the Virgin Cinema chain last year.

The 40-strong chain, which specialises in developing inner-urban sites rather than developing them in out-of-town leisure parks, has opened ten cinemas across the country in the past nine months.

The spokeswoman said: "Hopefully, we will be able to provide a major boost to the local area."

Planning permission was granted on this week by Middlesbrough Borough Council to convert the Odeon Cinema into a bar and restaurant development.

Luminar Leisure, which already runs the Chicago Rock Cafe and Liquid nightclub in the town, has been granted planning permission to open a Jumpin Jaks bar on the site of the Odeon Cinema, in Corporation Road