As students start heading back to school, they will notice a new addition to UK’s campus. After three years of construction, large areas of the new Gatton Student Center have been opened to the public.

One unique component of the $201 million student center is the Worsham Cinema, which is a reiteration of the Worsham Theater in the previous student center.

The cinema opened June 18, which was the first day of the SeeBlueU Orientation for incoming students. The 2018 film “A Quiet Place” was screened that Monday for all incoming students. This gave students a “taste of what UK is like,” said Zach Lamb, assistant director for activities and marketing at the Gatton Student Center.

Lamb said the “state of the art” cinema includes a 404-inch screen with 4K resolution. There are 52 speakers throughout the cinema that use Dolby Atmos Surround Sound. According to Lamb, UK is “the first university in both the Southeast and the Midwest region to have this Dolby Surround System.”

The cinema is designed with tiered stadium style seating, so “there isn’t a bad seat,” Lamb said. The cinema has 564 seats and includes eight wheelchair accessible seats.

The Late Night Film Series, the Student Center’s free film series, will be moving into Worsham Cinema under a new name: “Student Center Cinema.” The Late Night Film Series will show movies at 10 p.m. on Fridays.

Almost everything done in the cinema will be done by the Student Center Cinema, but there will be non-cinematic events that will be hosted by various groups.

The Student Center Cinema will have many different series, including a new series called “Reel Talk,” which will be held every Wednesday at 7 p.m. beginning Aug. 29 and will include movies that are commentated by various filmmakers and professors on campus.

When choosing films for the series, the Student Center Cinema, with the help of students, tried to be “as diverse and eclectic as possible,” Lamb said. The staff worked the entire summer to make the list of movies they are going to show.

The staff first looked at big blockbusters to show. First screenings will be at 8 p.m. on Thursdays. A second showing will be done at 7 p.m. on Saturdays. The cinema will also have movie showings at 5 p.m. on Thursdays and at 7 p.m. on Fridays.

The new student center was completely funded by the state and private donors. According to Lamb, UK’s primary goal was to make sure that the student center did not get paid for by students.

Lamb said that Bill Gatton, Kentucky-based businessman and philanthropist, contributed a huge donation to the student center.

“His incredibly generous donation made so much of this building possible… There’s not a piece of this building that wasn’t touched by his contribution,” Lamb said.