<table> </table> It&#8217;s a movie theater offering real meals.</p><p>It&#8217;s a restaurant that shows films.</p><p>It&#8217;s the coolest-looking barroom in Kansas City; it just happens to be in a suburban megaplex.</p><p>The new Fork &amp; Screen concept at AMC&#8217;s Studio 30 in Olathe may be something else, too: a reason for grown-ups to go back to the movies.</p><p>After months of planning and construction, Fork &amp; Screen opens Friday in the east wing of the Studio 30, offering film, food and drink to audiences willing to pay a bit more for special treatment.</p><p>If you&#8217;re younger than 17 you can&#8217;t even get in, unless you&#8217;re with Mom or Dad.</p><p>This addition to KC&#8217;s cinematic menu reflects a national trend: The number of older persons attending movies is increasing. And they&#8217;re picky about their moviegoing experience.</p><p>A survey by the Motion Picture Association of America found that between 1990 and 2000 the percentage of movie audiences made up of persons younger than 29 decreased. Moviegoers 50 to 59, meanwhile, increased from 5 percent to 10 percent of the total audience.</p><p>&#8220;The older audience always has been underserved, both in content and amenities,&#8221; said Paul Dergarabedian, whose L.A.-based Media by Numbers tracks America&#8217;s entertainment habits. &#8220;The future of the exhibition industry is in the more upscale experience. Despite the fact that we&#8217;re in an economic downturn, when people make the decision to spend their entertainment dollar, they want to know they&#8217;ll get a bang for their buck. It looks to me like AMC is tapping into that.&#8221;</p><p>Studio 30 regulars won&#8217;t recognize the place. All the auditoriums in the east wing have been torn out and rebuilt. A full-service kitchen has been installed. A sprawling barroom called MacGuffins has become the centerpiece.</p><p>The movie-and-meal format isn&#8217;t new. It has been successful in other parts of the country and currently is offered in the VIP Room at Cinemark&#8217;s Palace on the Plaza and in the balcony of the big auditorium at the Legends 14 near the Kansas Speedway.</p><p>It isn&#8217;t always successful. The Majestic Theatre in Zona Rosa, which offered meals with its movies, closed late last summer.</p><p>&#8220;Actually the food and drink operation was doing fine,&#8221; said operator Todd Leinenbach, who continues to run the Improv comedy club at that location. &#8220;Our business problem was not enough theaters. We had only three screens, and we needed more to be competitive.&#8221;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Preview in Atlanta</span></strong></p><p>The Studio 30 now offers a degree of luxury that local moviegoers have never seen, according to AMC spokesman Andy Diorio, who added that because the KC-based company considers the Studio 30 to be its flagship multiplex, it was determined to set an industry standard.</p><p>Eleven new auditoriums have been designed and built to serve audiences who want real food with their movies. The majority are in the Fork &amp; Screen format. Three have been designated Cinema Suites, a &#8220;premium upscale concept&#8221; packed with extra amenities like padded reclining chairs and reserved seating.</p><p>Everything from draft beer and bottles of wine to fancy mixed drinks and dishes such as Parmesan fries, Romesco pizza and Caesar salads are delivered at patrons&#8217; seats by a staff that eventually will number 140 (the theater still is hiring).</p><p>Each aspect of the design was evaluated for its impact on the dining and moviegoing experience, Diorio said.</p><p>Sight lines needed to be clear from every seat (the tiered seating areas rise steeply enough that customers won&#8217;t need to peer around the heads of the waiters serving the row in front). Lighting on the tables had to be bright enough for customers to read menus but not so bright as to distract during the film.