TORONTO -- Mothers Against Drunk Driving has no problem with the anticipated licensing of movie auditoriums to serve alcohol, as long as it doesn't happen around children, MADD's CEO said yesterday.

Cineplex Entertainment is in the process of obtaining liquor licences for seven auditoriums in two theatre complexes -- Varsity in downtown Toronto and SilverCity in Oakville -- that could see alcohol served by show times next Wednesday.

The auditoriums in question are already restricted to moviegoers 19 and older who pay a $5 premium for VIP treatment, and are in theatre complexes that have licensed lounges.

"There's no mixing (of adults and children) there. Everybody's of legal drinking age," MADD CEO Andrew Murie said yesterday.

"If adults want to consume, they can go to one of the adult theatres."

Under an October amendment to the Liquor Licence Act, auditoriums applying for a liquor licence must have a licensed establishment already in the complex, must be "clearly distinguished" from non-licensed areas and must be available to only those 19 and older, said Lisa Murray, spokesman for the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

STRICTLY ADULT

"You're not going to be sitting there with your five-year-old and have someone drinking beside you," Murray said.

The amendment that allows Cineplex to apply for the licence is part of a year-long pilot project that comes to an end in November 2009, Murray said.

"Those things are fine," Murie said. "It's when you start to mix the two and you have a 14-year-old and an adult sitting there, it's just not good business."

"We already, as you know, have a designated licensed lounge in that location," Cineplex spokesman Pat Marshall said, referring to the Varsity location.

"That's been there and operating for many, many years without incident."

The staff have been trained under the provincial alcoholic beverage training program, Marshall added.

"(Staff) will now be able to serve alcohol to those guests who would like to have that available to them either in that designated licensed lounge or only in one of those four VIP auditoriums.

"We are doing this in a very responsible manner," Marshall said. "This is very different than what exists elsewhere, for example, at the Air Canada Centre where children sit amongst adults."