| 110
Screens To Be Added By 2004
Regal Earmarks
Sites For 7
Multis
KNOXVILLE,
Tenn. – Regal Entertainment Group (REG) confirmed
on March 13 a development plan which calls for the construction
of seven new U.S. multiplexes by 2004.
“While the projects announced today
do not represent our entire development schedule, they
are expected to add a
total of seven new theatres with 110 new screens and
are expected to strengthen the company’s position in
each market,” noted REG co-CEO Mike Campbell. “When
combined with planned closings, we continue to expect a
reduction in the net screen count in 2003 and 2004.”
Future sites include:
Atlanta,
Ga. – The 3,500-seat 80,000-square-foot
Atlantic Station Stadium 16 will be located at the connector
of interstates 75 and 85 in Midtown Atlanta (In
Focus, April 2003).
Durham, Ore. – With 4,500 seats and 81,000 square
feet, the Bridgeport Village Stadium 18 – situated
off Interstate 5 at Southwest Bridgeport Road – will
include a new “giant screen” auditorium for
70mm films and serve as a component of the Bridgeport
Village, which is being developed for office, retail,
entertainment
and restaurant use.
Portland, Ore. – Utilizing 1,100 seats and 32,000
square feet, Pioneer Place Stadium 6 in downtown Portland
will showcase primarily “Regal Cinema Art” specialty
films.
Corona, Calif. – The
81,000-square-foot Corona Crossings Stadium 18 off Interstate
15 at Cajalco Road will house
4,100 seats and serve as part of the Corona Crossings
complex of shops, dining and entertainment venues.
Washington, D.C. – The
2,800-seat, 63,000-square-foot Gallery Place Stadium
14 will be located at the corner
of 7th and H Street in the downtown area, where it will
neighbor the MCI Center.
Bossier City, La. – Located
off of Interstate 20 at Bossier City Riverwalk, the 3,300-seat,
64,000-square-foot
Louisiana Riverwalk Stadium 14 will be a part of the
new Louisiana Riverwalk area, which will feature shopping,
hotel, dining and entertainment venues.
Hazelwood, Mo. – Marking REG’s
entry into the St. Louis market, the 4,000-seat, 83,500-square-foot
St.
Louis Mills Stadium 18 will be located at St. Louis Mills
on state Highway 360.
The circuit also announced plans to expand
the existing Regal Coldwater Crossings 8-plex at the
Coldwater Road
exit off Interstate 69 in Fort Wayne, Ind., into a state-of-the-art
14-plex. Renovations will include an additional six auditoriums,
a new lobby, stadium-style seating in both new and pre-existing
auditoria along with a new “giant screen” in
one of the auditoria.
All sites are expected to feature stadium-style
seating, plush, high-backed rocking recliner seats with
retractable
cupholder armrests, and digital surround sound systems.
Additional amenities will include concession
areas offering value combos, customer service desks,
computerized box
offices and the Regal Crown Club loyalty program, which
rewards frequent moviegoers.
Advance tickets will be available by phone
or online at www.REGmovies.com. On-site “E-Z Ticket” kiosks
will be offered for fully automated ticket purchasing.
Regal, the world’s largest cinema chain, currently
operates 5,663 screens at 524 sites in 36 states. 
46 Screens In 3 States
Century Plans Three
In West And Midwest
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Century Theatres will bow
three multis in three states, all by next year.
A state-of-the-art 14-plex arrives this
summer in the Oakland, Calif., suburb of Walnut Creek;
a 16-plex in
Deer Park, Ill., is slated to bow late 2003 or early
2004; and a Beaverton, Ore., 16-plex is due to debut
the middle of next year.
 The Downtown Walnut Creek site will feature
stadium-style seating, rocker love seats, wall-to-wall
screens and
digital surround sound. Patrons will also find Century’s
trademark Café Cinema featuring gourmet concession
fare.
The Deer Park plex will be a part of the
expansion of an existing 350,000-square-foot shopping,
entertainment
and dining center located in Northern Chicago.
The Beaverton Cedar Hills Crossings 16-plex
will mark Century’s pioneer site on the West Side
of Portland, Ore. The plex will be a player in the renovation
of the
Beaverton Mall, which is slated to include new building
facades, an additional 40,000 square feet of new retail
and restaurant space and interior mall improvements.
Both sites will feature stadium-style
seating, rocker love seats, digital surround sound, a
Starcade Gameroom
and a Café Cinema with gourmet desserts and coffees.
San Rafael, Calif.-based Century currently operates more
than 900 screens in 11 states.
L.A. Quad to Shutter
Landmark 14-Plex
For Westside Too
LOS ANGELES – Landmark Theatres on March 14 announced
plans to construct a 14-screen specialty house in Los
Angeles’ Westside Pavilion shopping mall.
 The circuit currently operates a 4-plex
at the site but plans to replace it with a new facility
situated in the
newer “Westside Too” wing of
the mall. The quad will remain open until the new multi is complete.
Plans call for stadium-style seating in
all auditoria, eight of which will house between 150
and 299 seats. The six remaining auditoria, each with
about
100 seats each, will be built to resemble movie-lot screening rooms.
Programming
will include independent, foreign language, documentaries and restored
classics.
 The new multi, with nearly 2,300 seats,
will be split between the second and third levels of
the mall. Renovations of the site will include enclosure
of
open-air retail space, as well as the creation of an additional 20,000
square feet of retail and restaurant space.
The multi is slated to open in the fall
of 2004 with 12 screens and expand to 14 screens by fall
2009, pending zoning approval.
Los Angeles-based Landmark currently operates
177 screens at 53 specialty sites and 112 screens at
14 Silver Cinemas sub-run sites.
Kominsky Retires
Ogrodowski, Gudex
Promoted At Marcus
 MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Marcus Theatres
Corp. announced on April 2 the promotion of two film
department vets.
Senior vice president Mike Ogrodowski,
a Marcus employee of more than 30 years, was promoted
to head film buyer,
a position previously held by executive vice
president Mike Kominsky. Kominsky retired in May following 30 years as the
circuit’s chief film booker and studio liason.
 Ogrodowski began his career with the circuit
as a cinema manager in Appleton, Wis., and has been a
film booker since 1971.
“As head film buyer, Mike will oversee
Marcus Theatres’ film department
and all of the films that are programmed at each of our theatres in Wisconsin,
Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio,” said circuit president Bruce J. Olson.
 Jason Gudex, who started working as a
film specialist with the circuit’s
film department in 1997, was promoted to the position of film booker.
Gudex assists in booking films, including
open-captioned selections,
for Marcus and ICE Theatres in the Chicago area. He is also responsible
for
organizing trailer assignments.
Milwaukee-based Marcus currently operates
488 screens at 46 sites. |
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California-based Exhib
Century Calls
Ad-Free Zones
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Century Theatres says it has no plans to screen
pre-show commercials at any of its cinemas.
The opening paragraph of an April 8 press
release issued by the circuit states: “Century
Theatres, the San Rafael-based motion picture exhibitor, declared themselves
to be the only major company in America to not run television commercials at
their theatres.”
“We’ve been showing movies, and only movies, to the public since
1941 when our father started the business,” noted circuit CEO Raymond
W. Syufy in the same release.
With more than 900 screens at 75 sites
in 11 states, Century ranks among the 10 largest cinema
operators in North America. Its CinéArts specialty-film
unit operates 23 screens in six sites. ‘Don’t
Tax Our Movies’
Nevada Exhibs Join
Tax Proposal Protest
LAS VEGAS – Exhibitors in Nevada launched on March 14 a grassroots program
designed to fight Gov. Kenny Guinn’s proposed movie admission tax. If
passed, it would add an additional 60 cents to each ticket purchased.
 At nearly every cinema in Nevada, the “Don’t Tax Our Movies” program
made available special postcards for patrons to send to their state legislators
to protest the tax. In addition, preshow trailers and in-lobby posters were
used to educate moviegoers about the proposal.
Over 24,000 postcards were collected and forwarded to
legislators throughout the duration of the program.
“Moviegoers overwhelmingly agree that the state
budget should not be balanced on the backs of hard-working families
looking for affordable entertainment,” said
NATO of California/ Nevada president Milt Moritz.
Along with the postcards, a letter explaining the program — as well as
the reasons behind the anti-tax sentiment among exhibitors – was
sent to legislators. Cards were collected and forwarded at the beginning
of each
week until the end of the campaign, which ran for four weeks.
Additional details about the program, as well as information
about how exhibitors could e-mail their appropriate legislators, were
made
available
online at
www.nomovietaxes.com.
Aero Flying High
Cinematheque Grabs
Santa Monica Single
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – American Cinematheque, a Hollywood-based film
society, announced March 18 that it has acquired a long-term lease for the
historic Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, Calif.
The non-profit film society, which also operates the
famed and palatial Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, plans to add a new
concession counter and upgrade the
facility’s sound and projection. The English Tudor-style facade and
neon marquee will be preserved.
 Built by aeronautical engineer Donald Douglas in 1938,
the Aero first served as a movie haven open 24 hours a day for aircraft
employees who worked odd
hours and were unable to catch a movie during regular screening times.
The Aero is set to program the same kind of alternative,
foreign-language and classic fare that has long graced the Egyptian.
The site closed April 14 for renovations and is set
to reopen this summer.
Traveling Auditori-Tents
Loews’ Big Pix
Under Big Top
NEW YORK – Loews Cineplex kicked off in May its traveling “movies
in motion” summer road tour, which makes use of an enormous tent-auditorium.
The tour, set to visit 15 of the nation’s top
markets, features a branded 18-wheel tractor-trailer, real cinema seating
and state-of-the-art projection
and sound systems. All stops will coincide with local festivals in popular
outdoor spots.
Loews was slated to screen various upcoming summer blockbusters
as well as past hits “Sweet Home Alabama,” “The Fast and the Furious,” “Austin
Powers,” “Shanghai Knights,” “Legally Blond” and “American
Pie 2.” All movies will be shown on an inflatable full-size screen
throughout the day.
Informative kiosks offering prize giveaways will be
available from tour sponsors such as Lever 2000, Microsoft, BMG, Comedy
Central and Hotels.com.
Internet
terminals linked to the Loews Website enjoytheshow.com – at which participants
may purchase tickets to an indoor Loews plex near them – will be available.
Participants will also have the opportunity to win prizes for answering movie
trivia questions.
“This exciting grassroots brand extension is another
in a series of unique enhancements that we are bringing to the Loews
moviegoing experience,” noted
circuit vice president of marketing John McCauley.
The tour will last one week in each market and will
run until September.
Nebraska Expansion
Douglas Unveils 6,
Plans For 14-Plex
LINCOLN, Neb. – Early April brought both the opening of Douglas Theatre
Company’s renovated Edgewood Cinema 6-plex in the southeast
corner of Lincoln, Neb., and an announcement that the circuit plans
to construct by next
May a 14-plex in Downtown Lincoln.
The former Edgewood triplex underwent a complete facelift
during renovations, including the addition of three new state-of-the-art
auditoriums and
a 50-foot concessions area featuring Coca Cola’s innovative “i fountain” towers.
 Further renovations prior to the facility’s April 4 relaunch included
a 40-foot aluminum portico entrance with a “high-tech” brushed
aluminum theme winding throughout the lobby.
All auditoria feature high-backed Mobiliario seating
with retractable cupholder armrests, stadium-style seating, wall-to-wall
curved
screens and DTX certified
digital surround sound.
To be centrally located near the edge of the University
of Nebraska, the Douglas Grand 14-plex will feature the circuit’s
largest lobby, with a giant, canopy-covered doublewide patron drop-off
lane in the front. Free parking will
be available in a nearby parking garage.
The Grand, designed to remind patrons of the “regal theatres of the past,” will
contain an interactive entertainment/game room and birthday
party rooms. Several of the auditoria will be e-ready to accommodate
company seminars.
All auditoria will feature stadium-style seating, rocker
love seats, wall-to-wall screens and state-of-the-art
sound and
projection systems.
Lincoln-based Douglas currently operates 89 screens
at 12 sites in Lincoln and Omaha, Neb.
Arthouse In Edina
Landmark Acquires
Twin Cities Area 4
EDINA, Minn. – Landmark Theatres on March 14 relaunched its newly acquired
Edina Cinema 4-plex in the tiny Minneapolis suburb of Edina.
 Located at the intersection of 50th and France streets,
the facility, first built in the 1930s, was extensively renovated in
1988 by previous owner Cineplex
Odeon.
Landmark added its upscale concessions menu, including
espresso drinks, as well as its traditional independent film programming
to the 1,300-seat venue.
One auditorium is equipped with digital sound and 70mm
film screening capabilities.
“The Edina will add four beautiful screens to our repertoire that will
enable us to play more specialized film in the marketplace,” noted
circuit president Paul Richardson.
Showtimes for the Edina can be found online at www.landmarktheatres.com.
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