Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Asad day in Hawaii, all three Waikiki theatres is closed

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-21-2002, 02:40 PM:

What was expected for a very long time has finally happened. Consolidated Theatres (Pacific) has decided without any advance notice, closed all three of it's Waikiki theatres last night after their last shows. Although the new Victoria Ward 16 Theatres are wonderful theatres with state of the art picture and sound, the Waikiki theatres especially the twins (#1 & #2) were Hawaii's finest motion picture theatres in the opinion of many people who are very savvy about excellent motion picture theatre picture and sound. Althought the four largest theatres at the Ward has the same XL class HPS-4000 sound system as the Waikiki Twins, the sound at the Waikiki was much fuller and better because it had better acoustics. What a sad day! [Frown]

Here is the direct link to one of Honolulu's two major newspaper and
an extensive article about the theatre closing is reported in todays edition. The story will only be up today (11/28). Here is the direct link http://www.honoluluadvertiser,com

-Claude

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 11-21-2002, 02:50 PM:

Here is the link

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Nov/21/ln/ln01a.html

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 11-21-2002, 03:02 PM:

[Frown]

The closing of any good theatre is a sad event, but it's especially sad for ones that were extraordinary.

Try this link:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Nov/21/ln/ln01a.html

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 11-21-2002, 03:36 PM:

What Consolidated Amusement should do is turn the Waikiki 1, 2 and 3 theatres into second run theatres. I don't know anything about Hawaii's other theatres; but i think second run theatres are a good investment.

I understand what the people of Waikiki are going threw. I lost my job because we didn't have a good turn out and multiplex's put us out of business. I have worked Carmike Ultravision 4 in 1998. The Ultravision was opened in 1969 (True Grit) and was the flagship theatre in Charleston S.C.. People from 75 miles away would drive just come just for movies. It was all light up at night and huge spotlights outside. The Ultravision had 1 screen, 780 seat auditiourm. It closed with 4 screens the biggest house 250 seats. It was a great place to work and get experience with older equipment. The best part I was the last head projectionist to run a movie. The end of a line for projectionist at the Ultravision. [Frown]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 11-21-2002, 03:48 PM:

Did the Charleston Ultravision 4 still have the original "Optiverter" that was part of the Ultra-Vision system installed by Wil-Kin and Glenn Berggren? Century projectors, correct?

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 11-21-2002, 03:50 PM:

The Waikiki Theatre opened in 1936. They added the twin in 1969.
The Hawaii Cinerama Theatre closed in 1999. It is now an auto parts
store. The Hawaii Theatre is a Performing Arts Center now. [Frown]

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-21-2002, 04:03 PM:

William,

All three ofthe Waikiki theatres are equipped for 70mm. I do not think playing second run regular pictures at the Waikiki will work but they should do very well with special 70mm revival showings. They did very well with the exclusive re release of "APOCALYPSE NOW-REDUX". I think "LAWRENCE OF ARABIA", "PATTON", "RYAN'S DAUGHTER, "HELLO DOLLY and "LORD JIM" which are now being shown in some special 70mm venues should do very well in Waikiki.

-Claude

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-21-2002, 04:04 PM:

William,

All three ofthe Waikiki theatres are equipped for 70mm. I do not think playing second run regular pictures at the Waikiki will work but they should do very well with special 70mm revival showings. They did very well with the exclusive re release of "APOCALYPSE NOW-REDUX". I think "LAWRENCE OF ARABIA", "PATTON", "RYAN'S DAUGHTER, "HELLO DOLLY and "LORD JIM" which are now being shown in some special 70mm venues should do very well in Waikiki.

-Claude

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 11-21-2002, 04:10 PM:

John, Yes we had Century heads our platters where "blue" and white rollers that could use both 35mm and 70mm. I do know that our heads did have gates for 70mm film. I'm not a very technical guy. I have no idea what an "Optiverter" is. We also had 3 port windows and on the floor you could see where they had mounts for the projectors. I do know they use to do reel changes because of the toilet in both. We had switchs in between our projectots that would motor both projectors. I have never worked with reel changes, but I would love to. I believe the orginal screen had 3 sections. If you have any more questions I "might" be able answer. [Smile]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 11-21-2002, 08:41 PM:

AFAIK, the Ultra-Vision "Optiverter" was a mirror arrangement that let the beams from two projectors go through a single port on the center optical axis of the theatre, minimizing keystone distortion. The two projectors were "toed in" toward the center port. Lenses and gates were specially selected, and optical alignment was optimized. Superior image quality was claimed, and it was the subject of an SMPTE paper in the late 1960's. The old SMPTE Projection Manual has a discussion and a photo of the setup.

Posted by Chris Markiewicz (Member # 1415) on 11-21-2002, 09:18 PM:

A sad day indeed. I remember seeing Aliens at Waikiki 2, absolutely awesome on that huge screen. I got to see the booths when my dad was doing repairs on the auditorium dimmers in the 70s; 35/70 changeovers and non-sync on 8-track(!). Also saw many films at Waikiki 3, but I had left Honolulu before the 30s palm trees were removed. An ocean of seats stretching off into the distance, and an army of uniformed usherettes. NOBODY misbehaved with those ladies patrolling the house. All of those theatres always had great presentation with curtains, and on weekends the organ played before shows at Waikiki 3.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 11-21-2002, 10:22 PM:

It has been 30 years since I was in Hawaii, and I remember some of the theaters in Waikiki. They were nice, and it seemed they cared about picture presentation, clean auditoriums, etc.

If the theatres that were just closed were making a profit, I am sure someone will re-open them. I hope so, anyway.

Posted by Paul Cassidy (Member # 951) on 11-21-2002, 11:51 PM:

WOW I missed out [Confused]

I hope they don't pull them down ???

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-22-2002, 12:38 AM:

Yes Paul, you did indeed missed out. I was planning to take you to the twins when you come during the Christmas holidays but it is not to be. The Waikiki theatres are no longer in operation but Thank God, the Waikiki IMAX will continue to operate. Now that the Waikiki's are history, Hawaii's best theatres are now the Victoria Ward 16. The best houses are #7,#8, #9 and #10. They all have 60 foot screens like the Waikiki twins with SRD and SDDS-8 digital sound processors. One or two of them also has DTS. They also have John Allen's awesome XL class HPS-4000 sound systems which I consider much better than the THX systems at the DOLE Cannery you visited during your last visit to Honolulu last year.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 11-22-2002, 07:10 AM:

There is a picture of an Optiverter installation on P.8 of the old SMPTE Motion Picture Projection and Theatre Presentation Manual. I'm told they did not have any moving parts (no flipping mirrors) so if that's the case then both beams cannot come from exactly the same spot, not with 100% reflective mirrors anyway.

BTW, Wil-Kin went on to become the wholly owned supply unit of Cineplex Odeon.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 11-22-2002, 03:45 PM:

Claude,

Do you ever visit any of the Wallace Theatres in Hawaii? My old tech recently went to work for them as their in-house field tech.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-24-2002, 03:30 PM:

I do not know how many of you subscribe to BOXOFFICE magazine but John Allen has been a primary contributer to to that publication and once wrote a two page article about the sound system in the Waikiki #3 after the theatre was remodeled. The HPS-4000 sound in that theatre at that time was state of the art but the other two Waikiki theatres was equipped with a system much better than the one in house three after the twins was also remodeled and opend in time for "STAR WARS-Episide 1". You can read about the Waikiki theatres in an article John Allen just wrote at his website when he learned of the closing of the theatres. Here is the direct link to that article---

http://www.hps4000.com/pages/specialann.html

Jason,

I have not been to any Wallace theatre in Hawaii except the Restaurant Row theatres in Honolulu and they suck big time! I once made a special effort to see Paramount's horror film "RELIC" there because from the newspaper advertisment, it was the only theatre playing the film in SRD. This was a movie that called for an awesome sound mix but when I saw the movie, the sound was only imited to the stage speakers with no surrounds. When I politely asked the manager why the the surrounds was not working, he brushed me off by saying that the film's soundtrack was recorded that way. Another film I saw there in a SDDS house ("MONEY TRAIN") also had no surround. A few months later, "RELIC" was released in AC-3 on laserdisc and the surround sound was magnificent. DTS must have been very impressed with the mix because they did use a segment of the movie on their demonstration DVD #3. The DVD of "MONEY TRAIN" also has a 5.1 track and the surround was also very active. Bad sound it not only Wallace theatres only problem. I always stay and read credits to the end and one of their projectionist turned off the projector lamp when the cedits started to roll when I saw another movie there. I complained the next day and I was told that since no one hangs around to read credits, that is why the projectionist turned off the projector lamp. At least he sais he was sorry. They are now showing ""2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY" in 'Glorius' 35mm and "WALLACE THEATRES DIGITAL SOUND! Booooo! Waikiki Twin, where are you when we need you? [Frown]

-Claude

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 11-24-2002, 05:36 PM:

The photos in the Advertiser article are really small. Can someone take or get ahold of some larger photos and post them here and/or email them to me for addition to Cinematour before the buildings are repurposed or demolished?

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-24-2002, 06:00 PM:

Adam,

I will be going to the Waikiki IMAX to see "STAR WARS/EPISODE 2" on the last day of it's run on Tuesday and will take my digital camera with me and get some exterior pictures of all three Waikiki theatres for you. By the way, "TREASURE PLANET" opens on Wednesday at the IMAX theatre here on Wednesday along with's it's regular 35mm engagements at other theatres. Sadly, most people could care less about the better presentation in both picture and sound at theIMAX and will go to the malls and see it on a regular screen with standard digital sound. This is the same reason the Waikiki theatres had to close. Consolidated does not help either with their $10.00 admission prices for adults at the IMAX plus $4.00 for parking. Regular theatre prices is about $4.75 for adults for the first show of the day and no parking fees.

-Claude