Starnet Cinemas
904-731-9616 Jacksonville FL Sara Homer
Strictly a family style operation, Bill & Sara took over Kent Theatres a few years back.
Eastern Federal
704-377-3495 Charlotte NC
Eastern Fed used to run dollar houses on a shoestring years ago, but I'm sure there have been many changes.
Consolidated Theatres
704-554-1695 Charlotte, NC
Which reminds me, Herman Stone was interviewed on NPR this week about the shakeout in the industry. I imagine his interview is probably available on the NPR website if you are interested.
ONeil Theatres
504-641-4720 Slidell LA (near New Orleans)
They got hit in the recent crunch, IIRC?
Muvico Theatres
954-564-6550 Ft. Lauderdale FL
The company that is bringing glamour back to theatres in the U.S. Scruffies need not apply. AMC management style training. Knock-em-dead style theatres. One of the few circuits that understands heavy staffing can be good.
That's quite a range of styles.
If you move to Charlotte be prepared for the strangest drivers on the planet. If there is a six lane highway with six cars on it, those cars will be lined up abreast of each other, driving at 25 mph. I think everyone is afraid to pass a neighbor for fear that it is rude.
I did not O Neil got hit in the crunch. Are they going to be able to stay afloat oor are they going to sell out their screens?
I agree with what you said about Muvico. From the pics I have seen they have built some great palaces.
For reference, University 4 opened Friday, June 17, 1977. Consolidated also operated the Trans-Lux Twin here in Huntsville briefly before Cobb took it over.
I'd like to know more about Consolidated Theatres. Did they build all of their theatres with the "pod" style auditoriums?
Here is my University 6 description file.
Accordings to the city directories, Bascom Lassiter was the manager of the theatre from 1979-1989, and possibly earlier.
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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site
Drivers in Charlotte, not near as bad as Winston-Salem or Greensboro, I used to look forward to driving in Charlotte. Still not as bad as Florida in the winter!!
Greg Borr
Ready Theatre Systems
In reference to Consolidated, what do you mean by "pod" style auditoriums?
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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site
Signature Theatres
Cinema-West
Pacific Theatres
Gulf States Theatres
Aaron Siesmore works for Cinema West so he can fill you in on them.
Pacific is builing large, pretty good, all stadium theatres now. We have one in the next town over. I think it is the best theatre in the county. But you have to wade through too many teenagers and they are cronicly understaffed. Also they built this multiplex with used equipment. It still a good theatre but I don't know what that says about there pay structure.
I think O'Neil already shed their loser theatres. They should be OK.
Evans, you can also tell Consolodated construction of that period by the hose bibb in the back of the auditoriums and drain at the front. 1977 sounds a little early for an opening date, but it could be right. IIRC there was a gentlemen's agreement that Cobb wouldn't go into Consolodated towns and Consolodated wouldn't go into Cobb towns. That agreement was breached by Consolodated tagging Centerpoint and Hoover, surrounding B'ham. R.C. retaliated with the theatre you loved to hate in Huntsville, plus Centerpoint Six and Hoover Square Six. Herman Stone is largely responsible for the improvement of Cobb Theatres in B'ham. Prior to those theatres, the B'ham locations were chopped up old barns and twins. R.C. had to build new or die. As it was, the Consolodated locations generally grossed a little higher, perhaps because the customers that Cobb had made suffer for so long were determined to support competition. The Cobb theatre in Huntsville was wildly successful, perhaps for similar reasons.
The design of the free standing auditoriums cut down on crosstalk, but had other problems. Passing motorcyclists and traffic could be apparent and there was substantially more heating and cooling load. Kids could always find a corner to sneak around, and there was a lot of wall space for graffiti. As soundproofing techniques improved, adjoining theatres became more practical. Sound bleed-thru at
Centerpoint Six was minimal. The greatest sound problem was from auditorium doors opening and admitting lobby noise.
But if you like to drive fast you'll love Montana. We run slowpokes off the road here and if that doesn't work there's the gun rack in the back of the truck and we can shoot 'em down! 75mph on the interstate here is cruising & just getting started...
Aaron Sisemore
Chief Technician
Cinema West Theatres
quote:
Evans, you can also tell Consolodated construction of that period by the hose bibb in the back of the auditoriums and drain at the front. 1977 sounds a little early for an opening date, but it could be right. IIRC there was a gentlemen's agreement that Cobb wouldn't go into Consolodated towns and Consolodated wouldn't go into Cobb towns.
I only went to the University 6 twice and back then I wasn't looking for architectural features, so I don't know if the hose and drain that you say are trademarks of Consolidated exist there. Can anyone tell by my photographs in the description page (posted earlier in thread) if it is a Consolidated-built theatre? The opening date I give, Friday, June 17, 1977, is the date that the theatre was advertised for "Grand Opening". In the description file I have the showtimes for the first night of business. I got all my opening dates by finding grand opening ads in newspapers by using the binary search method, which is a very efficient way to find opening dates for theatres.
I found it odd that the company name was not mentioned in the grand opening ad. The place was simply referred to as "University Cinemas". Consolidated may have built the theatre, or may have taken it over after it opened. I'd like to know. Two auditoriums were added, opening on April 30, 1982.
I wondered if Cinema North and Cinema South in Nashville were built by the same company that built University 6. Someone said long ago that Cinema North and South were Carmike theatres, but so was University 6 after Carmike took it over. The "pod" style of building is similar in all three theatres.
I haven't tried researching Nashville's theatre history yet. It would probably be a huge task.
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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site