‘World’s Largest’ : 17-Screen Movie Complex Planned in Universal City

MCA said Monday that it has found a new partner in Plitt Theatres for construction of an ambitious movie theater complex at Universal City, the entertainment conglomerate’s 420-acre headquarters. The company also said it is expanding the project to make it “the world’s largest theater complex.”

The project was first announced 14 months ago as an $8-million undertaking with Mann Theatres of California, but the two companies scrapped their joint venture plans in October.

The new plans call for a more lavish complex than the one first envisioned by Mann. Instead of a 10- to 12-screen complex with 5,000 seats, Plitt will operate 17 screens with 5,600 seats. MCA and Plitt officials estimated that construction will cost $10 million. The theaters are expected to open in June, 1987.

Plitt, the nation’s fourth-largest motion picture theater chain, was acquired last month by a partnership headed by Cineplex Odeon Corp. of Toronto. Cineplex operates the successful 14-screen theater at the Beverly Center shopping complex, with 1,246 seats.

Larger Theaters, More Films

Garth Drabinsky, president and chief executive of both Cineplex and Plitt, said in a telephone interview that the Universal City complex will offer larger theaters and a broader range of films than the Beverly Center complex. The smallest theater in Universal City will have 225 seats, making it “larger than the largest at Beverly Center,” Drabinsky said. The two largest theaters at the Universal City complex will seat 800 each, he said.

Drabinsky said he hopes that Universal City will become as important as theaters clustered in Westwood for the West Coast opening of major motion pictures.

Lawrence D. Spungin, executive vice president of MCA Development Co., said the development will use a “different architectural scheme” than first planned, with a two-story design incorporating two cafes seating 100 persons each. The two companies will contribute equally to the cost, Spungin said, but MCA alone will pay for an adjacent parking facility for 1,400 cars.

Universal City, situated in the Cahuenga Pass north of Studio City, already includes the site of Universal Studios and the Universal Studios Tour, a 5,317-seat amphitheater for live entertainment, two hotels and a 36-story office building.