Tri-Star to Double Size of Its Loews Theatres Chain

Tri-Star Pictures, a 5-year-old studio that has moved aggressively into theater ownership, said Tuesday that it intends to double the size of its newly acquired, 300-screen Loews Theatres chain in the next 18 months.

The expansion would be accomplished by construction of new theaters and the acquisition of smaller chains, Tri-Star Chairman and Chief Executive Victor A. Kaufman said at the company’s second annual meeting of shareholders. Tri-Star shares began trading publicly in 1985.

“Our goal would be, without a major acquisition, to bring the Loews chain up to 1,000 screens within three years,” he said.

Earlier this year, Tri-Star scrapped a $500-million bid for the nation’s largest movie theater chain owned by United Artists Communications.

Tri-Star completed its $295-million purchase of Loews Theatre Management last December from an investor group led by Los Angeles businessman Jerry Perenchio. The Perenchio group paid just $158 million in July, 1985, for the theater chain, which operates nearly half its screens in New York and New Jersey.

The remaining theaters are located in Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Kaufman did not identify the geographic markets for the proposed Loews expansion.

In other business, Tri-Star shareholders approved a proposal to change the state of incorporation from New York to Delaware.