New Seal Beach Complex Offers Cheap Seats for 2nd-Run Flicks
John Land hadn’t been to the movies in a couple of years. The 75-year-old Garden Grove resident enjoys films, but he and his wife Grace just “don’t have the habit,” as he put it earlier this week. Land thinks that’s about to change.
Why? Because of Super Saver Cinemas 7, a seven-theater complex that opened last Friday in Seal Beach, charging $1.50 for “any movie, any time.”
True, the movies there aren’t quite first run (tickets in first-run theaters usually cost around $6.50), but they’re not golden oldies, either. The Super Saver chain--which is based in Texas and which enters the California market with its Seal Beach complex--offers movies that have left the premiere circuit but usually have yet to hit the video stores.
A growing number of theaters nationwide are selling cheap seats for second-run films. Thirty percent of the 150 AMC Theaters in Southern California show movies for less than $2, according to a company spokesman. Century City Center theaters in Orange, owned by the San Francisco-based Syufy Enterprises chain, shows double features for $1.
But Super Saver officials, who have opened eight other discount theaters around the country since 1987, say they offer something different: “a first-class presentation” with “deluxe” decor. Ads tout the Seal Beach outlet as “Southern California’s most luxurious theater.”
“We’re trying to go back to the fun and flavor of mass entertainment, which was the original concept of the motion-picture business,” said Jim McKenna, director of theater operations for FSA Super Saver Cinemas No. 1 Ltd., based in El Paso.
“A lot of the movie audience has dropped by the wayside because of high prices or because the theaters’ decor wasn’t what they wanted. We’re trying to recover that audience by giving them both: a first-class presentation and admission they can afford.”
The AMC Orange Mall Six theater in Orange offers decor ordinaire , as does the Century City in Orange: clean and neat and inconspicuous, with simple lighting fixtures, concession stands and flooring.
The Super Saver in Seal Beach, modeled after the chain’s other theaters, looks--and sounds--like a disco. Flashing lights and neon tubes, programmed to pulse to pop music, throw colored beams throughout the darkened, 3,000-square-foot lobby where they bounce off reflective walls. Fog periodically streams from the ceiling.
Popcorn, candy and soft drinks are sold for standard or lower-than-average prices from a circular counter made of illuminated glass brick. One enters the theaters via a dimly lit “Magic Tunnel of Lights,” which one customer likened to the entrance to Disneyland’s Space Mountain ride.
McKenna said Super Saver spent about $750,000 to refurbish the building, a former furniture store in the rear of the Rossmoor Center, a large outdoor shopping mall on Seal Beach Boulevard.
The seven theaters--three with Dolby stereo--range from 175 to 325 seats. The largest screen is 31 feet wide and 14 feet high. (The biggest screen at the Edwards Newport Cinema, flagship of Orange County’s largest theater chain, is 75 by 38 feet.)
More than 6,000 people attended during the complex’s first weekend, McKenna said. One evening this week, the theaters ranged from about half to an eighth full. About 40 people milled about the lobby, and all who were interviewed gave the place thumbs up.
“It’s spectacular--it’s just like a light show,” Land said, straining to be heard over the thump-thump of an old Michael Jackson hit.
“I think it’s excellent,” said Dan Gilbert of Seal Beach. “Instead of renting a movie, you can come here. The seats are comfortable, the sound is good, the picture is clear and the screen is of sufficient size.”
Barry Zamost of Long Beach, who brought three of his children, said he likes it because he now can afford “to bring these kids to movies I normally wouldn’t want to see.”
McKenna wouldn’t discuss company profits but did say that all Super Savers around the country are successful. Other new theaters are scheduled to open at Indian Hills Mall in Pomona by Feb. 1 and at the Norwalk Plaza shopping center by spring.
Super Saver is able to negotiate relatively low rents for its theaters because they generate a lot of foot traffic for adjacent retailers, McKenna said. Also, renting second-run movies generally enables the company to save about 30% on the original rental cost.
Several Hollywood film studios charge that discount houses rob ticket sales from first-run theaters where the studios make most of their profits, and one--Paramount Pictures--recently increased the amount it charges second-run theaters: The new rate is $1.05 or 35%, whichever is higher, for each adult ticket sold. Paramount spends millions of dollars producing and distributing its films and has the right to a fair return on its rentals, a studio spokeswoman said.
McKenna insists that discount theater sales don’t hurt studios’ profits. “Paramount’s summer business is indicative to us that that isn’t true,” he said. (This summer, the spokeswoman said, Paramount grossed $250 million--slightly more than last year.) In any case, he no longer rents Paramount movies.
Super Saver in Seal Beach is now showing “Karate Kid III,” “K-9,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “UHF,” “Rainman,” “Weekend at Bernies,” “Licence to Kill” and “Ghostbusters II.” Screenings begin at noon. The last one starts at 9:55 p.m. Films will run from one to 12 weeks.
“Rainman” was released on videocassette Wednesday, but the movie won’t necessarily be pulled from the theater, McKenna said. Often films available on video have an even stronger draw at Super Savers, he said, because videos can cost more than admission. Other Super Saver officials point to the advantage of not having to return the video and the risk of a late fee.
The Super Saver company was founded by Bob Garner, who played football for a short time with the then-Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers. Garner is managing general partner of the limited partnership, which hopes to triple in size by the end of 1990, McKenna said. Other Super Saver theaters are in Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona and Ohio.
