Megaplex2: The Sequel

Two years ago this weekend, Edwards Irvine 21 Megaplex opened amid much hoopla as the movie palace with the most screens in the state, but it didn’t hold that title for long.

The public’s appetite for one-stop “eatertainment” centers had already spurred construction of the 30-screen Ontario Mills, which also includes 20 restaurants, high-tech arcades and an indoor zoo. The Century Stadium 25 in Orange, which opens today to claim the-most-screens-under-one-roof crown in Orange County, was close behind.

The new complex, built by San Francisco-based Century Theatres on the former site of the Stadium Drive-In, will look familiar to Irvine 21 patrons. It features an Art Deco facade, palm-lined promenade flanked by chain restaurants, shops and a video arcade. Hollywood’s freshest films will fill the marquee.

“We’re opening,” said Century Theatres spokeswoman Nancy Klasky, “with ‘Rainmaker,’ ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,’ ‘Anastasia,’ ‘The Man Who Knew Too Little,’ ‘Ice Storm.’ . . .” And so on.

One minor variation on the megaplex theme here will be the theaters’ tiered seating with alternating rows of love seats (in which a shared armrest lifts up) and rockers. Each auditorium will have top quality, THX-certified sound.

The eatertainment trend will continue into the next century, industry observers say, because it works. People like to shop, eat, see a film in a pretty place and keep the kids happy, virtual-reality style, without parking more than once. They like the wide choice of screening times when the same movies play in multiple auditoriums.

Such theater chains as Newport Beach-based Edwards have acknowledged that the new complexes cannibalize profits from established ones, but even in Ontario, where 30 AMC screens are within walking distance of 22 Edwards screens, business is booming in both places, said John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations, which tracks box-office results nationwide.

“Everyone thought they’d both stumble,” Krier said, “but they’re [both] setting record grosses.”

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With so many people flocking to these centers, why not devote some screens exclusively to art or foreign films? Because the theater chains want the flexibility to maximize screenings of the most profitable movies.

And the art-film audience faithfully patronizes those county theaters dedicated to alternative programming, operators say. Edwards runs such fare at its Town Center outlet in Costa Mesa, which is just around the corner from its South Coast Village 3, a longtime art house. The independent, single-screen Bay Theatre in Seal Beach, which may show one film for up to three months, has been making capital improvements, and supporters have raised $135,000 to renovate the now-closed Balboa Theater in Newport Beach as an art house.

Megaplex operators also routinely sandwich such films among mainstream movies, as Century will this weekend at the Stadium with “The Wings of the Dove” and “One Night Stand.”

Dedicated screens aren’t an option at the Stadium, said Raymond W. Syufy, Century’s president and CEO. “We can play art films, but I’ll tell you right now, we’ll attempt to do the movies that do the most business. If they happen to be art films, fine.”

When the Irvine 21 Megaplex opened, Edwards officials said two of its screens would be devoted to such fare. But that never happened because, officials said, the company needs highly profitable movies to recoup the “Big One’s” $27-million cost.

Syufy declined to disclose the Stadium 25’s construction tab. But, he said, “whether I spent $1 or $500 million, my goal is always to play to as many people as I can.”

That objective has recently shuttered single-screen theaters, which began to be replaced two decades ago by multiscreen facilities. The next such casualty will likely be the Edwards Mesa in Costa Mesa, expected to close next month.

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The owner of the 2-year-old independent Captain Blood’s Village Theatres in Orange, which shows student films, independents and first-run commercial movies on two screens, worries about competition from the Stadium. Todd Blood said that Century Theatres keeps films from going to its nearby competitors. A 20th-Century Fox film booker refused to lease him any of three upcoming movies, giving them instead to Stadium, Blood said.

“The bottom line is the public will go where the films are at,” he said.

Distribution zones and exclusivity arrangements are routine among exhibitors and studios, Krier said. And it appears the future holds more of the same:

On Dec. 19, Edwards will open its first out-of-state theater in Boise, Idaho--a 21-plex with an Art Deco facade looming above cafes, boutiques and a video playground.

In the spring, in time for Disney’s “Armageddon,” will come an Edwards 18-plex in Aliso Viejo. By next Christmas, the chain plans to have expanded its Brea 12 to a 22-plex, and AMC expects to open a 30-screen giant at the now-vacant City mall in Orange. The theater will be surrounded by, you guessed it, an open-air promenade with trendy eateries, stores and an interactive arcade.