Reel Coup Shaping Up in Ventura

Coming soon to a theater near you: more screens.

Ventura County’s 20 or so walk-in theaters, with their 130 screens--few self-respecting cinemas have just one anymore--are expected to increase that total by at least 18 by year’s end.

So far, the increase is all in Ventura. The east county movie theater boomlet of the early ‘90s has picked up its construction sites and moved to Ventura.

That boomlet now includes east Ventura’s Century 8 Theater, which is expected to light up a new, 80-foot-high art deco marquee as the Century 16 by the end of summer.

The coming attractions include stadium-style seating with contoured, pastel lounge chairs that rock and a cafe with an espresso and pastry bar.

The theater remains open while it is being enlarged and remodeled. Ytive King, who attended a matinee Tuesday with her 7-year-old grandson Dylan, believes she knows why.

“I think the boom [in movie theater building] is indicative that people still want to go to the movies,” King said. “Also, people like to go in class, and this place is going to be first-class.”

In the west end of town, the long-awaited Main Street multiplex is on schedule for a late fall opening. The theater, tentatively dubbed Century 10 Cinemas by developer Victor Georgino, is back on track after an El Nino slowdown, the developer said.

His construction superintendent agreed.

“We’re absolutely on schedule,” said Bob Lugo of Moorefield Construction. “We’re going up fast--you’ll soon see some colorful stuff. This theater will open in the latter part of November or they’ll have my neck.”

But in Oxnard, with a far larger population than Ventura, moviegoers make do with the three screens at Esplanade Cinemas.

Isaac Castillo and buddy Jon McDonald, both 14, said Oxnard badly needs a first-run movie theater as they purchased tickets Tuesday to Adam Sandler’s “The Wedding Singer” at a $2 matinee at The Esplanade mall.

They said it is difficult to persuade their parents to drive them to a cinema in Ventura or Camarillo.

“It would be nice if they [built] another one here,” Isaac said.

Pacific Theaters Corp. handed its Carriage Square Theatre lease back to the landlord at the end of February and closed its doors. No reopening date is posted, and calls to the landlord, Martin V. Smith Associates, were not returned Tuesday.

The Spanish-language cinema on Oxnard Boulevard has also closed.

Oxnard officials have been working for nearly two years in an attempt to bring a 12-screen theater to a city-owned downtown lot.

“We feel there’s a market in our community for at least one multiplex theater,” said Dick Maggio, who is negotiating with a developer on Oxnard’s behalf.

Seen as a cornerstone of downtown revitalization, the theater complex could cost as much as $9.5 million and include 10,000 square feet of commercial space, officials said.

Oxnard’s City Council was scheduled to meet Tuesday night in closed session to discuss the price and terms of payment for the 5th and B streets lot with El Segundo-based developer Metropolitan Development.

But not everything is changing. Nostalgia buffs, parents who can’t get baby-sitters and make-out artists can take heart: The venerable One-O-One Drive-In Theater in Ventura plans to make a big splash when it opens for the season May 22 with what is being touted as this summer’s blockbuster: “Godzilla.”

Maybe even on all three screens.

* Construction: The city will be getting 18 more screens soon as a boomlet in theaters comes west.