New Blood Revives Failed Movie House

Movie buff Todd Blood is undertaking a formidable task--breathing life into a six-screen Santa Ana theater complex that had been muscled out of business by flashy megaplexes.

The Brea resident today will reopen the movie house at MainPlace/Santa Ana mall, seven weeks after the struggling AMC Entertainment chain shuttered it. The site was one of the poorest performers for AMC, which also operates a 30-screen cinema at the nearby Block at Orange, now the Southland’s highest-grossing movie house.

But if the terrain is treacherous, it is also familiar to Blood, who resurrected a darkened two-screen cinema in Orange seven years ago, naming it A Captain Blood’s Village Theatre.

Blood, who claims to be a descendant of the fabled 17th-century pirate, said he made that theater profitable by becoming involved with the community and the film industry, a tactic he intends to employ in Santa Ana.

But he also brings to the venture a fanatical love for films. He yearned to own his own theater from the time he was a teen making short movies with his dad’s Super-8 camera.

Blood was involved in the now-defunct Newport Beach International Film Festival. Last year, he launched the Southern California Film Festival, using his Orange movie house to showcase independent films.

Continuing a strategy that has helped make his Orange theater profitable, Blood intends to use personal touches to lure movie lovers from megaplexes, such as having employees deliver hot dogs and pretzels to patrons in their seats.

“We charmed the community [at the Orange theater] and it has made a profit every year,” he said. He also got favorable lease rates from his landlord in Orange, Blood said.

At his MainPlace Theatres, Blood said he intends to add four screens and stadium seating. The theater will remain open during the face-lift, scheduled to begin early next year. He said he will finance the improvements from his profits.

“I’m the son of a mathematician,” he said. “I was taught to save your money, buy what you can afford, and don’t over-leverage yourself.”

An Ideal Time for a Revival

The revival comes at an ideal time for MainPlace, which generates about 25% of its sales during the holiday shopping season.

“It’s wonderful timing to be able to reintroduce the movies at this time of the year,” said Judy Bijlani, the mall’s marketing director.

For the first couple of weeks, Blood has lined up a string of first-run films, including potential holiday blockbusters “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and Disney’s “102 Dalmatians.”

Despite Blood’s splashy entry, the theater will face fierce competition from the growing number of megaplexes in Orange County, luring patrons from smaller cinemas. AMC had upgraded the MainPlace complex in recent years, adding digital sound and cup-holders, and offered lower prices before succumbing to the competition, including ts own hulking movie house at the Block.

A string of large movie chains have filed for bankruptcy reorganization this year, including Southern California’s largest operator, Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc. in Newport Beach.

Blood is out to prove that smaller can be sweeter.

“In a day and age of them thinking bigger is better, what we’re doing is giving everybody a more VIP and custom feel for a better price,” he said. While general admission at the MainPlace Theatre will be $7.50, a dollar less than some theaters charge, that is still more than the $6.75 AMC was charging at the time it closed.

Blood’s expansion in the county could be good news for makers of small films, who have trouble finding welcoming movie screens.

Blood has been a “very good friend” to film students at the School of Film and Television at Chapman University, allowing them to show their movies at his Village Theatre, said Bob Bassett, the school’s dean.

With more screens, Bassett said he hopes Blood will bring a larger variety of movies to the area.

“I think what we all object to is going to a theater with 30 screens and there’s only 10 movies [showing],” he said. “Todd may do something more inventive.”

Blood said creating a forum for a range of movies is one of his goals.

“If it’s a good film, I don’t care if a kid made it with a digital camera, we’ll play it in the theater,” he said. “If somebody brings me a short and it’s interesting, I will play it before the feature.”

“What I’m looking for,” he added, “is a young film maker who will put a line out the door.”

Blood said Thursday he has made pitches to take over Edwards’ single-screen Lido in Newport Beach, Orange County’s oldest movie house, and the shuttered Port theater in Corona del Mar.

Edwards has indicated it plans to shed the Lido as it reorganizes.

Sally Terando, MainPlace mall’s leasing agent, said she was skeptical when Blood first approached her.

“I thought, no way a single guy could make this go,” she said.

But after reviewing his financial situation, and being persuaded he could get first-run films, she gave him the lease. Neither Terando nor Blood would discuss its terms.

“I’m convinced he’ll be able to compete effectively with [the larger exhibitors],” she said. “He’ll put his whole heart and soul into it and he will make a go of this.”