Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998

14-screen theater planned at Padre Staples

UA decision means mall expansion, maybe a new restaurant

By JENNY STRASBURG
Staff Writer

   Corpus Christi opened another curtain on its movie-theater drama Wednesday: United Artists Theatres announced it will more than double its six-screen theater at Padre Staples Mall by building 14 new screens, requiring an expansion of the mall.
   United Artists' announcement comes just two months after Century Theatres of California said it will build a 16-screen theater this year on South Padre Island Drive near Daly Drive.
   When that news broke, United Artists said it had been shopping for a new multiplex site, too. The company said Wednesday that the mounting competition won't hamper its growth here.
   ``It did not, obviously, stop us. We just stayed focused on what United Artists' plans are,'' UA district manager Paul Stinson said from Dallas.
   Still more evidence of the screen wars surfaced Wednesday.
   Responding to United Artists' news, Dallas-based Cinemark USA, operators of Tinseltown theater at South Padre Island and Greenwood drives, said it will renovate 14 of its auditoriums to add stadium seating.
   Cinemark recently has renovated several theaters nationwide to add stadium seating, said Randy Hester, vice president of marketing and communication in Dallas. The alterations to Tinseltown could be finished as early as summer, he said.
   The new Century and United Artists theaters will have stadium seating in every auditorium, according to those companies. The Century theater also will have a cafe; the new United Artists theater in the mall won't, Stinson said.
   Neither Stinson with United Artists nor Jim Baxter, general manager of Padre Staples Mall, would say when construction on the 70,000-square-foot theater might begin or be finished.
   They also wouldn't say where at the mall the new expansion will be built -- although Baxter said it won't be in the same spot as the existing theater, called UA-The Movies. Baxter said that space will become available for new stores and restaurants.
   Baxter said he's confident the larger, plusher theater will attract family restaurants, and he hopes to add at least one such restaurant to the two already in the mall -- Luby's Cafeteria and Casa Ole Restaurant and Cantina.
   ``(Multiplexes) attract new, full-service, sit-down restaurants, as a general rule,'' Baxter said. ``We're really excited about the prospects.''
   Stinson with United Artists said he doesn't know whether the new theater will mean closing UA's Cine 6 at 4700 Staples St.
   United Artists also operated the Cinema IV at 4543 S. Padre Island Drive but closed that theater in October. The company cited bleak turnout for the independent and art films that had become the theater's focus.
   For Cine 6 manager Raymond Pokorny, news of the new mall theater was good enough for now. He said Century's announcement in December concerned local United Artists employees who worried the company might not invest further in Corpus Christi.
   ``This is good news for us, because we're going to meet the competition,'' Pokorny said. ``We're not just going to roll over and die.''
   ``I'm hoping they'll remodel Cine 6 and that (United Artists) will have 20 screens,'' he said -- but he hadn't received any sure answers, either.
   If Cine 6 stays open, the new United Artists theater would mean eight new United Artists screens. If Cine 6 closes, there would be two new screens.
   Those are in addition to Century Theatres' planned 16-screener. A company spokesman said Century still plans to break ground in about six weeks and open the theater this fall. United Artists didn't change that plan, she said.
   ``UA's announcement means absolutely nothing to us. We own that land. We're building that theater,'' said Nancy Klasky, Century's vice president for marketing.
   ``We're going into the state of Texas with (new theaters in) Abilene, Odessa and Corpus Christi. We did a tremendous amount of market research and discovered that the market was being underserved in terms of movie theater experience.''
   Besides its 16 screens at Tinseltown, Cinemark also has seven screens at Discount Cinemas in Sunrise Mall. Tinseltown has no immediate plans to add screens, Hester said.
   Hester said UA's announcement -- especially so soon after Century said it's coming to town -- surprises him.
   ``I think what really is important to remember is that we've been there a long time, and we added a theater when a theater was needed, and no one else would step up and do so.''
   Corpus Christi isn't big enough to support 20-something new movie screens, Hester said.
   ``The market doesn't justify that kind of expansion,'' he said.
   The movie-theater company in the area with the smallest presence -- and now the only one not announcing expansion plans -- is Dallas-based Silver Cinemas, which operates a five-screen theater in the Calallen area, at 4147 Five Points Road.
   ``We're just going to have to compete for our customers,'' David Zavala, an assistant manager, said Wednesday.
   He said Tinseltown's opening in spring 1996 took a noticeable bite out of Silver Cinemas' business, but that the Calallen theater continues to enjoy a loyal following largely because of its $2 matinees, about half the price of most matinees.
   Also, Zavala said, Silver Cinemas draws customers from Mathis, Odem, Sinton, Banquete, Three Rivers and Beeville. Other Corpus Christi theaters are a 20-minute drive for many Calallen customers, he said.