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This topic comprises 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Author
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Topic: Harkins Southlake
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Brad Miller
Administrator
Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 05-27-2006 03:28 PM
Very interesting. Looks like Harkins is putting some money and showmanship back into the moviegoing experience. (Assuming of course their projectionists and installing/servicing technicians are truly up to snuff.)
I find it odd though that they are advertising "the largest screen in Dallas/Fort Worth". According to the article here, the big screen is 70 feet wide. Cinemark Webb Chapel has two 75 foot wide screens and UA Galaxy has two 78 foot wide screens, both of which are in Dallas.
Link to article
quote: Dallas Morning News
Multiplex has lots to wow you
THEATERS: Amenities at Southlake 14 include child care, gourmet eats
06:26 PM CDT on Thursday, May 25, 2006
By PHILIP WUNTCH / Movie Critic
At Harkins Southlake Town Square 14, everywhere you look, you'll be wowed.
Unlike some multiplexes, the new complex doesn't evoke the mood of a stately corporate office.
Instead, its marble, neon and granite colorings and textures create a sense of celebration, fun and glamour.
The Southlake multiplex, which opens today at 1450 Plaza Place, is the first that Phoenix-based Harkins Theatres has built in Texas.
It's also one of the chain's first ventures outside Arizona.
"We believe in a word that's missing from some exhibitors' vocabularies," says owner and president Dan Harkins. "The word is 'showmanship.' "
And nowhere is showmanship more evident than in the Southlake's premier auditorium, the 600-seat Cine Capri.
The first glance at the auditorium reminds veteran moviegoers of how theaters used to look in a less streamlined era.
During intermissions, gold waterfall curtains cover the Cine Capri's giant 70-foot screen.
On the draped walls and behind the screen are 150 speakers delivering 26,900 watts of virtually flawless digital sound.
The other 13 auditoriums also are attractive, with handsomely designed soundproof walls. And the seats, designed by Mr. Harkins' chiropractor wife, Karen, are comfortable, with just the right amount of mobility.
The original Cine Capri opened in Phoenix in 1966 as a Cinerama showplace and had the country's best run of Star Wars in 1977. The theater was leased in 1988 to Mr. Harkins, who sought to restore its former glory.
"In 1992, I negotiated with George Lucas to have a special run of the original Star Wars," Mr. Harkins says. "He agreed, as long as all the receipts went to charity. It grossed a fantastic $73,000, all of which went to charity. And its success prompted Fox to rerelease Star Wars IV-VI before they released The Phantom Menace."
Sadly, despite a two-year period of petitions and protests, the theater was torn down to make way for condominiums.
"When you look at the Cine Capri in Southlake, you understand how much the original theater must have meant to Phoenix," Mr. Harkins says.
Another enhancement to the Dallas-Fort Worth movie scene is Southlake's play center, where parents can drop off kids ages 3-8 while they see a movie. Its supervisors have previous child-care experience and have passed the chain's mandatory background checks.
For $6 per child, they can play house and enjoy movie-themed games, beanbags, board games, blocks and toys, including movie-related stuffed animals. Parents and children have matching wristbands, and parents are given a pager in case an emergency occurs.
While the tots are playing, parents can grab dinner at the gourmet concession stand, which features 150 items, including frosted pretzels, cheese sticks, chicken tenders, pizza, spring rolls, brownie bites and popcorn made with canola oil and real butter.
With dinner, a movie and child care available at the theater, it looks as if things just got a little tougher for the neighborhood baby sitter.
And I must ask...what's up with the "150 speakers" bit? I'll bet anything they are counting actual drivers. For example, a 3 way screen speaker with a quad bass cabinet is probably being counted as seven speakers, even though most people would call it one speaker. Can anyone confirm?
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 05-27-2006 04:02 PM
This theater sounds very similar to the Harkins Bricktown 16 theater in downtown Oklahoma City (which was the FIRST theater Harkins built outside of Arizona).
150 speakers? Yeah, I'm sure they're counting speaker drivers rather than actual enclosures. The Cine Capris screen in Oklahoma City does have a lot of speaker enclosures though.
As to the "biggest screen" claim, I agree, the UA Galaxy off LBJ Freeway near Garland still has the biggest indoor commercial theater screens in the DFW area. They're bigger than 70' anyway.
The "best run of Star Wars" claim in the article is really pretty odd. I would figure some of the original 70mm showings at premiere class theaters in Westwood and New York (not to mention Northpark #1 in Dallas) would have to be every bit as great, if not potentially even better.
Harkins' Cine Capris concept is a decent one though. It's just too bad they don't have 70mm in these auditoriums. I think a 70' wide screen is just a tad bit too big for any 35mm projector. The image quality just runs a little on the dim side, even with a really good Kinoton projector in the booth. Sound quality is nice and beefy, which is a pleasant break from all those theaters with anemic audio.
Does the lobby at this new Harkins site in Texas feature a full blown film projector setup? The lobby at the Bricktown, Oklahoma City theater has a projector and platter installed over the box office showing trailers on a really big screen above the concession counter. There's even surround speakers all around the lobby -although the volume level is turned down a few notches.
Harkins' Bricktown 16 theater is currently the best movie theater complex in OKC. However construction is now underway on the Warren Theaters Moore 20 just south of OKC. That one will likely outclass Harkins' efforts. Either way, that's the sort of competition we need to see in the movie theater business. It doesn't matter for squat on who has the most screens. Whoever has the best screens is the more important factor to measure.
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