posted 08-30-2003 12:04 AM                    

quote:

---

RAVE RISING 79 BY YEAR'S END

Dallas-based exhibitor Rave Motion Pictures launched its 2003 expansion on June 27 with the opening of the West Chester Village 18 in West Chester, Ohio. The circuit, which currently operates 118 screens at eight sites, says it will construct 61 screens at four additional multis by the end of 2003. Upcoming locations include the East Baton Rouge 16 in Baton Rouge, La., the Destin Commons 14 in Destin, Fla., the Rave Motion Pictures 13 at Ridgmar in Fort Worth, Texas, and The Shoppes at Grande Prairie 18 in Peoria, Ill. The West Chester site, situated at the southeast corner of Interstate 75 and Union Center Boulevard, features wall-to-wall screens, 18-inch stadium-style risers with 48-inch row-depths, plush seats with retractable armrests, digital surround sound and a plethora of concession selections.

---

posted 09-01-2003 02:34 AM                       

quote:

---

All I know is they opened a 10-plex in Vestavia Hills not long back (southern part of Birmingham, AL) on November 1, 2002.

---

posted 09-03-2003 04:59 PM                       

quote:

---

Anyone remember Starplex? Some near Dallas might. Just about any theater chain can open a fairly decent theater. But another thing is keeping it well maintained. I never saw Hollywood, Wallace or Starplex, etc. do any of that.

---

Gee, thanks. Actually, considering that both of our locations in the Dallas area are discount theaters and have had traffic of at least 12,000 customers a week since they opened in 1995 and 1996, I believe that both of those theaters are in VERY good shape, especially considering the type of clientele they serve. Many of our customers in Irving, in fact, prefer us over the AMC first-run across the street. If I'm not mistaken, our theater in Mesquite is the only discount theater in the state to offer all three digital sound formats. I will admit that neither one is the best-looking theater in the world, but I think they are well maintained, especially for discount theaters.

Our other locations throughout the state of Texas are in even better condition than those two theaters. In the past, I have worked for companies which were unwilling to invest money in a theater after it opened, but I'm happy to say that's certainly not the case now.

posted 09-03-2003 11:13 PM                       

Hey, no offense taken. We're not exactly in the same spending league as the large chains, but we do try to maximize our budget with an emphasis on facility quality.

Actually, the gentlemen who run Starplex now used to own Trans-Texas Theaters, which had quite a few screens throughout the southwest but was based primarily in small towns in Texas. They were always run locally with the appearance of an indepent theater (no visible chain name), but were all owned and managed by the same company. Anyhoo, that company was bought out by Hollywood in early 1995. In fact, the exorbinant price they paid for Trans-Texas and their inability to curb spending in general led to their financial troubles.

Our owner decided that getting rid of all those facilities was a blessing (plus the money from selling Trans-Texas didn't hurt either ) and decided to set up shop again as a new entity, Starplex Cinemas. Our owner, J.C. Mitchell is the brother of Leeroy "Cinemark" Mitchell, which is why many presume that we're some wayward cousin of Cinemark. We're completely indepedent from Cinemark and have never been involved with their company in any fashion, other than some friendly fishing trips and some great barbeques at the Mitchell mansion.

We did have plans for 14-plex in Wichita Falls, but had to back out when Cinemark purchased land and made it clear that they would build right across the street from us if we decided to do anything there. To make the story short, we didn't build anything and neither did Cinemark, but they still own that land and will presumably build something there in the future to compete with the two Carmike theaters in town. I wish that we could have gone ahead with that theater (because the Carmikes there are very poorly run and don't feature stadium seating), but we certainly don't have the resources to go head-to-head with the deep pockets of Cinemark. We are currently building a six-screen, all-stadium facility in Sulphur Springs, TX and are looking to expand some of our current facilites and build some more big ones in the future.

Now, since I've rambled on and on about my own company, here's something on the topic of the thread:

quote:

---

Regardless of theater chain, the most important element in keeping a theater site in good shape is having managers and staff who give a damn.

---

posted 09-05-2003 01:56 AM                    

quote:

---

I usually get onto Carmike because I've visited a lot of their theaters in Texas which are below sub-standard, but even in that chain I have seen examples of managers who have made the effort to keep their theaters in shape and it really pays off.

---