Cinemas rediscover gold in the silver screen

By Péralte C. Paul

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Just a few years ago it looked like the movie theater business would never come out of its slump.

The home theater market offered a cheaper and quieter alternative to the $40 a couple might part with between the box office and concession stand.

And companies like Columbus-based Carmike Cinemas sought bankruptcy protection to reorganize operations.

But now a box-office renaissance is bringing more sparkle to the silver screen as theater operators reinvest in their properties and upgrade screens.

"Things have changed rather substantially," said John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, a Washington-based trade group. "The last three-years have been record-breaking years."

Admissions -- the measure of how many people go through the box office each year -- crossed the 1.41 billion mark last year, NATO statistics show. And while that's still down from the 1.57 billion admissions recorded in 2002,  it reverses a six-year downward trend. Box office receipts, which went up largely because ticket prices increased, exceeded $10 billion last year for the first time.

The AMC chain, the second-largest behind Regal Cinemas, announced plans to go public, further underscoring the industry's reversal of fortune.

One other bright spot: Movie ticket sales were greater than DVD sales last year, reversing a years-long trend.

A key component of the turnaround is the industry's shift to digital technology and the popularity of 3-D movies, operators say.

Carmike, the nation's fourth-largest theater chain with 2,250 screens in 35 states, converted 2,125 of its screens to the digital format, which provides not only sharper images and 3-D capabilities, but opportunities to show more than just the latest blockbuster.

"What people tend to overlook is everything other than what the 3-D piece of it is," said David Passman, Carmike's president and chief executive. Chief among those alternatives is live entertainment such as this year's World Cup soccer matches and opera performances that can be beamed to audiences nationwide.

In January 2009, for example, the company showed the Bowl Championship Series college football national title game between Oklahoma and Florida on 36 of its screens. "It was our No. 1 showing for the day," Passman said. "It outperformed all of our other auditoriums combined."

Operators also are seeking to expand the traditional theater concept to more of an entertainment center and attract niche audiences.

Last month Area 51 Family Entertainment opened the Aurora Cineplex, a 10-screen theater and miniature golf complex near Alpharetta Highway and Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell.

The complex's owner, real estate developer Lonnie Mimms Jr., said the goal was to create an atmosphere that could serve as a family attraction.

"For a market as big and affluent as Roswell is, there aren’t too many places for families to go out and have an evening. A theater and mini-golf combination is a great place for a family to go and it appeals to an entire age group, young and old."

Although ticket prices have gone up -- averaging $7.91 nationally -- executives say consumers are willing to pay more for premium services like larger screens, so-called VIP seating and ancillary services like restaurant-style waiters and waitresses who serve patrons at semi-private tables.

Tough economic times also are a factor in cinema operators' favor. Even with the premium cost the industry is quick to tout that a movie outing won't cost as much as other family pastimes like a baseball game.

The new upscale services are designed to capture more patrons like Charisma Atkins, an epidemiology researcher with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Atkins, who lives in Avondale Estates, goes to the movies at least once a month. She's gone to theaters where servers bring the food to patrons in typical stadium-seating settings, but she said she prefers the dinner-like seating arrangements at places like AMC's Fork & Screen in Buckhead.

"They're set up like mini-round tables," she said. The cost is a bit higher, at $12-$13 vs. the average $10 at a regular metro Atlanta cineplex, "but I like that better," Atkins said.

That's one reason why chains are experimenting with new  concepts such as VIP seating. Carmike opened a premium auditorium in Chattanooga last year that has 60 seats instead of the typical 400 to 600 found in regular theaters.

The seats, which recline and are made of leather, have service call buttons that summon wait staff offering up crabcakes, shrimp cocktails and alcohol.