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The Movies at Clearwater is for sale, another victim of 20-theater, stadium-seating cinema megaplexes.
By DEBORAH O'NEIL
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 10, 2001
CLEARWATER -- The city's last first-run movie theater is up for sale, the latest victim in the demise of small movie houses in Clearwater.
A closing date has not yet been set for the eight-screen Movies at Clearwater on U.S. 19, said real estate broker Chuck Bohac, of Grubb & Ellis in Tampa, which is handling the sale of small United Artists theaters around the country. Movies will continue to be shown there until the property sells, at which time the theater will close, he said.
"It's still a positive cash flow for them, it's just not sufficient to justify keeping it open for a long-term period," Bohac said.
Older theaters nationwide -- usually 10 screens and smaller -- have closed down as theater companies erect modern megaplexes with 20 or more screens. Last fall, first-run theaters at the Countryside and Clearwater malls shut down.
Clearwater theaters sit in the shadow of the splashy AMC Woodlands 20, a megaplex that opened in March 2000 in Oldsmar with stadium seating and high-quality sound. Weekend crowds have packed Woodlands since the day it opened.
"Mega screens and stadium seating, it's made the older theaters virtually obsolete," said Bohac. "That's giving them a great deal of competition."
United Artists officials did not return telephone calls Tuesday.
The company is selling the 4-acre property and 25,000-square-foot building north of the Countryside Mall for $3-million, Bohac said. Grubb & Ellis has taken a broad approach in selling the property, marketing to electronics stores and fitness centers, auto dealers and bookstores. It seems unlikely the property will remain a theater, Bohac said, because second-tier theater companies probably cannot afford the property.
When United Artists closes Movies at Clearwater, the city will have two theaters left, Clearwater Cinema Cafe and Main Street Cinemas. Both are intermediate run theaters, which show movies for discount prices after they have been screened at first-run theaters.
Local theater owners say competing as a first-run theater in Clearwater is tough. In addition to Woodlands, theaters must compete with Muvico's theater in Palm Harbor.
"In my opinion no one is going to come in unless they come in to the quality of Woodlands or better," said David Castelli, owner and operator of the Main Street Cinemas, which he reopened last year after the Carmike theater chain closed a dollar theater at the site. "We're going to stay. We're going to fight this."
Other factors have hurt the smaller first-run theaters, said Larry Greenbaum, owner of Clearwater Cinema Cafe. Among the problems has been the movies themselves, he said. Hollywood has not put out a major blockbuster for some time.
"There haven't been any Titanics for a couple of years," Greenbaum said. "You just don't have the huge blockbuster. Pearl Harbor didn't do it."
Colorado-based United Artists is the nation's sixth-largest owner of movie theaters. The company filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 5, 2000 and emerged on March 2 and is now controlled by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz.