Muvico Theatres Unveils Larger-Than-Life Entertainment Concept

posted by CinemAFuchs on October 28, 2003 at 7:38 am

I recently wrote a profile of Hamid Hashemi, the president of the Muvico Theater chain, for Film Journal International. You can read a quick preview below or the full article on the Film Journal website.

While many circuits around the world build facilities with mass appeal, there is no one who takes the idea of fantasy and entertainment further than Hamid Hashemi. In his latest coup de théatre, the president of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Muvico Theaters will expand the circuit’s one-of-a-kind megaplexes to include entertainment centers of equal status. In select locations across the country no less than 150,000 sq. ft. (14,000 sq. m.) will be dedicated to film (two-thirds for the megaplex), food and fun."

For every single one of their 12 theatres and 233 screens throughout Florida, Maryland and Tennessee, at 19.5 the average number of screens per location is the highest in the industry, Hashemi and his team have created a unique blend of themed ambiance, signature comfort and innovative services that go well above the standard. In fact, if you want to find any precedent, you have to go back to the golden age of cinema treasures during the 1920s, when atmospheric movie palaces transported patrons to faraway worlds. Hashemi reminds us, ‘The great architects and cinema builders from that period always drew their inspiration from the civilizations of the past. Egyptian, Moorish, Persian, you name it — these theaters are bigger than life and they tell a story’.