Regal Edwards Big Newport
300 Newport Center Drive,
Newport Beach,
CA
92660
300 Newport Center Drive,
Newport Beach,
CA
92660
35 people
favorited this theater
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Meredith Rule…read your post date Aug 8 2005. I am interested in how you ever made out. Did he sue the union? Did anything ever happen to you, over you walking out? Am interested in knowing what happen.
For more on “Big Newport’s” recent presentation, please read this article:
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Excuse the pun, but this once regal theatre wasn’t always poorly run with screenings of the “2Wenty,” an open screen, re-wired surround sound and dim 35mm projection on its massive screen. This was once a class act in Orange County, and it’s a shame that Regal has let it go to waste.
They did some renovation with new curtains and speakers, but overall, they’ve cheapened the experience of going to this theatre with the above mentioned issues. This flagship should be just that—a flagship! Regal should run it as a special theatre where moviegoers can experience films far and above the general megaplex one can find anywhere in their town. Anybody can go to a typical and bland shoebox megaplex today. Not everyone in Orange County can go to a big screen theatre like Big Newport.
Junk the “2Twenty” (and I thought AMC was bad with their preshow “entertainment”), close the curtains, present music according to the theme of the movie being played that night, and re-wire the surrounds so that front channel dialogue is heard on the front channel—not the surrounds. Gee, kind of like how they used to run movies in the “old days.”
I saw “The Matrix: Reloaded” on the big screen and the curtains were wide open prior to the feature. But on “Star Wars III,” they closed them for a brief moment as described in the article pasted here.
I saw “Four Brothers” and “40 Year Old Virgin” here in August. Neither time did they close and reopen the curtains before showtime. Just a dimming of the house lights after Regal’s very annoying “2WENTY” pre-show.
In 1997, I was working at the Chinese in Hollywood when I had noticed a patron was watching me as I “rode the fader” (adjusted the sound) during the performance of “Titanic.” After the movie concluded, he introduced himself as a brother projectionist from Local 504, IATSE, Orange County.
A few months later, the business agent in Los Angeles calls me and asks if I would be interested in being the projectionist for four days at the Newport Film Festival to take place at the Edwards Newport Cinema.
When I got to Newport Beach, that same brother that had greeted me at the Chinese was waiting to show me around the Newport Cinema.
When doing a film festival, it means the projectionist is in hyperdrive. You must build-up prints and do tear-downs on the fly. That means, while the movies are playing in all six theaters, you must be building up the next set of features and tearing down the old at the same time because features only run once.
There was just me to do all of this WITH NO HELP.
On the first day of the show, the vice president of Edwards comes into the booth after discovering the film prints were being delivered upstairs into the projection booth. Instead of asking me if I would like a sip of water or a crust of bread, he began to complain and told me the projectionist had to carry film up and down the stairs, not UPS or whomever.
After a nice arguement, I told him that I was doing him a favor and he should appreciate someone coming in from L.A. to help make sure his stinking film festival was a success. Then, I put on my coat and said, “Bye-Bye!” He yells to me, “I will sue you, I’ll sue. Oooh, I hate you people.” I said, “Bye-Bye!” He then yells, “I will sue your local union. How can you do this to your local?” I said, “Bye-Bye!”
That is my one and only story regarding the Edwards Newport Cinema.
Bye-Bye!
The Edwards Newport Cinema (“Big” Newport, screen #1) was among the handful of theaters that was equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
UPDATE: They have re-instated the tradition of closing and re-opening the curtain. For the latest Star Wars film they dimmed the lights then faded up a projection of a red Vader helmet directly on the red velvet curtain, which drew lots of ooohs and aaahs before they opened the curtain.
This is still a great place to see big “event” movies, but unfortunately they no longer open and close the huge red curtains. They just sit open while an absolutely horrific “pre-show entertainment” (blatant and irritating advertising) film plays.
I believe the REG Edwards Newport 6 was where Discovery Channel’s new show “Big” showed a very big popcorn popper in the newport cinemas parking lot.
The Big Newport was built as a single screen and was never divided. Additional screens through the years were added to the existing single screen. The big screen has always been a draw and the industry should take note.brucec
This is a great theater (screen #1) to see a big event movie on opening weekend, and a good theater overall. Avoid seeing a movie on screen #2 (the one to the right of the main auditorium), as this screen crops images to a 2:1 fixed ratio. Screen #3 (left of screen #1) was originally THX. Screns 4-6 are more modern stadium-style auditoriums, with little to no cropping and good digital sound.