West Ridge 8 Theaters
1727 SW Wanamaker Road,
Topeka,
KS
66604
1727 SW Wanamaker Road,
Topeka,
KS
66604
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Grand opening ad posted.
I forgot ‘A Man Called Otto,’ which is also on the schedule (at $9.83 for Sat night). I should also clarify that even tho this theater and 3 Wichita theaters are operated by Regal, they are not actually branded on the buildings as Regal. This theater retains the Hollywood Theatres logo and the Wichita theaters still say Warren on the front.
Yes, it appears that Regal is changing its policy at this theater. A first-run Crown Cinema venue when it opened in 1993, it became a second-run Hollywood/Wallace theater in 2004 when Hollywood opened their new 14-plex a couple of miles north. Now that Regal has closed the 14-plex in their bankruptcy, this property (which has always been owned outright, not leased) is changing to a varied mix of first-run and older films. The pricing is also quite varied. The final Regal second-run pricing was around $4.99 per ticket for evening shows. A look at Fandango pricing for Saturday night (Jan 28, 2023) at prime evening shows (6-8 pm) shows the range. For older films The Whale, The Fabelmans and Everything Everywhere, adult tickets are $5.47. For Fear and Whitney Houston I Wanna Dance with Somebody adult tickets are $7.37. For M3GAN and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish adult tickets are $9.83. and for Avatar: The Way of Water adult tickets are $12.02. (this is quite a bit less than B&B’s top Sat eve price for Avatar of $20.44. Regal’s matinee pricing is also varied, at lower pricing. It will be interesting to see if, or how, they will monitor people buying low priced tickets and simply walking into a higher priced auditorium. Regal is not known for staffing their theaters at proper levels. Also will be interesting to see how many people are willing to forgo the luxuries of stadium seating, heated reclining seats and Dolby Atmos at B&B to save money. This theater will be 30 years old in July, and as far as I know, has the original sloped floors and seats. I believe this theater and a couple of former Warren venues in Wichita are the only Regal branded properties left in Kansas.
Policy changed from discount, sub-run house to first-run on January 27, 2023.
Hollywood Theaters was acquired by Regal Entertainment Group in April 2013. Regal is still operating this theatre.
now owned by some company called hollywood theaters.
1432 seats
There was an article by Michael Hooper in the Topeka Capital Journal newspaper on Wednesday April 20, 2005, that said the West Ridge 6 would close on Thursday April 21, 2005.
It said that Coming Attractions Theatres Inc of Ashland, OR was interested in leasing the 6-plex space for a discount theater, but the mall was tied up in litigation with Hollywood Theaters (Wallace) over their premature exit.
At any rate, Wallace turned the above 8-plex into a discount theater first, which obviously dissuaded Coming Attractions from opening a discount theater of their own in the vacated space inside the mall.
The West Ridge 8 outside the mall opened on Friday July 9, 1993. The opening films were “Rookie of the Year,” “Weekend at Bernies 2,” “Strictly Ballroom,” “Much Ado about Nothing,” “Sleepless in Seattle” on 2 screens, and “In the Line of Fire” on 2 screens.
Hollywood Theaters took over operation on Friday December 20, 1996. Regal Cinemas announced their purchase of Hollywood Theaters on February 19, 2013.
Regal had been running 35mm at this theater into 2015 and it was rumored the theater would close. However, as of Friday April 17, 2015, all auditoriums are listed as digital, and the ticket price increased to $3.00. It looks like Topeka will continue to have a second-run theater for the forseeable future.
The lease problems referred to above were actually with the 6-plex inside the mall. The mall threatened litigation, but the new 14-plex opened and the 6-plex closed shortly afterward, so I assume they worked out an amicable separation. This 8-plex is not actually owned by the mall. It is my understanding that Richard Durwood (who owned Crown Cinema), purchased the land and built the theater free of monthly rent. That would explain why it is evidently profitable as a discount house.
It was my understanding that when Wallace (Hollywood) built the new 16 screen theatre that they intended to close this theatre but ran into lease problems with the shopping center owners. There was some sort of clause that they could not open another theatre within ‘so many miles’ of the mall. So they opted to keep it open and reduced it to discount status.