Marketplace Cinemas

raysson on October 22, 2013 at 9:48 am

From the Friday May 31,1985 edition of the Winston-Salem Journal:

CINEMA 6 OPENING TODAY AT MARKETPLACE MALL

The biggest moviehouse in Winston-Salem opens today,and the company that built it is already looking for a place to build one as big,or maybe even bigger.

With six screens and 1,700 seats,Plitt Southern Theatres Cinema 6 at the Marketplace Mall on Peters Creek Parkway is big for Winston-Salem. But Plitt builds nothing smaller than six screens these days,and his eight and 10-screen moviehouses built in the works in several other cities,John L. Huff,vice president of operations of Plitt Southern Theatres Inc.,said yesterday.

“We felt for a long time that Winston-Salem was underscreened,even though its a dynamic movie market,” Huff said. “Even with this theater and counting the expansion at the Reynolds,there will be only 17 first-run screens in the market. We are continuing to look for other locations in the Winston-Salem market especially in the Western area towards Clemmons,” Huff said.

The next Plitt complex will have at least six screens and might be 10 or so from Cinema 6, Huff said. The same film could be shown simultameously at two different theatres to different market segments,he said. It was originally envisioned as a four screen theater,but was expanded to six in the early planning,Huff said. “We would have gone to eight screens if the site had been a little bigger,” he said. Total investment is about $1.3 million,he said.

An eight screen moviehouse was proposed by another company for a site off Robin Hood Road at Polo Road last year. But construction was postponed after residents objected to a needed rezoning change. A proposed development guide for the area calls for office and multifamily residental uses in the area.

Plitt is the fourth-largest moviehouse company in the country and the largest privately owned chain,with more than 600 screens nationwide. The Southeast is one of the fastest growing areas,with 260 screens expected to be done by Christmas. Once Plitt identifies a market that will absorb more screens,it looks for a high traffic,his visibility location,Huff said. “That almost always means a shopping center or a mall,” Huff said. “The theaters,in turn,serve as attractions for shoppers”,said Michael Kelley of Marketplace Venture,Inc. “The theater is really a major anchor for the mall,"Kelley said. "It’s just what we need to make our place a strong destination location for the whole North Carolina market.”

Multi-screen theaters allow scheduling a mix of movies at the theaters,drawing audiences of all ages and tastes,Huff explained. Multiple screens also allow major movies to be shown for longer periods,drawing repeat viewers and people from outlying areas,and leaving other screens free for shorter-run films,he said.

The complex houses two 350-seat, two-275 seat,and two-200 seat auditoriums.

It will allow showings of foreign and art films that are likely to draw only small audiences,without sacrificing revenue because of empty seats in a larger hall,Huff said. If a major movie seems likely to fill more than 350 seats per showing,Cinema 6 can show it on as many as three screens,about 20 seconds apart, with the film running from projector to projector by a system of rollers.

The opening day mix at Cinema 6 includes two first-run films and four other recently released films that have played before,Huff noted. “We will run all first-run films as the release schedule of the film companies permits,but we would rather bring back a good movie that people missed the first time around or want to see it again than put in a first-run movie that we could get,but that nobody wants to see,” Huff said.

“Multi-screen theaters are our form of diversification,” Huff said. “Its just like any other form of retail:You’ve got to give people want they want,where they live,and the multi-screen complexes are the way to do it most efficiently.”

rivest266 on April 27, 2023 at 4:55 pm

Closed by Carmike Cinemas on Carmike 18th, 2000 per:

Carmike Marketplace 6 closing 17 Aug 2000, Thu Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) Newspapers.com