Village Theater Orange

rivest266 on September 21, 2023 at 4:44 pm

Grand opening ad from the OC Register posted. The Edwards Cinema West in Westminster also opened on the same day.

rivest266 on October 27, 2019 at 12:11 pm

First LA Times listings started on August 5th, 1966 as the Villa.

ToddCaptainBlood on May 16, 2010 at 6:52 am

The Villa Theater was closed for 9 years. Me and my wife and family worked for two years to get that great little theater opened. We opened with Gone with the wind. Eric and Andrea were our only employees. Eric helped me build the theater while he was on a mission here in Orange. He was from Alaska.

Getting this theater opened was a miracle. We started at .50 a ticket. worked our way to $2 and $3. We went from closed to 3rd run to 2nd run and then 1st run. We broke a 70 year clearance issue in Holly wood by doing this. Nobody ever played with the Cinedome. Ever! Not even the AMC Mainplace Mall. Which we eventually took over.

The best of times were when we ran the theater ourselves and helped co-found the New Port Beach Film Festival. We worked 7 days a week 365 days a year for about 7 years.

Notice there are no complaints in those first ten years. It was after we grew and hired people to do what we had been doing. The customers Loved the CLEAN little theater at a great price that played 1st run movies, no R rated films and ran like a top.

Try it I dare you. Nobody has run a small independent since. Think about it. They can’t even get the Fox Fullerton opened. 25 years so far, millions of dollars and 100’s of people and still not opened. My wife, Larry our kids and I opened Captain Blood’s in 2 years. Then Cathy and I opened 3 more theaters with little to no help and no money.

Thank You, to all the great people that came all those years. Thanks to all the good employees and their parents. (you know who you are)

This was a labor of love and it was great when it ran right. Advice to anybody that is growing a business and doing well. Too big is bad. Always Train Train Train your employees your self. Don’t let anybody hire for you. You have to fire the rotten apples. I fired 1 person in 12 years. Can you imagine that. Only one. I was way too nice. People will lie and steal. They will break your heart. And the public can be evil.

All in all it was the American Dream in action.

Till the leases we up, work mans comp insurance Quadrupled, The Electric company ripped business owners off to cover their butts. Gray Davis runs the state into the ground and 60 to 70 % of all theaters closed that decade. How do you like $12 tickets now. Where can you rent a theater for a $100 nowadays? Nowhere.

We lasted longer than most over ten years.

It makes me sad that I can’t go see a first run movie in any of the 4 theaters we ran. Think about how hard what we did was.

And for the gay guy that hit on my employees that keeps yapping on this site. Don’t be such a coward. I’m easy to find. We should have a talk face to face!

Todd (Captain) Blood

ajofresco on April 24, 2009 at 8:49 pm

Looks like the Captain is in need of a job.

http://www.resumebucket.com/toddblood

jessicat on February 4, 2007 at 7:16 pm

Hey cmk email me your num at do you know anything about our w-2?s

Chris111 on February 4, 2007 at 11:53 am

Heh, i worked for this ape. And ill tell you what, he was horrible at running his business. I went into mainplace with it barely having working lights, barely working restrooms, theatres were horrible, and in a couple months with the help of good hired employees (which was done by none other than me, btw – Zero experience as manager, let alone doing schedules, hiring people, and handling any kind of money) turned the theatre around, well turned it towards something close to a working theatre, only to have it closed down cause poor todd didnt want to pay the rent. This man was soo desperate and fiendish, he went far enough as to try to convince me to take over half his company and become co-owner, granted i gave him 100k dollars. Laff yah right. This man had good, hard working employees ad lost them to do his lazyness. I worked in the course of 3 and a half months, over 800 hours. If not 900+. Sometimes up to 150 hours every 2 weeks, working up to or over 15 hours shifts. I wont lie, 1200 dollar checks @ 8:00 an hour isnt bad, but the toll it took on my body was not worth it. If this guy gets another business and u happen to get hired by him, leave asap.

jessicat on January 26, 2007 at 6:34 pm

I was a manager at the village I cared about every customer that went to that went to MY theatre :::sigh:::: you just can’t work with that man he was barnone the most abusive and craziest boss I ever had I would work 13hr days an it wasn’t good enough so I quit……I assisted in the downfall of the village…and working under that man made me a horrible person because of all the stress I endured……I wish his daughter melissa the best she is a saint and a hard worker eric his accountant call me I need my w-2 (same number) todd blood was a horibble boss I mean really how many managers work 13hr days at 675hr he stil had the b*lls to call me like 2 weeks after I quit to leave me a mean message on my phone yelling and cursing that drunk better not get near any of the old employee he insulted he went as far as to say my employee was lazy because “fat people are lazy” as he said all his employees did the best they could with the crappy equipment he had ….I apologize for all the bad expiriences but we tried our best we were just beat emotianlly..todd knew his equipment was shitty but he was to cheap to pay to get it fixed and he was a bad pay so no one would come work for him…one of my employees got choked by a mad customer because todd wouldn’t fix his sound systems

madelinedpdl on August 16, 2006 at 3:44 pm

For all of those who hate the “dear” Captain….The official word (as of 8/15/06) is that the theater is closing for good. There is a for sale sign in the window, they are giving away everything inside (even the seats), and good luck trying to catch them open. I never had the….joy? of seeing a movie at Capt. Blood’s. My first experience would have been yesterday, but when I arrived, the theater was dark and there was no one there. I called the number on the sign and was crudely informed that they were not open yesterday (even though they are still publishing times for movies) and i would have to call back DAILY to see what days they were going to TRY to be open. The number I called was listed on the sign as an office number, so I’m fairly certain the rude man on the other end was Todd Blood himself. It would seem to me his judgement day has come. So, sleep easy Bob Lauder, your quest has been fulfilled. And oh yeah…you have WAY too much time on your hands if you form a personal vendetta from ONE movie experience. GET OVER IT – LIFE"S TOO SHORT.

cinema1plus4 on August 11, 2006 at 7:36 am

The phone number has not worked for 3 weeks now.

papibear on April 2, 2006 at 1:34 am

As noted elsewhere on this site, Todd Blood and his wife have apparently been looking to sell their theatres. I recall visiting the theatre once back in the mid-90s, and it seemed pretty cool from a look around the lobby, but apparently, from Todd Blood’s own comments on this site as well as from others' such as Bob Lauder’s (you go, man!), something went wrong along the way with Todd Blood and his approach to business. I think it takes a special person to run an independent movie theater (especially first run) these days, and from the sound of it, Todd Blood should probably be running a Quizno’s instead of a movie theater, if anything, because he and his wife both seem to have a really belligerent attitude toward others, regardless of their LDS association. And that’s not just toward customers, it’s toward anyone who gives them any sort of resistance or disagreement. Notice Mrs. Blood’s comments about the owner of the Fox Fullerton on that theater’s page here, or Todd Blood’s comments on owning a movie theater from a few years ago in the “Theatre for Sale” thread (owning a movie theater is such a headache you bought 3 more, Todd?). I mean I don’t know what their deal is, but regardless of California labor laws or lawyers or competition from major chains, independent movie theater owners these days can’t afford to alienate what little customer base they are able to gain. Even the big chains are hurting for customers these days. The independent theater owner thus has to be extremely attentive to making the theatergoing experience as pleasurable and memorable as possible for customers, in order to engender repeat business and positive word of mouth.

But Todd Blood apparently doesn’t want to hear such things. He knows everything about the film business and is unwilling to change and gets angry when anyone has the unbridled nerve of desiring a high quality film presentation. Well, okay, folks. Vote with your wallets and your feet then. Like Mr. Lauder said above, it’s a real shame; he could have made many more millions and been cherished by the community instead of abhorred. But I guess as long as the LDS church gets their fair share of loot, who cares what the unwashed moviegoing minions think, right?

blauder on March 5, 2006 at 9:44 pm

I repeat, “… judging by the amount of complaints in this out of the way corner of the internet, the real number of unhappy customers must be vast and on the rise. It can’t go on forever Todd, at some point you’ll have to face the music … Just being cheap isn’t enough.”

What a shame, this was so unnecesary. You could have made a fortune Todd.
Lack of respect for the consumer and atrocious customer service has killed your dream.

p.s. Be sure and thank Marcus for doing his part.

blauder on March 5, 2006 at 7:57 pm

Well, it’s 15 months later and still no response or tickets from Cap'n Blood. I’ve seen from the posts here that things never change, and my earlier charge that “This guy doesn’t give a flying @?&%* about us, the customers” a year ago still holds true today.

As for Golden_Silence, (Do I smell “Blood”?), eye-rolling Marcus was rude and disrespectful to the point that my normally unflappable wife was ready to fly over the counter and give his eyes a reason to roll around in his head.
He can’t control that?????
Gimme a break!

I’ll happily pay more to have a better experience and get better service. That’s why I go to Lowe’s instead of Home Depot.

At any rate, we’re leaving the Golden State permanently in about a week.
However, this is not good news for Mr. Blood.
Since we’ve apparently been ignored, blown off and disregarded as just a few more of Mr. Blood’s ungrateful, stupid customers, I’m really pissed now. So I’ll continue to pursue this matter until Todd Blood does something to fix the problems inherent in his company’s structure. I leave behind dozens of friends who feel as I do and who are spreading the word about this chain.
If I ran my business as he does, I’d have been bankrupt years ago. Fortunately for him, he has a seemingly endless supply of the uninformed that keep coming to this theatre. But, judging by the amount of complaints in this out of the way corner of the internet, the real number of unhappy customers must be vast and on the rise. It can’t go on forever Todd, at some point you’ll have to face the music.
So why not just do the right thing now and fix it!
If people had a good experience, in a couple of years you’d be selling out. People are grateful for a good thing, they return and they tell their friends, and business increases. What a concept!! That’s how I’ve built my business. Try it.

Just being cheap isn’t enough.

I’ll be back.

eaze323 on October 27, 2005 at 10:09 pm

If you folks all cry about the theatre… don’t go there. who the heck whines about missing the end of the credits in a movie. I’ve been going to Captain Blood’s for years with my friends and family and have always had a good time. If you don’t like it, go pay 10 dollars a ticket somewhere else. I actually appreciate the low prices at Captain Blood’s. And please don’t blame the employees for things they can’t control. There’s been times when i have been there when there was only 1 employee working and they sold tickets, concessions, cleaned theatres, and started movies. All while making sure the customers were always helped. I believe they try as hard as they can to make sure everybody has a good time. I love this theatre and will continue to support it for as long as i live in Orange County.