December 11, 2002 Student
News
New 8-Plex Theater
Opens in Providence
From the Hard
News Cafe (12/10/02)
 Harry
Potter, James Bond, Frodo the Hobbit and Captain Picard are
moving into Providence this week.
Providence has gone Hollywood. Better yet, Hollywood is coming
to Providence. Stadium 8, a new movie theater opening Friday,
will have the largest screen in Cache Valley and stadium seating.
Bret Peterson, president of the Spring Creek Village Development
where the theater is located said the theater "will have
a great impact" on Providence. "It is going to be
a real attraction and destination," he said.
Spring Creek Village Development leases the land and the building
to Westates Theatres, which will operate the theater.
Tony Rudman, vice president and legal counsel for Westates,
said, "We've got eight screens, all stadium seating, digital
sound, wall-to-wall screens." The theaters have rocking
love seats with retractable arms, projectors that those in the
industry describe as the finest, and two separate concessions
areas, according to Rudman.
Westates operates all of the first-run movie theaters in Cache
Valley, with 20 screens. They operate about 100 screens throughout
Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada, Rudman said.
"It's the first stadium seating here in the valley, which
is a big deal. It will be a unique experience that way. It's
high-back, high-tech seating, it's really comfortable,"
Peterson said.
The biggest theater is the one of the largest screens Westates
operates in the state of Utah, Rudman said.
Peterson said, "It'll be a much larger picture by far
than anyone in the valley."
He said pricing will be the same at the new theater as other
Westates Theatres in the valley, despite being a brand new theater.
Kathryn Fifield, a senior at Utah State University, said she
can't wait to see the new theater. "I am very exited to
see special effects, just because I think they have a lot more
impact on bigger screens."
Peterson said Spring Creek is also negotiating with national
and local restaurant chains to build near the theater. They
anticipate building at least two or three sit-down restaurants
in stand-alone buildings, and smaller restaurants in the existing
development, he said. "We're anticipating over the next
several months that we'll have some of those deals done."
He said citizens on the south end of Cache Valley are excited
about not having to drive across Logan to go to dinner and a
movie. Peterson anticipates people in nearby cities like Brigham
and Tremonton who have gone south for stadium theaters will
come to Logan instead.
"We'll get a fair amount of traffic from those people
over here who have been driving down to Layton to go to the
movies. We think that will be a positive, bringing in some revenue
dollars from outside the valley." Peterson said business
has increased already, and the theater will be positively affect
retail in the area.
Rudman said it should be a significant economic impact on the
valley. The theater will hire about 100 part- and full-time
employees.
In a Providence City Council meeting in November, Peterson
said the theater expects gross revenues in the first year to
be between $3 million and $5 million, selling 500,000 to 600,000
tickets.
"This will facilitate additional development out here,
restaurants and other retail that will come around this project
which will provide a fair amount of revenue, traffic and development
here.
"There's been very little development on the south end
of Logan," he said. "This area's been pretty underserved.
People are getting excited about not having to drive all the
way across town to go to a movie or out to eat."
Peterson said the theater has been years in the making. "We
began the [Spring Creek Village development] out here about
a year ago. Westates had been looking for a home for an eight-plex
theater for about three or four years. We were able to combine
it with our project here and make it happen."
To find out what movies will be playing, showtimes, or to buy
tickets online, visit the Westates Theaters website, www.westatestheatres.com.
By Roy Burton
utah
state today/archives/December
2002/archives
prior to Sept 2002/
Brought
to you by Utah State University Public Relations and Marketing
|