Boxoffice-March.1989

: consulting
—
Embassy
or two additional auditoriums. The facade
of the building is supported by
nearly 100 columns, each of which had
to be set separately. Three-quarters of a
mile of neon illuminate the night sky in
shades of red and blue, serving like a
beacon to draw in ticket-buyers from
across the plains.
Upon entering the complex, passing
beneath a sculpted tower which stands
nearly three-stories tall, one finds that
the aesthetic power of the architecture
is more than matched by the technical
attributes of the theatre itself The Embassy
offers 14 first-run houses, all featuring
Dolby stereo and four boasting
THX sound. Tlie attention to audio,
Wallace says, is a circuit-wide concern.
"One of exhibition's
biggest challenges is to
tackle new architectural
ground in terms of
cinema design"
f questions which are difficult to
nswer if you're not in the business.
Miat was it about the Luxury circuit
jhich appealed to you?
One of the benefits of the deal is
hat we are able to pick up where
^om Meyer left off in terms of
xpansion plans. We intend to build
s many as 115 screens there in the
irst two years, similar to what our
trategy was when we acquired Sanikos.
And when we say we're going
build screens, we go out and build
hem. We're going to add theatres
/here there is a need for more
heatres, and that's the beauty of the
/loyer transaction. We're buying a lot
'f real estate, and when you own a
Dt of real estate, your opportunities
or expansion are much greater than
/hen you have to rely on landlords
nd developers.
What will your relationship he with
"om Moyer, now that he is moving into
position?
I think Tom is feeling similar to
low John Santikos felt when we
lought his circuit. Tom is very exited
about getting out of the day-tolay
involvement and being able to
ilan the new locations for Act III
"heatres. It is not a case of offering
dm a symbolic consultant position.
He will be an integral part of the
whole process.
Tltis acquisition will place Act HI
among the top ten theatre circuits in
the country. Is that a source ofpride for
you?
Being in the top ten just represents
a figure. First of all, that doesn't talk
about gross revenue or net profit, it
just talks about the number of
screens you have. And frankly, I'm
really not that interested in having
the most screens. Our objective is to
build the best facilities and to hopefully
make the most money.
Wlxat's next for Act IIP What part of
the country do you think you'll move
into next, and how big do you see the
circuit becoming within five years?
At this point in time, we are limiting
ourselves to opportunities where
we can buy a major regional concentration,
preferably in the Midwest
and in the West. In five years, I hope
that we will be up to 800 screens,
both through internal expansion and
through acquisitions. We will continue
to concentrate in regional areas
where we can dedicate the kind of
resources and management that we
need to do the job better than anybody
else. Everything will be based on
our regional strategy. T.M.
"Santikos has the highest concentration
of THX screens per theatre unit in
the entire industry," he says proudly.
"Also, Dolby recently ran an advertisement
which acknowledged the commitment
that certain exhibitors have expressed
for Dolby SR, and of the nine
theatres in Texas that were cited in the
ad, six of those were Santikos theatres.
That's the kind of commitment that we
have toward presentation."
The 14 houses in the Embassy range
in size from 120 to 475 seats, and Wallace
says that the complex was designed
so that four additional auditoriums
could be added. The entire facility occupies
about 63,000 square feet, construction
took 18 months from start to finish,
and when the theatre finally opened in
November of 1987, Wallace estimates
that Act III spent about $9.5 million on
the entire project.
And has that investment of time and
money proven to be worth it? "The
Embassy has been doing fantastic,"
Wallace states. "It has exceeded all of
our projections."
The Embassy is just the crowning
achievement in Act Ill's ongoing campaign
to stake its claim to the San Antonio
area, which also happens to be the
home base for Act III Theatres. In the
two years since the company acquired
the Santikos circuit, they have increased
their screen count in the city to
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March, 1989 21