Boxoffice-March.2000

SPECIAL SERIES: 2001-2010
NEW CINEMA DESIGN
The Future of Theatre Architecture.
Is Now.
e crystal ball
lext 10 years of
uc»ign," and you're
likely to rediscover the new-andimproveW-'pasti.
BOXOHKK surveyed some of
?
the industry's top architects and
designers and found many predicting
trends that hark back to an earlier
era. Some see the return of the
balcony, a hallmark of the days of
double features and back-row
courting. Others see the resurrection
of services such asmfl^
the downscaling i
replacing the 24- and 3JH
megaplex, not with the single
screens of old bi
less grandiose numbers.
All these visions are influenced
by the most contemporary of
advances. There's room for those
romantic balconies, they say,
because the projection room will
He obsolete with the advent of
PPPrnativc modes of projection.
Patrons will reserve their seats and
order their movie dinners over the
by Melissa Morrison
1
count is si
tested the 1
architects suggest that these theatres
building anc
will adapt the newly available
might indeed
Whatev
..ill natur*
ough,
to build
area in order to expand their services.
For example, it could be converted
into a food-service area for
upon the s
ous decade.
"Right r">
the previpresident
more elaborate preparation, or into
e room for use by parties or
ses. Some cinema operators
expecting tl
_ .mply use it for storage. But
Olson, vice of Gould the most mentioned use is the
Evans Goo'ima" n aiL which designs return of thTbalcony.
about 75 percent i5f AMC Theatres' "I remember, way back when I was
new sites. "Nowc.t iw that someone has a kid^e had big plush theaters with
sat in a big cumnfortable chair, ex pe-
rienced stadium
gotten he ..
balconies," savs Thomas Berkes,
fully J
they're going toij
next
that the future hold ere we c
lf you had to boil down most cinebe
this one: digil
revolutionize the movie theatre
industry in the same way stadium
seating did a few years ago," says
David Mesbur, partner in Toronto's
Mesbur & Smith Architects.
Digital projection will do away
with celluloid prints and thus the
machines required to show them.
Perhaps studios w'» »w«m tr
tal films via sat
which will download theu _
puters; perhaps they will deliver them
via DVD. Though no one is certain
exactly what form digital projectioi
will take ultimately, most speak as
confidently as Andy Youngquist,
president of Costa Mesa, Calif. -
based Birtcher C onsti uc4fch«as to
the physical result: \lfHf 1
"The mezzanine and pre
area that we _.
*** ;
llv can be elimi-
a box for six people, a
in, which is more private, «
.4
different pricing system and ...
food and beverage service."
'-nilds, not having a proleans
cheaper construction
costs and more desig'
freedom for architects. Says Olso.
of Gould Evans Goodman: "W
have a whole new opportunity t
create a more efficient buildi
lot less expensive
only would blueprints no longe
have to acco
ilUBBHiNM I