cinelog.org

  Amid the decades old family legacies and corporate conglomerates, that dominate the Southern California cinema landscape, there exists a somewhat quirky chain that has managed to operate outside theatre industry norms for twenty five years.   Founded in 1984, Krikorian Theatres were inspired in to existence via a father’s movie going frustrations. George Krikorian, a successful real estate developer and thoroughbred racehorse owner, [...]

  Pictured below is a close up of an Automaticket machine. Evolving from being gear and lever driven, to powered by electric motors, these ticketing machines served as somewhat of an industry standard for over eighty years (if you have ever received a carnival/raffle style ticket, at a theatre, it was likely distributed via an Automaticket machine). [...]

Following up on the Brookhurst post the other day, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a closer look at the Brookhurst Loge.   Opened on February 18, 1970, with a screening of “Oliver!”, the Loge was intended as a luxury, “adults only”, option for patrons of the Brookhurst Theatre. The theatre featured a small, level auditorium (i.e. [...]

Earlier this month, five Hollywood studios agreed to a deal with Digital Cinema Implementation Partners, a consortium of  the “big three” cinema chains (AMC, Cinemark, and Regal Entertainment Group),  to help pay for a $1 billion-plus rollout of digital projection on roughly 20,000 movie screens in North America. The remaining major studios and a deal for smaller cinema operators are still [...]

In the fall of 1996, Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc. operated some 560 screens, at 90 locations. The, then debt free company, pulled in estimated revenues of $170 million and had a two year plan to spend $200 million on expanding the chain. The notoriously competitive company had all but formally declared war on industry giant AMC; via [...]

At 12:29 PM, on February 8, 1980, Mann’s Woodbridge 5 sat ready to open, as the city of Irvine’s first movie theatre. At 12:30 PM, the theatre opened it’s doors, as Edwards’ latest entry in the Orange County market. A cinema changing operators is normally a matter of little note. Be it a merger, buyout, [...]

 This week marks the thirty-ninth anniversary of the world’s first free standing four-plex, the Fashion Square 4, in La Habra, CA. Built by AMC, the venue was an early entry in the company’s emergence as a national powerhouse and a precursor to the ”mulit-plex era”. While not having invented the multi-plex (depending on your definition of “multi-plex”, that honor goes to either [...]

Every country has it’s own take on movie ratings. However, I find Iceland’s ratings system one of the most unique. Interesting, that there is such a specific age breakdown; 7, 12, 16, and 18. I’m assuming the pictograms are violence, sex, drug use, fright, and language. The meaning of the pictogram with three people is [...]

Twenty four years ago today, United Artists opened the Buena Park 8, in the lower level of the, then highly popular, Buena Park Mall. Long since closed and gutted, this venue had a brief “hot” run, but quickly fell victim to the fragile dynamics of mall life cycles. By the mid 90’s the Buena Park [...]