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New Plant City Movie Theater Opens

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By GEORGE WILKENS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

PLANT CITY - In the 1971 film "The Last Picture Show," the only movie theater in a small Texas town closes, never to reopen.

But hey, it's only a movie.

Plant City's sole motion picture theater - closed since early last year - was to reopen Friday, renovated and modernized with fancy new seats, eight new screens and more, according to the owner - also new.

"We completely gutted the old cinema and rebuilt it with stadium seating and our plush high-back rocking recliner loveseats," said Gary Moore, CEO of Premiere Cinemas, the Texas-based chain that has taken over the former Lake Walden Cinema 8.

The remodeled theater has been rechristened Premiere Cinema 8. "The lobby is new, the restrooms are new; pretty much everything is new," Moore said. The new theater also features digital sound.

"We're glad they're coming to town," said Marion Smith, president of the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce. "That was something we wanted to stay on top of," she said of the loss of the city's only cinema, which prompted inquiries from residents.

"We had lot of calls: 'What's Plant City going to do?'" Most Plant City residents have been driving to theaters in Lakeland or Brandon, Smith said.

Before taking over the 16-year-old theater, Moore contacted the chamber. "I told him the community would definitely support a theater," Smith said. "Fortunately, he found it to be a viable market."

Lifelong Plant City resident, former city commissioner and avid movie fan Marsha Passmore said she was looking forward to the reopening.

"I love to go to movies, and now we're having to travel out of town," mostly Brandon, she said of herself and husband, Billy.

The couple go at least once weekly. "As soon as a new one comes out, we try to go."

The reopened theater is a five-minute drive from home, and the Passmores planned to be there opening night. "We'll be regulars again. We need to support it," she said.

Premiere Cinemas operates more than a dozen theaters in Texas, several in Alabama and has others scheduled to open soon in Louisiana and Tennessee, Moore said. In 2004 the company opened its first Florida location, Premiere Cinema 16, at Orlando Fashion Square Mall.

"Having already built in Orlando, we were familiar with Plant City," Moore said. "And when the theater closed, suddenly Plant City became a city without a cinema, and residents had to make a pretty long drive just to see a movie."

Moore inspected the former Carmike Cinemas property "and determined it could be fully renovated into a first-class stadium cinema and give Plant City a theater to call its own, just as nice as those" 20 to 30 minutes away, he said.

"Admission prices $7.50 for evening shows for adults and $5.75 for children, seniors and matinees should be lower than any of the surrounding multiplex cinemas," Moore said of the theater that will employ about 25 and operate from approximately noon to midnight, seven days a week.

Premiere Cinemas is based in Big Spring, south of Lubbock, Texas.

The eight-screen theater at 220 W. Alexander St., an anchor in the Lake Walden Square shopping center west of James L. Redman Parkway, was opened in 1992 by Floyd Theatres. In 1995, it was acquired by Carmike, the nation's fourth-largest cinema chain, which did not publicly explain its March 2007 closing of the Plant City site.

The loss of Plant City's only movie theater marked the end of an era. Local historian David E. Bailey Jr., co-author of "Plant City - Its Origins and History," has said that prior to the closing, Plant City always had a theater, starting with The Capitol in the 1920s.

An architectural design company owned and operated by Plant City resident Benito "Benny" Lubrano Jr. is in charge of the renovation by Summit Construction of Tampa Bay.

"Basically, what we did was a total facelift," Lubrano said.

In addition to 1,310 seats, new screens and digital sound system, the theater was dressed with curtains, carpet and other decor following the corporate color line of burgundy and purple, said the owner of Lubrano Designs.

Two restrooms were added, and all four feature ceramic tile and baby-changing stations. Upgraded electrical and plumbing systems include new fire sprinklers throughout the 26,000-square-foot structure and mezzanine.

Carmike's Mugs & Movies auditorium, where patrons seated at tables could eat and drink while watching the film, was eliminated in the new design. Former kitchen space for that feature was remodeled to accommodate the additional restrooms, Lubrano said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Premiere Cinema 8

WHEN: Open seven days a week

WHERE: 220 W. Alexander St., in Lake Walden Square shopping center, Plant City

ADMISSION: Adults, evenings, $7.50; children, seniors, matinees, $5.75

SHOW TIMES INFORMATION: (813) 719-7600

WEB SITE: www.pccmovies .com

NOW SHOWING: "Wall-E," "Wanted," "The Love Guru," "Get Smart," "The Incredible Hulk," "The Happening," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-44433 or gwilkens@tampatrib.com.

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