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14 Screen Regal multiplex opens in downtown L.A.
posted by
CSWalczak
on
October 28, 2009 at 10:57 am
LOS ANGELES, CA — It’s been many years since a new theater opened in downtown Los Angeles, but the the Regal Stadium 14 opens this week on W. Olympic Boulevard as part of AEG’s L.A. Live complex. All screening rooms feature digital projection and four are 3D capable. Seating capacities in the auditoriums range from 140 to 800; the largest has a balcony and a 75 x 38 ft. screen and can be operated separately from the other screens using a separate entrance which is intended to appeal to studios as place to launch the opening of high profile films.
The premiere house, located on the ground floor, was designed specifically to accommodate film debuts, AEG officials said. It features stadium seating, a balcony and a 75-by-38-foot screen. It is accessible from a separate lobby adjacent to the main entrance and has a concession stand separate from the rest of the complex. It can be completely sectioned off for events while other auditoriums operate normally, said Roth during a recent tour of the facility.
Russ Nunley, vice president of marketing and communications for the Regal Entertainment Group, said that the one-stop-shopping quality of L.A. Live could also make it ideal for premieres.
“The location lends itself to that celebrity spotlight, with the neighboring clubs and amenities,” he said. “It really is a unique location that can host all of the activities related to a red-carpet event.”
More information and pictures at LA Downtown News.
Comments (10)
Still searching for specs on the other 13 auditoriums. As I said on the Cinema Treasures page for this theatre, it doesn’t make a differene how ginormous the Premiere Cinema is. If the other auditoriums are standard issue shoeboxes with skinny, postage stamp sized screens, then the theatre is a bust. Period.
Could you imagine if they added a mini-IMAX screen? That would make it worse than Lincoln Square, which is owned by Regal’s rival, AMC.
Justin, you must be talking about the mini-IMAX (I call it LIEMAX) at the AMC Empire 25. The Lincoln Square has the real thing.
And when I eventually visit New York, I plan to make a trip to LS.
75 foot wide screen? Thats wider than our Uptown in DC! I wonder if its curved. You’d think LA/Hollywood would have enough venue choices and state-of-the-art ones at that being in the film capital of the world. I’m drooling and envious :P The IMAX-lite screens that our AMCs have don’t cut it as being truly IMAX and IMAX immersive as far as film presentation goes. Screen size is one thing..I’m a soundphile, too. If it doesn’t sound right and is THX cert, its not good.
75x38 is about 1.98:1. Hmm.
Following up on Kram Sacul’s comment about the screen size, a lot of theaters use to install 2:1 ratio screens as a compromise in showing widescreen and regular-width films. Panavision movies will fill the full 75-foot width, (but be only 31-feet high), while Academy widescreen movies will fill the full 38-foot height (and be 70-feet wide). If the theater had a 2.4:1 screen, Academy widescreen movies would only be 57-feet wide and 31-feet high, which would look small. So this allows widescreen movies to be wider, and regular ratio movies to be larger. I hope one of Cinematreasures' subscribers will be able to report on this theater soon.
There’s more pictures of the AMC here. It looks beautiful.
I share Cris Utley’s concern about the other theaters. It’s not going to be a very nice viewing experience if half of the theaters have 180 seats and 20-foot wide screens.
It’s funny how yet another multiplex cinema is opening up when so many multiplex cinema franchises are in such financial trouble.
MPol: This is (now) the only first-run movie theatre in the Downtown Los Angeles area. Before this, there was only a 4 screen ultra small theatre that was tucked away beneath a downtwon hotel. So it’s a bit more than “yet another multiplex cinema”.
Visited this place on 11/1. The verdict: IT’S A BUST!
My prophecy fulfilled itself: It literally is 1 big auditorium and 13 skinny, postage stamp sized screens with top down masking. YUCK!
The “4 screen ultra small tehater that was tucked away beneath a downtown hotel” was the Laemmle Grande 4 Plex. The hotel at one time was the Sheraton. It wasn’t the most memorable theater but it served a purpose for a while that no other did; to bring first-run films to downtown Los Angeles.