Regal Bridgeport Village Stadium 18 & IMAX

Joe Vogel on July 10, 2017 at 11:38 am

These days most new theaters are built by large chains who usually have complete control over the project, and they deal with large architectural firms that provide all of the plans in house, with the theater company paying for them.

There are probably exceptions when a theater is part of a larger project, in which case the developer might have more control over at least the exterior look of the theater portion of the project, and the developer’s architects would work in tandem with the theater chain’s architects who would fit their design for the interior into a building designed by the developer’s architect. In those cases the developer would probably pay for the overall plans for the building, while the theater company would pay for the interior plans and renderings.

Historically, when there were a lot of independent theater operators, it was not unusual for developers to build a theater on speculation and then lease it out to an operator, either an independent or a chain eager to get into that particular market. This has become rare, though. Big chains that dominate the industry today like to maintain control over the look and layout of their theaters, and will typically hire the same architectural firm to design one project after another.

Joe Vogel on July 9, 2017 at 6:17 pm

There are three exterior photos of the Bridgeport Stadium 18 on this page of the web site of Robinson Construction Co., builders of the project for Regal Cinemas. The cinema was designed by TVA Architects (formerly Thompson Vaivoda & Associates) of Portland.