Movies return

IN JANUARY 1991,
Cineplex Gdeon’s fease on
the West Van Odeon ran
out. It never reopened.

By Tina Gilbertson
Contributing Writer

Two years Jater, on Jan. 15,
when Famous Players ciosed the
doors of the only remaining movie
house in West Vancouver, local
merchants and residents alike
feared an end to cinema in the
municipality.

Park Royal Shopping Centres
Lid., however, had no intention
of forsaking the. Park Royal
cinemas, which are currently
undergoing renovations in an-
ticipation of a grand reopening
under independent management in
September,

Park Royal sought and found
an operator whose agenda jibed
with the shopping centre’s plans
for. the venue.

Said Rick Amantea, Park
Royal’s director, ‘‘We knew with
the presence of the Esplanade 6
and Park and Tilford cinemas, it
would not be viable to go with a
traditional first-run movie
house.”’

Enter-Tom Lightburn, a former
vice-president of Cineplex Odeon
with 15 years’ experience in the
film industry.

Lightburn and partner Leonard
-Schein are associated in their
‘enterprise with the Festiva!
Theatre Circuit, which operates
the Park, Varsity and Starlight
cinemas.

“They are much more in tune
with the local audience than any
national circuit «ould be,’’ said

to Park Royal

Lightburn. “Also, we have a real
fondness for films with more ar-
tistic merit.””

At least one screen of the
venue's three will, be devoted ex-
clusively to those films, said
Lightburn, who added that there
may be ‘tmanthly themes’ ina
second auditorium,

Patrons of the new cinemas,
which will show daily matinee and
evening double features for a flat
price of S4. can expect to see
“movies that they have only seen
en video, if at atl,” according to
Lightburn.

The owner/operator offered a
guarantee that Like Water For
Chocolate, Much Ado About
Nothing, and probably Raise the
Red Laniern will be shown in the
first month,

Brenda Berck, cultural devel-
opment officer for the North
Shore Arts Commission, is excited
about the reopening, ‘I'm par-
ticularly thrilled that they will of-
fer repertory cinema. It will meet
an audience need, and that need is
clearly a growing one,” she said.

Ray Mainland, owner/operator
of Vancouver’s popular Ridge
theatre, said he knows Lightburn

and wishes him luck, adding, ‘I

hope the community
him.”

Unfortunately, Lightburn says,
verbal support isn’t always backed
up by attendance, and despite
public sentiment, smal! indepen-
dent operations often die uniimely
deaths.

Mainland puts it this way: ‘It's
kind of like having a butcher shop
in your neighborhood. If the
community supports it, it will stay
there. If not, you'll just have to
buy your meat at Safeway.’

supports

A film-goer’s companion
to N. Shore movie houses

THE FOLLOWING is a list of
_the North Shore’s movie theatres
and their facilities.

Current movie listings appear in
the Around Town section of the
North Shore News every Wednes-
day.

Esplanade 6

@ 260 W..Esplanade, North Van-
couver

@ Famous Players

@ Opened Dec. 21, 1990

@ Box office opens at 6:40 p.in.
{6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and
Saturdays); 1:30 p.m. daily foy
' matinees

@ Seating capacity: 1,616

© Six screens

@ Screen dimensions: two 14°X
32’, two 18°X 32°, one 17°X 36’,
one 18’X 38’,

@ Equipped with Dolby SR stereo
@ Wheeichair accessible
throughout

@® Two concession siands

@ 24 employees

@ Famous Players cinemas have
first-run rights from Paramount,
Warner Bros., MGM, Disney,
‘Touchstone, Hollywood Fictures.

‘Each auditorium has been
christened with a name and
painted an identifying color: Par-
adise (turquoise), Rio (red), Cen-
tury (green), Majestic. (magenta),
Strand {yellow) and Rialto (royal
blue).

Park and Tilford
@ 200 - 300: Broaksbank Ave.,

: North Vancouver
@. Cineplex Odeon

@ Opened Dec. 16, 1988

® Box office opens at 6:30 p.m.;
12:30 p.m. for matinees (weekends
only except during special runs)

® Seating capacity: 1,672

@ Six screens

®@ Screen dimensions: four 15°X
27’, wo 1@°X 3514"

@ Equipped with Dolby SR stereo
@ Wheelchair accessible
throughout

@ Two concession stands

22 employees

w Cineplex Odeon cinemas have
first-run rights from Tri-Star,
Columbia, 20th Century Fox.

Park Royai Cinemas

@ 1086 Park Royal W., West

Vancouver

® Independent

® First- opened in 1968, closed

Jan. 15, 1993. Reopening sched-

uled for September.

@ Box office will open at 6:30

p.m.; 12:30 p.m. for matinees

® Seating capacity is. approxi-

maicly 1,060

@ Three screens

@ Screen dimensions: two {0°X

22°, one 12%°X 2744!

® Wheele hair accessible

throughout

@ One concession

in-house restaurant.

®@ Probably

employees

@® All movies

second-run,
One screen will be dedicated to

foreign and. ‘‘artsy’’ films, and

another might feature a monthly

stand, «plus

shown will be

theme, such as sci-fi or horror.

fewer ‘than [0°

Wednesday, July 28,

Tat 7 TE Taree

“) HOSTCAT

1993, North Shore News Special Supplement - 9

" NEWS photo Mike Waketield

TOM LIGHTBUAN (left) and Park Royal's Rick Amantea celebrate the return of cinema to West

Vancouver as the renovation of the Park Ro

venue's planned opening in september.

yal cinemas gets under way in preparation for the

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You and I — Together!”

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