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Mall theater will go dark, thanks to 'shiny' Tinseltown Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Cinemark, owner of Movies 5 at the Rogue Valley Mall, will close the theater when its lease expires at the end of October. Competition from Cinemark's own 15 screens at Medford Center's Tinseltown ensured the demise of the mall's screens, which showed their first movies little more than a week after the mall opened in 1986. Retailer close to agreeing to take over Movies 5's spot By GREG STILES Nine days after Rogue Valley Mall opened to great fanfare in October 1986, Movies 5 opened with "Crocodile Dundee," "The Boy Who Could Fly," "Soul Man," "Tough Guys" and "The Color of Money." Come Oct. 31 when the original 15-year lease runs out, the once-crowded venue will have screened its last picture show. Mall manager Jeff Barber said Movies 5 owner Cinemark USA of Plano, Texas, declined to renew its lease earlier this summer. "The reason why has been pretty obvious," Barber said. After Cinemark opened Tinseltown at the Medford Center in December 1997, the crowds that marked the first decade of business dwindled. "People gravitate to new, shiny theaters, and that's what happened," said Terrel Falk of Cinemark's marketing department. "Tinseltown has all the bells and whistles." The same was once said of Movies 5. "Experience luxury. Snuggle into our richly upholstered, sumptuously cushioned seating," trumpeted an early Movies 5 ad that ran in the Mail Tribune's Tempo section. "Listen in on all the soft dialogue and dynamic music through our Academy Award-winning stereo sound system. See the finest Hollywood has to offer projected in all its colorful detail through our state-of-the-art projection system. Refresh yourself with a selection from our full-service snack bar." When 15-screen Tinseltown opened, it closed Cine' 4 on Biddle Road. Movies 5 was reduced to a discount house similar to the White City 6, charging $2 and $1 for admission. Less than two months later, Cinemark returned to showing first-run movies at Movies 5 and matched Tinseltown's ticket price. But theater-goers continued to choose Tinseltown. Barber said the mall is close to signing a retailer that will take over the Movies 5 space, plus three adjacent areas now vacant. He declined to identify the prospective tenant. "A lot of people have asked about the vacancies, because there are three or four noticeable spaces," Barber said. "What they don't understand is that we need to combine that space for a new store." Demolition crews will start in early November and work will be completed for the new tenant in early 2002. Rogue Valley Mall is owned by Greg Greenfield & Associates, and managed by Atlanta-based Jones Lang LaSalle, a property management company. Falk said managers usually transfer to other Cinemark properties after closures. Other employees would likely be absorbed into the staffs at Tinseltown or White City. Cinemark, which was a fledgling 2-year-old outfit when it opened Movies 5, has nearly 300 theaters in 13 countries. In May, it reported first-quarter revenues of $196.1 million. It lost $2.7 million during the quarter, about half of the $5.6 million lost in a similar period of 2000. "Last year was a relatively weak year for film products," Falk said. "I don't know of any year that's been as challenging. That's evidenced by all the bankruptcies." A New Jersey retail real estate analyst wrote recently that Cinemark is one of the few major players in the theater business that hasn't found itself in bankruptcy court. Anne O'Neal, publisher of "The Deal Makers," noted that Cinemark competitors Edwards, Carmike, WestStar, Silver Cinema, United Artists and Regal had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "There was a lot of over-expansion using a lot of soft money," O'Neal said. "There are markets with 54 screens that should have 20. Plus, mall traffic has substantially been down for the last two years nationwide. "When a lot of malls were built, theaters were extremely common. Malls needed anchor tenants, and theaters bring in a lot of people. But theaters don't offer a lot of cross-shopping. How many times do you see people who have gone to the Gap before or after going to a movie? Malls want tenants that feed off each other." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.