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Southside Cinema will close today Owner says there are too many screens and too few good movies By John Darling Citing competition from multi-screen movie "palaces" and the declining quality of Hollywood films, the owners of Southside Cinema will shut down their theater after today�s shows. Located near the busy Barnett-Riverside intersection, the four-screen Southside opened in 1983 under the management of Cinemark. In 1989, was restarted under its present name by the local Southside Co., said Ralph Eaton, a Southside partner and theater manager. "There are way too many screens in town," said Eaton, who is retiring. "Just in Medford, there are 24, plus six in White City. You have to figure on one screen for every 15,000 people, in order to make it. It�s gone to 10,000 now." The Southside was profitable for years as a "discount theater," getting last pick at movies and charging $1 or $1.50 a ticket. It shifted to a "sub-run theater" in recent years, getting second pick of movies and charging $2 to $4 a ticket. Attendance was as high as 3,000 a day on weekends, Eaton said. But profits went into decline about a year after Cinemark�s 15-screen Tinseltown was built, he said. "They hurt us. Then they leased the theaters at White City and the mall. The last year and a half haven�t really been red hot. Most big theaters in towns like Medford are having trouble making a profit and seven large movie chains have gone bankrupt in the last six months." Hollywood, said Eaton, has done a "very poor job" of making movies. Theaters should always have films like "Dances With Wolves" and "Home Alone," but if Hollywood makes a great movie, the first-run theaters ($4.50-$6.50 a ticket) hang onto it longer before the sub-run theaters can show it. "The product is inadequate," he said, and admissions nationwide have been down 10-20 percent as a result. Most movies are rated PG or R, he added, and Hollywood makes very few movies for children. In addition, the explosion of the Internet and video games have meant that "kids play for hours" instead of going to the movies. Eaton isn�t sure of the revenue impact of increased violence and sex in movies, but "the language is so much worse and direct pornography is slipped into R-rated movies routinely. "It�s all starting to add up. People are looking to other pursuits and being more selective when they think about going to the movies. I�ve talked about it to producers at conventions, but they don�t seem to hear me." Theater owners rent films based on a percent set by studios and based on demand. That cut has been increased in recent years, adding to the burden, he said. And while the explosive growth around the South Medford interchange might seem to increase business, Eaton isn�t sure. "It�s made things really crowded around here. I don�t think it�s helped," he said. "I�ve heard lots of complaints about people getting here late for movies because of traffic or just saying they�re not going to get in that mess." Southside owns the theater building. Owners will sell the theater equipment and seats, gut the building, level the sloping floors and lease it as office space, he said, looking around the still-functioning theater. "It�s been fun. I�ve met a lot of nice people. But my wife died a few years ago, I just had surgery and I�m tired. We did our best. We�ve been very price-competitive and we had loyal customers. They�re just spread too thin, that�s all." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.