Big-Screen Entertainment
Muvico’s growing chain of megaplex motion picture theaters gives moviegoers the royal treatment.
Susan Fishman

Muvico operates 233 screens in 12 locations in Florida, Maryland and Tennessee. The company is now expanding its Premier concept in major metro markets.

Back in the day of the big movie palaces, moviegoers weren’t just looking forward to seeing the blockbuster of the week on a big screen. They were looking for an “experience” and an opportunity to make a “night of it” when going to the movies. Those days may be back for the movie-going public with the “Premier” theaters by Muvico Entertainment, L.L.C. The growing chain of premium, megaplex motion picture theaters currently operates 233 screens in 12 locations located in Florida, Maryland and Tennessee and is expanding its Premier theater concept in major metropolitan markets.

Muvico theaters are entertainment destinations, offering many amenities not found in traditional theaters. The architecturally “themed,” state-of-the-art Premier theaters feature expanded concession menus, VIP areas with bars and restaurants, large game arcades, child-care facilities, assigned seating and Internet ticketing. Three of the company’s theaters currently rank in the Top 20 theaters in the U.S. in terms of box office revenue with one of its theaters being the highest attended theater in North America.

Muvico Palace 20 in Boca Raton, Florida, debuted the company’s upscale Premier concept.

Muvico has been rolling its cameras since 1985; however, the company reinvented itself in the late 1990s with the advent of the megaplex movie theater. In January 2006, former founder and CEO Hamid Hashemi left the company and CFO Michael F. Whalen, Jr. was appointed to president.

“Attendance to theaters over the last several years nationally has been down approximately two percent on a compound growth rate,” notes Whalen. “We thought it made sense to look at how to get certain audiences back to the movies.”

A lot of the movies that are currently out are geared toward teen audiences, Whalen adds, and that’s the demographic that is currently going to the movies today. It’s the demographic of the 40-ish crowd with kids that has been slipping over the past couple of years, and that’s the audience that Muvico is trying to get back. In order to do that, it’s all about “the night out,” Whalen says.

Muvico’s planned Xanadu project in Meadowlands, New Jersey. Photo courtesey of Development Design Group.

“While the movie is an important choice in why you go out, there’s more to the night than just the movie,” he adds.

That’s where the Premier concept comes in. The upscale concept debuted with the opening of Muvico’s Palace 20 in Boca Raton, Florida. It was the first theater in the country to offer a full-service bar and restaurant along with VIP seating at the balcony level of the theater. Upon arrival, after valet parking their car, guests enter the exclusive VIP box office, which provides access to the upstairs “Premier Bistro & Bar,” as well as the balcony areas of the auditoriums. In addition to the 21-and-over bar and restaurants, there are separate multi-function rooms used for private parties and corporate functions booked by the company’s full-time catering manager. Within the Premier concept, a gallery, which features 50 to 100 seats, offers private viewing areas with plush love seats. Guests can bring their dessert or a bottle of wine into the movies, although food is not generally encouraged in the auditorium in order to preserve the movie-going experience. An average ticket at primetime is $9 in the downstairs auditorium and $18 in the upstairs VIP sections, which come with valet service, a bag of popcorn and the ability to go online in advance and pick your seat.

It’s important to note, says Whalen, that while the Muvico audience is segmented into the upstairs, 21-and-over crowd and the downstairs general audience, the high level of customer service is extended to everyone.

The VIP bar at Muvico Rosemont 18, which will be located at The Rosemont Walk, an entertainment district in Rosemont, Illinois, near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Photo courtesey of Development Design Group.

“Even the people who are not in the VIP section get more amenities than found in today’s traditional theater,” he says. “There’s a widely expanded concession menu, birthday party rooms, a guest services booth and onsite childcare. So everyone gets a better experience when they go to the movies.”

Currently, Muvico has three Premier locations — The Palace in Boca Raton, Cityplace in West Palm Beach and Centro Ybor in Tampa — and the company is also looking at putting the Premier concept in some of its existing theaters. Executives intend to include the Premier concept in all projects going forward, and the goal over the next 5 years is to take the brand into major metropolitan markets, such as Chicago, New York and Atlanta.

“We believe the model going forward will offer more services and guest amenities for the price point that we charge at the Premier,” Whalen notes. “There are people who want a differentiated theater experience from what is being offered today, as evidenced by our Boca theater Premier level, which sells out on Friday and Saturday nights no matter what movie product is being played.”

Muvico plans to purchase 2 acres of land to build and operate a 14-screen Premier theater at The Summit in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Photo courtesey of Development Design Group.

Muvico plans to build a 26-screen, 6,000-seat theater at Xanadu, a 4.75 million-square-foot, $2 billion mixed-use project, including a large family leisure and entertainment component. The project is located in the Meadowlands sports complex, just a few miles from Manhattan, and more than 2 million people live within a 10-mile radius, excluding Manhattan.

The Muvico theater will have the same amenities as the Palace Theater in Boca Raton. The current total seat count is 5,300 seats downstairs and 700 seats upstairs. In addition, Muvico will use the area on the roof of the mall for an outdoor “drive-in” theater with a 40-foot screen visible from Manhattan together with a rooftop bar and lounge.

The company also plans to locate at The Rosemont Walk, an entertainment district in the high-profile suburb of Chicago next to O’Hare Airport. The Muvico Rosemont 18 will be located at the heart of the project, which is situated at the intersection of three major interstates, I-294, I-90 and I-190. The theater will feature the signature Premier concept with over 400 VIP seats in six galleries, featuring a full-service bar and more than 200 restaurant seats.

Muvico has also contracted to purchase approximately 2 acres of land to build and operate a 14-screen Premier stadium seating theater featuring six Premier balconies at The Summit, a mixed-use, upscale lifestyle center on 500 acres of land in Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.

“We’ve become a localized destination,” notes John J. Spano, Jr., vice president, human resources and corporate communications. “People will bypass many other theaters and travel to get the experience that Muvico provides. That’s been proven at Boca, and we think it will be the same in other key demographic markets we build the concept in.”

All of the Muvico theaters are located in the top 50 DMAs in the U.S. The company actively targets markets which are under-screened or in which competing properties are older multiplexes. Typically, the company looks for sites with high densities and favorable household incomes within a 10-mile radius or 20-minute drive time and are located within or near a major metropolitan area. Site selection is led by Muvico’s real estate vice president Mike Wilson.

“Since we will have a much more significant investment in the property, we are going to be a lot more selective in the type of real estate we choose,” says Wilson. “We want to limit the program to no more than three locations a year in the top-tier markets. We are going to figure out how to position ourselves to fulfill the premier strategy and get the right demographics that work for that. We are also looking to primarily go after lifestyle centers or high-end shopping centers that better complement this formula.”

The Boca Raton location is approximately 100,000 square feet with 20 screens and a total of 4,200 seats. The prototype going forward will be a bit more boutique, sophisticated and smaller, Wilson adds.

“We think there is an opportunity in certain markets to bring the box size down to 10 to 12 screens and still keep a good number of Premier seats,” he says. “That has a lot to do with the way the industry is changing. We used to have to build megaplexes with a lot of screens to satisfy the studios. Now we’re finding that the studios only require us to play films three to four weeks, so we don’t have to have as many places to play the film. That helps with our strategy to be more of a boutique player and get the types of properties we’re interested in.”

Traditionally, Muvico has had thematic environments and a strategy of creating a theme specific for the market it was going after. Moving forward, the company will focus on creating something that still has the timeless element, but is a little more sophisticated.

“We’re capturing the idea of the movie palace and bringing back the old grandiose movie palace facades and all the opulence and elegance that comes with that,” says Wilson.

“It’s a value proposition,” adds Whalen. “Instead of trying to cut services and ticket prices to get people back, we’re going the opposite way, offering a higher level of customer service and amenities and, on the Premier level, we think people will pay more for that experience.”

And with the onset of digital technology, Whalen also envisions other uses for the theaters, such as showing concerts and live sporting events.

“Those are coming down the road,” he says, “and while we’re called a theater company today, we want to get out of that business and be an entertainment experience for people.”