Theaters enjoy the holiday rush

With major changes this year at the movie theater in the Fremont Mall, Main Street Theatres president Bill Barstow said the company is looking for a merry Christmas season.

He has early statistics to highlight his good cheer.

Since the holiday season film rush started just after Thanksgiving, the company has more than a 30 percent increase in revenues over last year - with the same number of screens.

Earlier this fall, Main Street Theatres completed a major renovation at what was known as the Fremont 4 - with three new screens, stadium seating auditoriums and the newest sound systems along with updating the auditoriums that were there.

Barstow said the theater, now called Main Street 7, is as good as any in the area.

In late April, Main Street Theatres closed the Cin-

ema III in the former Alco shopping center, which was bought by Fremont Area Medical Center more than two years ago. That triggered the expansion of the theater operation at Fremont Mall.

Barstow said company officials couldn’t be happier.

"We have said we needed a first-class facility," he said. "Now, we have one. Our (revenues in Fremont) are up 30 to 40 percent over this time last year. That’s because of what we were able to do at the Fremont Mall."

Main Street 7 employees and movie goers saw a sign of the public’s approval this past weekend when movies were selling out.

"Sell outs are a benchmark for a lot of people," Barstow continued. "We don’t necessarily like sell outs, but what it does do is get people to say that the movie must be good and people must like that theater."

But they still try to cut down on sell outs.

"We try to make it that we have show times starting at 1 p.m. and going until 10 (p.m.)," he said. "There have been some technology upgrades for the theater as well as the physical upgrades. People can now get tickets online and can get tickets days in advance. Things have changed. People are very mobile. It isn’t just the new auditoriums and stadium seating that bring people to the theater. It’s everything else.

"People want to know that they’re getting a good value. This theater already had a great variety of quality concessions."

This holiday season is continuing the trend started the weekend after Thanksgiving. A film industry report showed that the end of the world film "I Am Legend," starring Will Smith, and "Alvin and the Chipmunks" together brought in more than $121.5 million last weekend, an unprecedented mark for the top two films on a weekend in December.

Films released in the next six days could challenge that with "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," "P.S. I Love You" and "Waterhorse."

Barstow expects a flood of movie goers for the second "National Treasure" film, which stars Nicholas Cage.

"It’s a crowd-pleasing film," he said.

But that alone won’t help Main Street 7 continue this year’s trend in additional revenues.

"You don’t always need big block busters," he said. "You need films that will appeal to a wide demographic, and we have that."

Along with "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," movie goers in Fremont will also be able to see "P.S. I Love You," "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," "Waterhorse" and "Alien vs. Predator."

"That lineup of films touches everybody," Barstow said.