Scene One Entertainment will revive Amarillo mall theater, here's the details
Three years after the closing of the Westgate Mall Cinemas, Scene One Entertainment plans to reopen the Amarillo location as the rebranded Scene One Westgate Mall Cinemas, a six-screen theater, later this month.
The theater, previously owned by Premiere Cinemas, originally opened as a first-run United Artists movie theater in 1988. At the time of its closing at the Westgate Mall, the Premiere theater was a second run, or discount movie theater, which showed films at a discount price after their initial run in regular movie theaters. The newest iteration of the movie theater will show first-run movies.
Scene One touts that its ticket pricing will be the lowest in the area and features a Family 4-Pack, which gives a family of four a large popcorn, two drinks and four movie tickets for a special price.
Joe Masher, owner and CEO of Scene One Entertainment, formerly Bow-Tie Management, spoke about bringing the Westgate Mall Cinema back to life.
“We’re excited to reopen this theater in Amarillo’s premiere shopping destination,” said Joe Masher, owner and CEO, of Scene One Entertainment. “Westgate Mall is the perfect place to open our first theater in Texas, and we look forward to expanding our footprint here in the Lone Star State.”
According to Masher, Scene One operates 10 movie theaters in six states, with the closest to Amarillo located in Colorado, as well as others in New Jersey, New York, South Carolina and Virginia.
Masher said that with the recent closing of the United Artist Cinema and the great state of the Westgate Mall, he feels that with the current state of movies, a six-screen theater is a perfect size for the output of Hollywood movie studios.
“The theater is in great shape, and the mall seems to be thriving,” Masher said. “It is full, except for the theater and one of the big boxes. Unlike many other malls across the country, this mall is seemingly very successful.”
Currently, the mall space is being thoroughly cleaned, and equipment is being tested. Beverage systems are being installed to get the concessions ready for the opening. Masher said that they are waiting on projection parts, so the late January date is a soft projection for opening.
Asked if there were any concerns that the larger Cinemark and Cinergy movie theaters would hurt the success of the new theater, Masher said that the proximity of local restaurants and the mall's success work to Scene One’s advantage to get eyes on its movie screens.
Related: Cinergy Entertainment launching new membership program Jan. 1
He said that Cinergy, while an amazing place with movies and a lot of other activities, and Cinemark are far enough away from the mall so that Scene One can be a great alternative option.
“The advantages that we have going for us does not make the competition a great concern for us,” Masher said. “We are a straight-up movie theater, and Cinemark is far enough away from us so that we both have room to thrive. The key in the current economy is value, and movie-going is still the most affordable means of out-of-home entertainment. We are going to push family-friendly pricing.”
Masher said that he wants the theater to be community-oriented and work with other stores in the mall for promotions. Amarillo, for Masher, was a great destination due to the business in its mall and wanting to have a theater in Texas. He said the closing of the United Artist’s Theater made this a perfect opportunity to make this move into the state. He said this new theater is part of a greater expansion planned for Scene One Entertainment to other states. His company owns a variety of theater types, from single-screen classic theatres to multiplexes.
“We find Amarillo to be a really exciting city, and I really think the area around the mall makes this a great environment to open a new cinema,” Masher said.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Scene One to open first Texas movie theater in Amarillo mall
