New AMC CEO on future of theater

The $64 million question for new AMC Theatres CEO Gerry Lopez: Will coffee become more important in the KC-based movie exhibitor’s mix of concession offerings?

“Yes, the answer is yes,” Lopez says. “Because it can only go one way – it could not be less important.”

That comes as something less than a huge surprise since prior to Lopez joining AMC this year, he served as executive vice president of Starbucks and president of its Global Consumer Products, Seattle’s Best Coffee.

AMC is far from alone when it comes to mainstream  movieplexes having few to no options where coffee’s concerned. There’s nothing quite like getting a day-old cup of vile-tasting drip coffee to try to stay awake after a hard day’s night in the Power & Light District.

“The thing about coffee is, it’s not going to drive anybody to the theater,” Lopez says. “But you have to have it available.”

In one form or another, Lopez adds, noting that it’s the frou-frou frappuccinos – not the dead serious straight coffees – people purchase at Starbucks after 8 p.m. in prime movie-going hours.

What does drive people to theaters are movies in 3D, Lopez says. AMC recently forecast revenue increases of at least 10 percent at its theaters that have been retrofitted with digital projectors and Imax technology.

So after all these years, 3D is finally poised to become the wave of the future?

“Reserve judgment until Christmas Day,” Lopez says. “Because in November you’re going to get ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Avatar.’ These are the first full-length movies that take 3D to a new place where it has never gone before. So this is going to be a watershed moment – 3D will either become part of the ash heap of history or it will be a defining moment in movie history.”

Lopez’s prediction?

“I’ve seen parts of both movies and my belief is this will be a watershed moment. In my opinion, this is the way our grandparents must have felt when they first saw color or heard sound.”

If 3D takes off like Lopez thinks, between a quarter to a third of box office revenues will come from it in the coming years.

“That’s where I think it’s headed,” Lopez says. “It’s a great movie experience and it gives people a reason to leave home and come to the theater. It’s a great business we have; we make people happy, we make people cry, we scare ’em – and then we bring people back for more.”

Sneak Preview

About that coming soon Jim Carrey movie “A Christmas Carol”…

 “He is phenomenal in it,” Lopez says. “The best Scrooge you’ve ever seen. And do not – do not – see this movie in 2D. You have to see it in 3D. I’ll give you your money back if you don’t like it.”

Move over Donald Trump

Stanford’s comedy club king Craig Glazer may be sitting on a goldmine…

In 1993 he and another investor bought the rights to the 1990 boxing documentary “Champions Forever” from his partners for a measly 25 grand.

The movie had done well at theaters but more or less had tapped out. Still Glazer felt it had long-term video value and it’s provided him a tidy annual income ever since.

Glazer says he got involved in the project after befriending a fellow convict who was in the slammer allegedly for importing the designer drug ecstasy in the 1980s. The dude is listed in movie credits as Tom Bellagio, but that’s not his real name, Glazer adds.

One wild card: Glazer could easily make seven figures on the newly re-released DVD because it includes an additional half hour of “lost interviews” with boxing great Muhammad Ali. Interviews Glazer says are among the last recorded before Parkinson’s robbed Ali of the ability to speak clearly.

But that could just be the tip of the financial iceberg.  What might happen to sales if the 67-year-old Ali should pass away?

“I think Muhammad Ali is the most famous man on the planet today and he’s also beloved,” Glazer says. “So I think interest in him would increase dramatically – just like it did with Michael Jackson – especially for the last and most recent movie made about him.”

Famous last words

Talk about laying down a jinx…

KU football and basketball’s unofficial dancing mascot White Owl did just that Saturday just prior to the Jayhawks’ first loss to Colorado.

“We’re going to the Rose Bowl undefeated,” White Owl predicted. “Just like Texas did.”

A report in the KU student newspaper this summer claimed that White Owl – aka Saul Tucker, a former music salesman at Streetside (formerly Pennylane) in Westport – had been told that he was being banned from doing his unusual dance routine at KU games. His plan was to try to get a student ID so he could attend the games in the student section.

As for the recent fighting incidents between KU footballers and basketballers, “That was (b.s.),” White Owl says. “It was over a woman and neither one of them like her. It was a misunderstanding about the girl and it’s all over with – it was all over with as it happened. They just had to calm down, and the media made too much of it.”

For more Hearne at kcconfidential.com.

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Write comment