Warren Theatres

Last updated
Warren Theatres
Company type Subsidiary
IndustryMotion picture theaters Warren Theatres
FounderBill Warren
Successor Regal Entertainment Group
Headquarters Wichita, Kansas
Number of locations
6
Areas served
 Kansas
Oklahoma
Missouri
OwnerRegal Entertainment Group

Warren Theatres was a movie theater chain based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. While the company was founded by Bill Warren, he sold ownership of most of the Warren Theatres locations to Regal Entertainment Group in 2017. The sale excluded two theaters that were in development and the Palace Theatre in Springfield, Missouri (the location is now closed). [1]

Contents

Overview

As of December 2010, the Warren Theatres owned and operated eight theatre complexes in three states. Warren Theatres operated five theatres named the Warren Theatres, with three in Wichita, Kansas, one in Moore, Oklahoma, and one in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. [2] Warren Theatres also operated one theatre, named the Palace Theatre, a second-run location. Warren Theatres [3] also operated a five-screen multiplex called the Movie Machine that was located in Towne West Square mall, which was taken over by Boulevard Theatres and reopened in 2022. [4]

Warren Theatres' IMAX was at one point the top grossing IMAX in North America. [1]

The Warren Theatres location in Old Town Wichita was a main venue for the Tallgrass Film Festival, an international, independent film festival. This location was closed in 2023 during bankruptcy proceedings of Regal's parent company, Cineworld, after a revised lease agreement could not be reached with the property owner for Regal Warren Old Town. [5] The property has yet to officially find a new owner. [6]

In April 2018, Regal announced the closure of the Palace West location in Wichita. The final day of screenings occurred on April 8. [7] The Movie Machine was closed in November 2020. In July 2021, Regal would reach agreement with property owner Arvest Bank to reopen the Midwest City location that Warren had closed in March 2020 due to COVID-19.

As of 2020, the website of Warren Theaters is inactive which means the company has fully absorbed into Regal Cinemas.

Midwest City, Oklahoma

In February 2017, Bill Warren announced the return of the Warren Theatres name to a new 14-screen cineplex in Midwest City, Oklahoma. [8] Originally slated for July 25, 2019, [9] the theatre opened August 23 of that year. [10] The theatre closed in March 2020 due to COVID-19 and on September 5, 2020, the property was foreclosed. [11] The theatre was offered at a sheriff's auction sale in January 2021, but a month later, Arvest Bank foreclosed on the theater following a $16.3 million lawsuit Arvest filed against MWC Warren Theatre, Inc. Property owner Arvest Bank contracted with Regal Entertainment to reopen the location which it did in July 2021.

Locations

NameLocationEstablishedStatusScreensCity, State
WarrenPalace West1989Closed8 Wichita, Kansas
Regal Warren21st Street Warren1996Open18 Wichita, Kansas
Regal WarrenOld Town2003Closed7 Wichita, Kansas
Regal Warren13th Street Warren2002Open20 Wichita, Kansas
WarrenMovie Machine2002Closed (New Ownership)5 Wichita, Kansas
Regal WarrenBroken Arrow2014Open18 Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Regal WarrenMoore Warren2008Open17 Moore, Oklahoma
Regal WarrenMidwest City2019Open10 Midwest City, Oklahoma

[12]

Features

Some of the screens at the West 21st street and East 13th street locations featured digital 3D projection, while the rest featured digital projections. Each auditorium of the Moore Warren was equipped with Dolby Digital Cinema, Dolby 3D, Dolby 7.1, and THX certified audio systems. Modeled after the classic art deco theaters in the 1950s, theatres included marble floors and counter-tops, neon lights, and hand-painted murals. [13]

Some locations featured VIP balcony reserved seating, with food delivery from a private bar just outside the auditorium. Warren Theatres received national acclaim when Flaunt Magazine named the chain the top theater builder in the nation. [14]

Digital IMAX

The Warren's IMAX first opened in Wichita on December 17, 2010. The Moore Warren IMAX opened February 24, 2012. Both theaters have 601 seats, a dedicated lobby, 82 ft IMAX 3D screen, a family restroom, and an elevator. The Warren IMAX at the time it opened, was the largest IMAX screen in the world.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movie theater</span> Venue for viewing films

A movie theater or cinema, also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business that contains auditoriums for viewing films for public entertainment. Most are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing tickets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMC Theatres</span> American movie theater chain

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered in Leawood, Kansas. It is the largest movie theater chain in the world. Founded in 1920, AMC has the largest share of the U.S. theater market ahead of Regal Cinemas and Cinemark Theatres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grauman's Chinese Theatre</span> Movie theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles

The TCL Chinese Theatre, commonly referred to as Grauman's Chinese Theatre, is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regal Cinemas</span> Movie theater chain in the United States

Regal Cinemas is an American movie theater chain founded on August 10, 1989 and owned by the British company Cineworld, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, and operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with 6,853 screens in 511 theaters as of December 31, 2021. The three main theater brands operated by Regal Entertainment Group are Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, and United Artists Theatres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muvico Theaters</span>

Muvico Theaters was a movie theater chain headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Muvico had seven complexes in Florida, one in the Chicago metropolitan area (Rosemont), and one in Thousand Oaks, California. Muvico's theaters were known for the use of decorative themes at several theaters, such as the Egyptian, 1950s drive-in, French opera house, Mediterranean palace, and 1920s grand movie palace themes.

Landmark Theatres is a movie theatre chain founded in 1974 in the United States. It was formerly dedicated to exhibiting and marketing independent and foreign films. Landmark consists of 34 theatres with 176 screens in 24 markets. It is known for both its historic and newer, more modern theatres. Helmed by its President, Kevin Holloway, Landmark Theatres is part of Cohen Media Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metreon</span> Shopping mall

The Metreon is a shopping center located in downtown San Francisco, California, United States at the corner of 4th Street and Mission Street. It is a four-story 350,000 sq ft (33,000 m2) building built over the corner of the underground Moscone Center convention center. Metreon opened on June 16, 1999, as the first of a proposed chain of Sony "urban entertainment centers", aggregating dining, games, music, exhibitions, shopping, and movies. Sony intended the ambitious US$85 million project to be a theme park and gallery for Sony products, and to reinforce a sophisticated image for the Sony brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cineplex Entertainment</span> Canadian entertainment company

Cineplex Inc. is a Canadian operator of movie theater and family entertainment centers, headquartered in Toronto. It is the largest cinema chain in Canada; as of 2019, it operated 165 locations, and accounted for 75% of the domestic box office.

Goodrich Theater NewCo, LLC. is a chain of 22 movie theaters, headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI, representing a total of 174 screens in the United States. The majority of GQT Movies' locations are in Michigan, but other locations could be found in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Alabama, and Pennsylvania. The company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in February 2020. All employees were terminated March 19, 2020 without notice largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as many movie theaters were closed by government order in many states. In last July 2020, the company began reopening some of their locations. By the end of the year it had reopened its 22 locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empire Theatres</span> Defunct Canadian movie theater chain

Empire Theatres Limited was a movie theater chain in Canada, a subsidiary of Empire Company Ltd., the holding company of the Sobey family conglomerate.

Famous Players Limited Partnership was a Canadian-based subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment. As an independent company, it existed as a film exhibitor and cable television service provider. Famous Players operated numerous movie theatre locations in Canada from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador. The company was owned by Viacom Canada but was sold to Cineplex Galaxy LP in 2005.

Harkins Theatres is an American movie theater chain with locations throughout the Southwestern United States. Harkins Theatres is privately owned and operated by its parent company, Harkins Enterprises, LLC. The company operates 35 theaters with 487 screens throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, and Oklahoma. It is the 7th largest movie theater circuit in North America and the largest family-owned theater chain in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movie theaters in the Netherlands</span>

There are 137 movie theaters and 31 arthouse cinemas in the Netherlands, with a total of ca. 675 screens, in addition to 79 small arthouse cinemas and a number of adult movie theaters. The main movie theater chains in the Netherlands are Pathé, VUE and Kinepolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malco Theatres</span> American movie theater chain

Malco Theatres, Inc. is a family owned and operated movie theater chain that has been in business for over one hundred years. It has been led by four generations of the Lightman family. Malco Theatres features 34 theatre locations with over 345 screens in six states. Malco also operates three bowling centers and a family entertainment center in southern Louisiana and a family entertainment center in Oxford, Mississippi.

ArcLight Cinemas was an American movie theater chain that operated from 2002 to 2021. It was owned by The Decurion Corporation, which was also the parent company of Pacific Theatres. The ArcLight chain opened in 2002 as a single theater, the ArcLight Hollywood in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and later expanded to eleven locations in California, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dickinson Theatres</span> American movie theater chain (1920-2014)

Dickinson Theatres was a privately-owned American movie theater chain based in Overland Park. It operated 15 theaters with 169 screens in seven states: Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. In October 2014, the chain was purchased by B&B Theatres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caribbean Cinemas</span> Chain of movie theaters in the Caribbean

Caribbean Cinemas is a chain of movie theaters in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. It is the only major chain in Puerto Rico following CineVista's bankruptcy. The chain has expanded into Dominican Republic, Panama, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Maarten, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Antigua, Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Curaçao, Guadeloupe, Guatemala and Bolivia.

NCG Cinemas is a movie theater chain headquartered in Owosso, Michigan and are owned and operated by the Geiger family. The chain consists at present of 25 theaters with 147 screens. Most of the theaters are located in Michigan with 10 locations, especially in the Flint/Tri-Cities region and the Greater Lansing area. The group also operates in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, New York State, North and South Carolina and Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolby Cinema</span> Premium cinema screen technology created by Dolby Laboratories

Dolby Cinema is a premium cinema created by Dolby Laboratories that combines Dolby proprietary technologies such as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, as well as other signature entrance and intrinsic design features. The technology competes with IMAX and other premium large formats such as Cinemark XD and Regal's RPX.

References

  1. 1 2 "Bill Warren on selling to Regal: 'This is a legacy thing'". Archived from the original on 2021-08-18.
  2. ↑ "Warren Theatres". warrentheatres.com. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "New Movies Coming Next Week in Theaters". 18 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "Warren's Movie Machine.com". Archived from the original on 2011-08-28.
  5. ↑ Taher, Zena (2023-07-18). "Regal Warren Old Town Theatre closure sign of struggling movie industry". www.ksn.com.
  6. ↑ Rengers, Carrie. "Wichita's Boulevard Theatres likely buying Warren Old Town" . Wichita Eagle .
  7. ↑ "Palace West — theater to close by week's end". Kansas.com.
  8. ↑ "Plan announced for new Warren Theatre in Midwest City". kfor.com. 21 February 2017.
  9. ↑ "City announces expected opening date for Warren Theatre in Midwest City". kfor.com. 27 June 2019.
  10. ↑ "Midwest City Warren Theatre facing foreclosure". centraloklahomaweeklies.com.
  11. ↑ "Midwest City movie theater foreclosed upon less than a year after opening". kfor.com. 5 September 2020.
  12. ↑ "Movie Theaters Operated by Warren Theatres". cinematreasures.org. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  13. ↑ "ParentsConnect". parentsconnect.com. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  14. ↑ "What are the movie theaters in your town like?". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.