Tuesday, November 10, 1998 The University Daily Kansan Section A · Page 5 HOLLYWOOD THEATERS Company has grip on market Continued from page 1A Jeff Bounds, a reporter with the Dallas Business Journal, has kept up with the home town company and was not surprised when he heard that Hollywood had sewed up all the major screens in Lawrence. "If they're the only game in town, then they've accomplished their goal," he said recently, adding that students shouldn't be surprised by Hollywood's methods. In fact, he describes Hollywood's methods as the Wal-Mart approach to movie theaters. The key to Hollywood's strategy, Bounds said, is to take control of the screens in small and medium-sized cities. Jae Kim, associate analyst with the research firm Paul Kagan and Associates in Carmel, Calif., said that takeovers and buy-outs were just the economics of the business. "The overall trend in the industry is to capture the market share by any means," he said. "If that means putting the competition totally out of business, then so be it." Senate takes on Hollywood The complaints on campus about the theater company started in mid-September. Words such as "veritable monopoly" were bouncing off the walls in Student Senate. While some wondered why Senate would bother trying to take on a Dallas-based company, student senators Alan Stearns, graduate senator; Mark Horowitz, graduate senator; and Maria Abatjogoul, liberal arts and sciences senator, decided to write the company a letter. They asked the company to keep the Hillcrest Theater 5, the town's only dollar theater, open. If that were not economically feasible, they asked Hollywood to create a discount for students in Lawrence. Steve Wood, managing director of the AMC Studio 30, 12075 South Strang Line Road in Olathe, was letting KU students get into his 30-screen theater for $3.75. Besides pressure from the University's Student Senate, the company also was feeling heat from nearby megaplexes in Olathe. "Since we've opened, we've offered student discounts," he said. "We believe in student pricing. We understand how much it costs to go to college, and we want to give college students a break." One special that attracted KU students to the AMC Studio 30 was the mega-movie deal. The coupon, which offered student admission and up to $20 in concessions for $7.5, started running in *The University Daily Kansan* in the beginning of September. The coupon stopped running on Oct. 30, the same day the Hollywood discount went in to effect. Wood said that although Johnson County Community College students did get the $3.75 discount movie rates, they did not get the deal KU students had. "The purpose of the mega-movie deal is to let students of Lawrence know that there is another theater only 30 minutes away," he said. "We think that once we get them in the door, we'll get them for life." The AMC Studio 30 saw about 100 KU students a day when the mega-movie deal was being offered. Although Wood said it was too early to tell whether the new Hollywood discount and the expired mega-movie deal had cut the number of KU students making the trip to his theater, he said he probably would start to offer the discount again after the holiday season ends. While students waited for a response from Hollywood on a discount, and while the Lawrence chain was losing customers to Olathe theaters, the company was already offering a discount to another Big 12 town. Tracy Bundy, Hollywood Theaters representative, said that the company's theater in Waco, Texas, The 'Hollywood Jewel, had a student discount. She said that the discount was in place to "test" the discount with students at Baylor University. Karen Harmon, entertainment editor of The Baylor Lariat, Baylor University's student newspaper, had a different take. "The Hollywood Jewel was the main theater in town," she said. "But then a Starplex Theater moved to town, and that theater has offered a student discount since the day it opened." Harmon said that virtually all the Baylor students went to the Starplex. "I think since all the stu- denus were heading to the school, I should go." was forced to start offering a discount," she said. "I think since all the stu- Getting the discount Starplex, The Hollywood Jewel Facing similar problems in Lawrence, the company started offering student tickets for $4.75, the same discount it offers in Waco. Bundy said that the decision to lower student prices in Lawrence was made in an all-staff meeting at Hollywood Inc. "We evaluated the prices and decided that the discount for college students in Lawrence was something we could do," she said. Regular admission prices were changed as well, but in the other direction. Regular admission went from $6 to $6.25. Bundy said that one price change had nothing to do with the other. Abatoglou was happy that Senate's goal had been achieved. "It was so easy," she said. "All we had to do was ask." Kevin Yoder, student body president, liked that a tangible benefit for the students came from Student Senate. "This is a great success for Senate to achieve," he said. "A lot of times people say 'What does Student Senate do for me?' This is a time that Senate came together, did some work and got something positive done for the students." The original request in the letter from Senate — to reopen Hillcrest — seemed forgotten, along with the company's monopoly in Lawrence. Meanwhile, students seemed content with the new lower prices, and Senate members spent the day the discount was announced patting themselves on the back. Others were not so impressed. Matt Dunn, Lawrence resident, didn't like that although student admissions went down, regular admissions went up. "I felt like $6 was already a high price for a movie," he said. "Now I see that students got a break, but they're taking an extra quarter out of my pocket in the meantime." Bounds said a company only could get away with the price increase in a small market like Lawrence. "If they did that in Dallas, everyone would just start going to different theaters." he said. Theater alternatives In Lawrence, there are some alterna tives to paying for a Hollywood movie. Jerry O'Leary, film coordinator for Student Union Activities, said that many students still didn't take advantage of SUA's discounted prices. "On average, we only get about 10 people a show," he said. "We'd really like to see that grow." O'Leary said that SUA showed second-run movies in the Kansas Union. Student movie discounts differ across the region Student discount price Regular price SOUTHWIND 12 Lawrence $4.75 $6.25 AMC STUDIO 30 Olathe $3.75 $5.75 NORTHROCK THEATRE Wichita None $6.25 STUART THEATRE Lincoln, Neb. $4.50 $6.00 THE HOLLYWOOD JEWEL Waco, Texas $4.75 $6.25 "The stuff Hollywood is showing now, we'll have next semester," he said. "But our movies are $2 through the week, $3 on weekends, and we have a candy counter that has 50-cent candy bars, rather than the expensive stuff they have at the big theaters." Scott Bliss, manager of Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St., said that his tickets cost $5.50 but that his theater did show first-run movies. "We don't show Hollywood blockbuster movies, but they are first-run," he said. "We show art movies, independent films and foreign language films." Bliss predicted that the public eventually would get sick of the current trend of big theaters. AMC Studio 30 overbuilt themselves so bad that they're giving KU students food free just to fill seats," he said. "It's like an assembly line. They want you in there with your trash-can-size bucket of popcorn, your Goobers and Raisinettes and then they want you out. It's been a long time since going to the movies has been a labor of love. They don't care, and it's kind of sad." The prediction by analysts is that Hollywood will continue to dominate the Lawrence movie market. Kim said that the Lawrence market wasn't big enough to support competition. "If one company already has the Lawrence market scratched out for themselves, don't plan on any new competition," he said. 842-8665 2858 Four Wheel Dr. LAWRENCE AUTOMOTIVE DIAGNOSTICS All tickets half price for students. 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