Riverview theater set; Studio Movie Grill opening in Tampa
By Richard Mullins
Tampa Tribune
Published: Oct 21, 2014

The Riverview area will soon have its own movie megaplex, as Michigan-based Goodrich Quality Theaters announced plans to build a first-run movie complex at the location of Interstate 75 and Gibsonton Road.

The location will have 14 especially large theaters, complete with large-format auditorium-style rooms with 80-foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling screens, plus "premium” electric-powered reclining seats that lean back and pop out a footrest at the touch of a button.

"The comfort and the sound and the screen size will be better than anything anyone is used to,” said Martin Betz, chief operating officer of Goodrich, which operates 29 theaters in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. This represents its first Florida location, and Goodrich said the area was ripe for more screens, if they are high quality enough. If all goes according to plan, developers may break ground on the site in the coming months and, ideally, Betz said they want to be open by Thanksgiving 2015.

The overall movie theater industry is emerging from a painful phase of consolidation and rebirth, which Goodrich described as leaving behind the days when theater companies sought new revenue simply by adding more seats and packing people in.

This new generation of theaters focuses far more on guest experience and higher-end service. This week, Studio Movie Grill will open its first Tampa-area site, at University Mall, offering a dinner-and-a movie restaurant experience. The first showing at that theater is set for Thursday night.

To kick off SMG's opening, the theater company hosted about 200 VIP's for an event that was part opening gala and part training session for the roughy 250 new employees hired.

In SMG sites, customers pick their seats in advance and order food at their seats. Small red call buttons will summon servers, who are deployed in a one-to-20 guest ratio.

Menu items at SMG include items like ceviche lettuce wrap appetizers, pork chop entrees and Italian Creme Cake deserts.

Goodrich won't offer dinner at seats themselves, but the new Riverview site will have a bar and grill space in the lobby, and several other perks becoming more common. Guests can order tickets online in advance and pick specific seats, removing the rush to get in a theater early to find a good vantage.

The company hasn't finalized all its plans yet, or its final ticket price, but Betz said it plans on "falling in line” with other movie theaters in the area - and there aren't many in the Riverview market. There's an AMC Regency in Brandon on Brandon Boulevard, and the Ruskin Family Drive-in Theater on US 41 in Ruskin, but otherwise, movie watchers may need to drive to the Plant City or Lakeland area.

This new theater will be part of a larger complex that Anthony Properties is developing at the intersection of I-75 and Gibsonton Road, hopefully with restaurants, a hotel and retail tenants.

rmullins@tampatrib.com
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