Boxoffice-August.1989

ing itself on every front, from expansion
to a complete redesign of virtually every
(lenient in the public eye.
The initial impetus for this new push
was provided by an extensive survey
commissioned by Famous Players in the
fall of 1987, about a year after Senior
joined the company. The survey, executed
by the National Research Group
Inc. of Los Angeles, polled 2,000 Canadians
at both theatre chains and by
phone. Results confirmed what Famous
Players had long suspected the public
was looking for in a movie theatre.
"People are interested in the presentation
of film: a large screen, good sound
(Dolby had a high recognition factor),
and that the theatre is clean, comfortable
and attractive," says Howard.
"There was very little interest in
frills," she explains. "The public doesn't
care about marble in the lobby. They are
interested in what you get when you are
seated in the theatre."
Famous Players is giving moviegoiers
both: comfortable and attractive
theatres to see movies in. The theatres'
lofty interiors are dominated by gigantic
screens and color-coordinated carpets,
curtains and seating fabric. But it is the
luxurious high-backed seats, and plenty
of leg room, that patrons will truly
appreciate. Famous Players is spending
up to 40 percent more on seating, due,
in part, to the survey results.
The survey, along with completely
redesigned unifonns, packaging and a
new logo, signals a "more modem"
approach for Famous Players, says
Doug Bower, the soft-spoken director of
construction and facilities. "The whole
package," he hopes, "will add sizzle in
the lobby and auditorium."
In the studio at the company's head
office in Toronto, where he oversees the
architects and designers who plan Famous
Players' new complexes. Bower
elaborates on the recent changes and
the "moviegoing experience." Bower is
an architect who came to Famous
Players with plenty of experience, but
none in the area of theatre design,
enabling him to approach projects without
established ideas.
"The Victoria Terrace," he says, "represents
an evolution in thinking. Everybody
put a lot of thought behind it."
The result of that thought is reflected
in virtually every aspect of the theatre,
from the custom-designed wool blend
carpets, made in Scotland, to the racing
tivoli lights that surround each speaker
and call attention to the quality sound.
But no where is Famous Players' quest
for aesthetic excellence more evident
than in the "the street of theatres," a
unifying theme that ties all the design
elements together and allows Fathous
Players to concentrate on giving moviegoers
what they said they wanted.
The concept, in Bower's view, allows
the theatre to "meet the filmgoers'
Victoria Terrace Cinemas Design And Construction