TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Others unlikely
to pick up market
vacated by ConsolidatedConsolidated Theatres' closure of its Waikiki 1, 2 and 3 Theatres leaves the area with only the IMAX format. Officials are thinking about showing "regular" movies at IMAX, but "there are some technological barriers we have to overcome first," said Glenn Yim, vice president for operations.
Meanwhile Outrigger Enterprises Inc. and Kamehameha Schools are planning major redevelopments in the heart of Waikiki. Neither has plans for movie theaters, however.
"Movie theaters consume an awful lot of space. Waikiki land is very expensive, more expensive than any place else on the island. It's hard to make the theater concept work," said David Carey, Outrigger president and chief executive officer.
Outrigger's 7.9-acre Waikiki Beachwalk project will redevelop the Lewers Street area where land is valued at $350 a square foot.
"So you'd better be sure that there's an economic return to cover that kind of land cost," Carey said.
He noted the "world class foot traffic" that passes the Waikiki 3 on Kalakaua Avenue day and night and said the theater does not offer the best use for the land.
Years ago Outrigger and Consolidated tried to correlate theater attendance with hotel occupancy "and there was not much, which caused them to suggest that it's not really a visitor-market-driven thing," Carey said.
The hotels also have in-room movies with multiple first-run titles available, he said.
Kamehameha Schools, owner of the land under the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, also has no plans for a movie theater.
"We don't think it's appropriate for our mix," said Sanford Murata, director of the commercial assets division. "Consolidated, by its closure of its theaters, has demonstrated that there's not much of a market demand. Visitors typically don't go to movies and the local folk pretty much gravitate to the Victoria Ward theaters as the place of choice for movies."
The Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center planning team met last week with Hawaii-based Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo and Seattle-based Callison Architecture Inc. to discuss design concepts for center redevelopment. There is no estimated project cost yet.
"I think we in Hawaii have paid more attention to making the visitor comfortable than is appropriate," said Murata, who says the center will emerge from the project with better balance.
"We want to appeal to a broad cross-section, to both local people and visitors and not just the local people who come in from other areas but the residents and workers of Waikiki, so we have these many components.
"We have to change the architecture, change the ambiance and change the environment to something that says it is sensitive to the place and sensible to the people who want to come visit and experience it."
Late news on-time
KHNL-TV is going to "clock time" Dec. 30, meaning its 10 p.m. news will start at the same time as its competitors."Our goal over the past few years has been to let people sample our news, to have the NBC product drive people into our news. We're now quite comfortable with the (ratings) progress our news has made and we're ready to compete at 10," said John Fink, vice president and general manager of KHNL and sister-station KFVE-TV.
KHNL has been criticized for adding commercials during prime-time. It makes the station more money, but also pushes NBC programming past 10 p.m., meaning viewers who prefer a competing station's newscast miss coverage of top stories.
Fink would not specify the number of commercials KHNL will lose, but said WB-affiliate KFVE will likely get some spillover. Fink called WB "the strongest network in terms of growth," which, coupled with top ratings for UH sports makes it "as valuable if not more valuable than most other prime-time properties."
Top-rated KHON anchor Joe Moore has often made on-air comments about KHNL's late-starting news, welcoming viewers who may have tuned in late.
Mike Rosenberg, president and general manager of ABC-TV affiliate KITV, said the move is beneficial to viewers and advertisers. In addition, he said, the ratings race is bound to heat up.
"The one thing they're not going to be able to do anymore is hold their viewers hostage until 10:06 or 10:07," Rosenberg said. "It'll be interesting to see what the effect is."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com