GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kaneohe residents Louise Pagaduan, left, John Pagaduan and Ronie Carvalho took advantage of the lower ticket prices at Wallace Theatres' Kailua complex on Monday night.
Wallace unspools
cheap moviesShows at complexes in Kailua
and Hilo cost 50 cents to $1
While movie theaters everywhere are raising prices, one company is rolling back admission at a couple of its cinema complexes in Hawaii to mid-1950s levels. That means 50 cents a ticket for shows that start before 6 p.m. and $1 for the later shows, said Wallace Theatres.
Staying home and running a big air conditioner for a few hours could nearly cost you that, according to some calculations, and you get a movie and stereo sound while you're hiding from the summer heat.
Wallace's two-theater Kailua complex, between the Daiei and Safeway supermarkets, put the new prices into effect last week. Wallace made the shift at its Kress Cinema operation in Hilo three weeks ago.
The prices are good for the indefinite future, and rumors that they mean the movie houses are being sold or closed are not true, said David Lyons, a spokesman for Wallace Theatres headquarters in Portland, Ore.
They are meant to give movie-goers an opportunity to pay a lot less to see shows that are not new, Lyons said. The shows at Kailua will generally run four to six weeks after their release date, he said.
This week, the 50-cent shows are "The Core," a science fiction thriller about the spinning molten center of the earth, starting at 4 p.m., and "Malibu's Most Wanted," a spoof on rap music, starting at 4:15 p.m.
Starting Friday, the duplex will be showing "Gangs of New York," directed by Martin Scorsese, and tween-age spy flick "Agent Cody Banks."
Tuesdays are 50 cents all day and there are additional earlier matinees on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays that qualify for the half-dollar price.
That could amount to a cheap outing for families with kids, so long as they don't go wild with the popcorn, sodas and hot dogs. Concession prices are the same as at the chain's full-priced theaters.
"It is a management policy that we have had in place in other markets on the mainland, such as Odes, Texas, and Joplin, Mo. It became very popular with patrons who wanted an alternative to seeing movies during their opening release," Lyons said.
In each of the Oahu and Big Island markets, Wallace has a large number of screens, so it can afford to offer the discount deal in one complex without hurting the others, he said.
"It's an alternative to waiting for the video to come out," Lyons said.
Wallace's lowest price at other Windward Oahu theaters, the Keolu and Enchanted Lake complexes, is $5 for shows starting before 6 p.m. or all day Tuesday.
Competitor Consolidated Theatres raised its top-of-the-line price to $9 in early May, for weekend nights in its Ward 16 Theatres, but it does have lower prices at other times in other houses. Those that compete with Kailua are the Aikahi duplex and the Koolau complex at Temple Valley. Aikahi has a $4.75 price for movies starting before 4 p.m. and Koolau's similar deal is $5.50. Both have rates above $7 for the prime evening seats.
Consolidated has no plans to go lower, said a company spokeswoman, Eileen Mortenson.
"Wallace has decided to turn that theater into a discount theater, and that is not something Consolidated has in mind at the moment," she said.
Another competitor, Signature Theatres, did not return phone calls. Prices at its complex nearest to Kailua, in Windward Mall, run from $5.25 for the pre-6 p.m. shows to $7.25 in the evenings.
