In two years Las Vegas has lost half of its discount movie theaters. What’s happening?

Sunday, Aug. 22, 1999 | 9:47 a.m.

The lobby at Cinema 8 is part playground, part bus stop.

A young child ---all of about 3 years old -- has fled the men's restroom. He's scrambling at a pretty fast clip for a kid who has, tragically, forgotten to pull up his pants. He waddles at a furious pace in his Fruit of the Looms while older sister gives chase, mercifully corralling him near the front entrance and hiking up his trousers.

Over in the corner a couple is playing a "Tales of the Crypt" pinball machine, their date off to a rip-roarin' start. Beside them stands an idle "Arkanoid" video game and a malfunctioning "Samuri Showdown" machine emitting a bright, blinking, hypnotic glow.

A couple of smirking teenage sisters wearing T-shirts and tattered jeans sit in plastic chairs, lounging and loitering. One borrows 35 cents to use the lone operable pay phone nearby. Two other booths near the restrooms have had the phones wrested from their housing.

The walls hearken back to an era gone by, probably the mid-1970s, painted in a murky mustard yellow with green and pink trimming. And about a third of the florescent lights are either out or flickering.

At one time this was an entertainment palace. No more. But a few determined theater operators envision a day when families can enjoy quality theatrical entertainment in a spiffy, fun-filled movie house.

At a discount, no less.

At Cinema 8, Paradise 6 and Redrock 11 Value Cinemas -- the last standing discount movie houses in Las Vegas -- tickets cost $1.50 to $2, compared with $7.75 at the stadium-seat theaters with digital sound and high-backed chairs that are dominating the movie-going landscape.

"For a family to go to the movies, they almost have to take out a loan," says David Schwarz, general manager of Cinema 8 and Paradise 6. "There's nothing in this town that can offer this type of entertainment at this price."

But competition for the entertainment dollar is becoming increasingly fierce, and discount theaters are suffering. In 1997 six stood in Las Vegas. Today, that number has been halved -- Torrey Pines, Mountain View and Sunrise 7 theaters all shut down -- with stadium seating and mind-blowing sound systems all all the rage. The new places are slick, high-tech and feature the latest, hottest flicks.

"They're awesome," Schwartz says. "You pay for that, though."

Meanwhile, gum-under-the-seat discount theaters are tolerably presentable and refreshingly inexpensive. At $1.50 (or, at Redrock, $2) a thrifty movie buff can view such fare as "Muppets From Space" (with or without Spanish subtitles), and lukewarm second-run films such as "Matrix" and "Never Been Kissed."

"It used to be that the big theaters would be able to turn over a movie to a discount theater while it was still hot, but now they have to fill so many theaters they hold onto them for a lot longer, and that hurts the discounts," says Tom Ippolito, manager of the Showcase mall theaters, who oversees all of United Artists' theaters in Las Vegas. "By the time the discounts get a movie, it's no longer hot and it's probably out on video or pay-per-view.

"So what happens is, they're in competition with bigger, better theaters and are also hurting on the other side because people also enjoy watching a movie at home."

Roger LeClerc, who heads United Artists' real estate division, has seen a precipitous drop in smaller, discount theaters.

"Certainly, the face has changed in recent history because a lot of these smaller theaters can't expand into major multiplexes," he says. "If they can't expand, we sell the property and look for other opportunities. A lot of times it's better to find an alternative use, like maybe a shopping or fitness center, and we can build a state-of-the-art theater elsewhere."

The key to the discount theaters' counterattack, Schwartz says, is to keep the theaters clean and use an imaginative marketing approach.

"We have to make the places more enjoyable, for starters," says Schwartz, general manager and co-owner of Cinema 8 on the corner of East Desert Inn and Pecos roads and Paradise 6 on East Tropicana Avenue. "The first priority is to make them squeaky clean and for all employees to take pride in the theater and themselves.

"When we got here, the place was in really bad shape, and part of our challenge is ridding the theater of the image that it's for down-and-out or dangerous people."

A resident of Las Vegas for 13 years, Schwartz is a former B-movie producer whose credits include "American Revenge," "Las Vegas Bloodbath" and "Kindergarten Ninja," which starred former San Francisco 49er Dwight Clark. His business partner is Los Angeles entrepreneur Yimaj Kadir, who invested money he made in his medical supply business to buy a theater in Riverside, Calif., and the two in Las Vegas.

(Redrock is the only corporately-owned local discount theater, operated by Century.)

For Schwartz, promoting underdog projects is commonplace.

"You have to emphasize the positive. We get movies when the first-run theaters are through with them, so if someone wants to see a movie like 'Titanic' on the big screen, they can do that and pay just the $1.50," he says. "We might not sound as great and be as comfortable as the stadium-seat places, but you can enjoy yourself and leave with money in your pocket."

Among Schwartz's more innovative ideas is providing films with Spanish subtitles to cater to his business' heavy Hispanic clientele. "Muppets From Space" and "Matrix" are each offered with Spanish subtitles at Cinema 8.

"We're looking at maybe turning this into an entirely Hispanic theater," Schwartz says. "Something for big families that's not offered elsewhere."

Ippolito applauds such a move.

"You have to offer something no one else has," he says. "I saw they were doing that and it's a brilliant idea."

Schwartz also is offering free Sunday matinee admission to any families of handicapped customers. However, he stresses that the nefarious image of discount theaters must change.

"If you can't feel comfortable going into the bathroom because it's too dirty, you lose customers," he says. "If it seems dangerous, you'll lose customers and they'll never come back. You have to have a nice atmosphere and people working who care."

One of the Cinema 8 employees, 17-year-old Chloe Klangos, is running the concession stand on this night. She sells extra-extra large popcorn at $4.50 a bag, extra-extra large sodas at $3.50 and packages of cotton candy at $1.50.

"I wish we had one of those cotton candy machines," she says. "That would be fun."

It would be a start, at least.