IT'S the center of the filmmaking universe, a high-income slice of town both swollen with industry executives yet far from overflowing with state-of-the-art theaters. Bringing a new multiplex to West Los Angeles should have taken no longer than it takes to crank out another "Saw" sequel, not more than a decade.
But sometimes exhibition moves at the same glacial pace as Westside traffic. After a series of false starts -- with plans alternatively sidetracked by ownership changes, a bankruptcy and some neighborhood opposition -- Landmark Theatres finally is ready to open what it considers its national flagship venue.
The sleek 12-screen multiplex, which is called the Landmark and is scheduled to start peddling its wares, plus vegan cookies and La Brea Bakery pretzels, on June 1, promises to shake up the highly competitive local movie market. After a long box-office slump, ticket sales are accelerating, and some of the nation's highest-grossing theaters are clustered around Hollywood and the Westside.
In staking a $20-million bet on its new 2,000-seat complex at the intersection of Pico and Westwood boulevards, Landmark's new owners, Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban, will go toe to toe with one of the nation's most successful new movie complexes, AMC's Century City 15, while also trying to replicate the popularity of Pacific Theatres' ArcLight Cinemas. Both complexes feature so-called specialized films, Landmark's stock in trade.
When plans were first drawn up for the Landmark in the early 1990s, movies tended to play in two distinct types of venues. Films driven by glowing reviews, made by respected filmmakers and/or told in a foreign language were shown at so-called art houses, neighborhood joints like West L.A.'s Nuart or South Pasadena's Rialto. Big-budget studio films were showcased inside sprawling megaplexes, with modern auditoriums and stadium seating.
But as the lines between studio and art-house films started to blur (Disney bought Miramax; 20th Century Fox launched Fox Searchlight), the distinctions in exhibition began to change too. As audiences started queuing up in the mid-'90s for movies such as "The English Patient" and "Il Postino," theater owners started booking them into auditoriums once reserved for sequels and remakes.
It's a minuscule percentage of the nation's overall box office, but a significant and influential slice of the market, especially in Los Angeles and New York. On a recent weekend, the ArcLight filled screenings for both the Sundance Film Festival hit "Waitress" and the colossal sequel "Spider-Man 3."
