Edwards Will Add 82 Screens in Region

Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc. announced plans for 82 new screens at six theater complexes in Orange County and nearby communities.

The Newport Beach-based chain said it will complete in November an additional 10 screens as part of the expansion of the Tustin Marketplace, where it currently has a six-screen theater.

It will also add six screens in December to the existing eight in Anaheim Hills. In Brea, another 10 screens will open in December, near the 12 screens it opened last year in the downtown retail and entertainment area.

A 16-screen theater will open in 2000 at the Buena Park Mall, it said.

The company also said it plans to build a 26-screen megaplex in Long Beach, which will be completed next March as the anchor for a new retail and entertainment center. A 14-screen theater is scheduled to open in Whittier in December 1999.

Plans were previously announced for 10 screens at Kaleidoscope, a new entertainment center in Mission Viejo, and for an 18- to 20-screen megaplex at the Huntington Center in Huntington Beach.

Edwards Vice President Don Barton said other theaters are on the drawing boards for the area, but haven’t been finalized.

“Theater chains survive by being regionally strong, and this is our attempt to do that,” he said.

The new theaters will feature such up-to-date amenities as stadium-style seating, large screens, digital sound, and marble and neon decor, he said.

“We’re not into building as many screens as possible into shoe boxes,” Barton said. “We want to compete with moviegoers’ couches and living rooms.”

Edwards operates in 99 Southern California locations with a total of 660 screens. With the new projects that are planned, it will have 750 screens by the end of the year.