No Such Thing as Box Office Smash in Detroit Now

DETROIT —  A month after Detroit’s only first-run movie theater closed, entrepreneurs detailed plans Friday to bring a new multiplex to Motown.

Residents have had to travel to suburban screens since a theater in the heart of downtown closed last month. But two men plan in April to reopen another theater closed for financial reasons last September.

The new Phoenix Theatres will be nine miles northeast of downtown and border suburban Warren, Michigan’s third-largest city. The owners are marketing it as “Detroit’s neighborhood theater.”

Cory Jacobson, 37, and Charles Murray, 25, said they have spent more than $500,000 on rocking seats, digital sound and curved high-resolution screens for the 10-screen, 2,800-seat venue. They say the amenities will keep audiences from going to suburban theaters.

“I don’t feel that you’ll find this density of population that isn’t being served with a movie theater anywhere else in the Midwest,” Jacobson said.

It is unusual for major cities to have no first-run theaters, said Dan Marks, executive vice president of ACNielsen EDI Inc., which analyzes box-office results.

Timothy Barbee, 39, said he has had to drive at least 10 miles to suburban theaters since the last first-run theater within the city limits closed.

“Bring some theaters here so we don’t have to go out to the suburbs and be harassed,” he said. “Why take our money out of the city?”

Detroit hopes to spark a revitalization with three recently opened casinos and a Detroit Tigers ballpark that opened last year, as well as a new Detroit Lions stadium scheduled to open in 2002.

The city’s population fell by a third to about 1 million between 1970 and 1990, and businesses bolted for the suburbs. Detroit lost 22% of its housing to demolition, arson and neglect.

“It is very encouraging to see people take a chance and make a run at making some money,” said Greg Bowens, a spokesman for Mayor Dennis Archer. “And we think that they will do well and are providing a much-needed service here in Detroit.”