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Topic: I Visited The New Signature Theatres Stadium 14 in Kalispell Montana!
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Floyd E. Perry, Jr.
New Member
Posts: 37
From: Stockton, CA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted October 06, 2007 09:57 PM
The history of Festival Cinemas is very interesting. The original owners were FESTIVAL ENTERPRISES and were originally based in Walnut Creek. In Stockton, Festival Cinemas 4 opened in 1974 and another 4-Plex opened in 1979 (Regency Cinemas). I believe the Festival Enterprises chain had cinemas not only in Stockton, Walnut Creek and Fresno but also in Martinez,Concord, San Ramon, Modesto and in Visalia. I'm sure there were more. MANN THEATRES bought out FESTIVAL ENTERPRISES sometime in the mid 1980's. I think MANN THEATRES was bought out in the 1990's by a CINEMERICA? When MANN went bankrupt in 2000, they sold some of the formerly owned FESTIVAL ENTERPRISES Cinemas to SIGNATURE THEATRES. SIGNATURE closed the Fresno ones and consolidated them into the new MANCHESTER 16, converted a former FESTIVAL CINEMAS in Modesto into a SIGNATURE MODESTO STADIUM 10 and I do know, they continued to operate both the Festival and Regency in Stockton until closing them in 2003 and 2002 respectively. I think both the Walnut Creek and Concord Festival Cinemas were closed before the SIGNATURE deal. I believe SIGNATURE sold the Martinez cinemas to someone else soon afterwards. And the Crow Canyon Festival Cinemas in San Ramon were also converted to Stadium Seating.
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Scott D. Neff
Tour Guide
Posts: 661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted October 07, 2007 02:35 PM
Festival also built the Festival 10 in Arroyo Grande which has also been modernized while under management by Signature.
There was also the Festival 4 Larkspur Landing which Century bought directly from Mann, and the Festival 9 in Hayward. CA. If memory serves, when Signature took control of all the Mann/Fesitvals, they let the Hayward and Martinez locations revert back to Mann after a certain time, which then Mann made the decision to close both locations. I saw a movie at Martinez awhile back, it's amazing how they fit 8 screens into that 5-plex.
It was my understanding that Festival started the build, or built in conjunction with, Pacific Theatres for the Regency 6 in San Rafael , CA as it is almost identical in layout to the Crow Canyon 6 . When Century modernized the Regency, they left the wood sound panelling in place and covered the upper portion with curtains to make it appear more like a standard Century build. It remains one of my more favorite places to see a movie.
Larkspur Landing is ok, but all of the tacky Festivalness was removed completely during it's renovation, which saddens me.
What I enjoyed most about Festival builds was that they had all the auditorium doors on the back wall with hallways and tunnels snaking to reach the actual auditorium. I thought that was a trip at the Larkspur Landing 4, but then when I saw the Fesitval 9 Hayward , it blew me away.
And who could forget the tacky poster frames? Cinemark seems to have followed their tradition by installing similar frames at all of their newer locations.
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Floyd E. Perry, Jr.
New Member
Posts: 37
From: Stockton, CA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted October 07, 2007 03:58 PM
I found my notes on the Festival Cinemas when I did research on them last year. Festival Cinemas opened in Stockton on November 13, 1974. It was then known as FESTIVAL CINEMA CENTER. According to the article, back in 1974, Festival Enterprises was based out of Walnut Creek and had 3 cineplex's in Walnut Creek, Concord and Hayward. The Stockton Festival cost $900,000. Total Seating was 1,460. The breakdown between auditoriums were 500-460-250-250. There was parking for 265 cars.Festival Cinemas closed its doors on December 18, 2003. It was torn down the following year and replaced by a CHUCK-E-CHEESE RESTAURANT.
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