THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406080439
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940608 LENGTH: ELIZABETH CITY
A Greensboro-based entertainment company said Tuesday it will fill the vacancy to be left near Southgate Mall this week when the Gateway Twin theater is shut down.
{REST} ``The theater will be reopened,'' said Howard Gainey, an owner of Gilmore Entertainment Corp. ``I have the lease lying here on my desk right now. I've just got to sign it.
``The market there is big enough for a theater,'' Gainey said. ``It's unbelievable that that theater can't make it.''
John D. Leidy, attorney for the Georgia-based company that now operates the movie house, has said the owners are letting their lease expire this month for business reasons.
The theater has operated at a loss for two of the last three years and has seen attendance decline in the last five, records show.
Carmike Cinemas Inc.'s decision to close the theater became public last month through court documents in a former employee's lawsuit against the company and several of its officers.
Former manager Michael F. Jones, who disputes the reason for his dismissal last fall and is suing for defamation, had asked a judge to prevent the company from closing the theater until his case is resolved.
Jones maintained Carmike was closing the theater because of his lawsuit and said the cinema could show a profit if it were managed better. A Superior Court judge denied his request May 26.
The theater's scheduled closing, coming less than three months after the downtown Carolina Theater closed its doors, left doubts about Elizabeth City's cinematic future. But there had been speculation that the Gateway property owners, Raleigh-based Plaza Associates, were negotiating with other theater operators to fill the space.
Gainey said it will take some time for Gilmore Entertainment to prepare the building for business. Carmike will take the interior equipment and fixtures when it leaves.
``We want to get it open as fast as we can because we don't want to miss all the summer business,'' Gainey said. ``It'll be run a little differently. I think the people in Elizabeth City will be pleased.''
Gilmore Entertainment operates cinemas at four other locations, all in North Carolina, Gainey said: Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Jacksonville and Kernersville.
by CNB