Logan movie theaters set to expand offerings
Looking for another place to takin in a flick? Logan will receive a new movie theater next fall.
Justin Anthony, Logan City manager for Westates Theaters, said the theater should be ready for the release of the new Harry Potter movie.
“It will be all new with eight screens, stadium seating and all the new technical equipment,” he said.
Anthony has worked in the movie business for more than five years and has seen just about everything his occupation has to offer.
Currently he is the manager of four theaters in Logan and others around the state and will manage the new theater coming to Providence as well.
Anthony said the industry sees a need, or at least the possibility, of having two theaters in Logan playing the same movies.
“The industry standard says it is all right to have the same movie playing at least four miles apart,” he said.
Movies 5, located at 2450 N. Main St., a current Logan Westates Theater, will cater to the people in cities like Preston, Smithfield, Richmond and North Logan while the new complex will be built in Providence near Macey’s for the people in other cities in the south end of Cache Valley, Anthony said.
Westates Theaters also owns or runs other screens in Logan including Reel Time Theatre at 785 N. Main St., Cinema 3 located at 60 W. 100 North and Cache Valley 3, just behind the Cache Valley Mall.
Along with running these different theaters Anthony has also worked at Sundance for the film festival.
He said working there is a lot different because running the projectors is much more complicated. In newer theaters like Movies 5, large self-contained projectors are used so the movie runs smoothly without too much effort. At Sundance though, the machines are little, a little older and more traditional.
Anthony said the movies come on five or six reels and each has to be spliced together and put on larger reels for the newer projectors. The other way requires one person and two projectors.
“At Sundance you have to start on a projector and get the other one ready to go with the next reel. When you see the cue on the movie you know it is time to start the next projector and move over to the first one to get it ready for the next reel. You are constantly moving,” he said.
Each smaller reel comes with a cue near the end called a cigarette burn, which is a spot on the film that flashes for a split second, he said. Some directors, like George Lucas, don’t like that method because they think it distracts from the movie so they used a very high pitched sound cue instead.
“The cue isn’t noticeable unless you know how to look or listen for it,” Anthony said. “It took me at least 10 times to learn what it sounds like.”
Danielle Adams, Movies 5 building manager, said working at a movie theater is a benefit because it is needed for the industry.
“Most people would probably say [it is for] the free movies,” she said.
Adams said she gets kind of tired of seeing so many movies though because they all get to be the same.
Anthony agrees that after seeing so many movies it just isn’t exciting anymore. He said he only sees four to six movies each year.
“I just get tired of seeing so many bad movies,” he said. “Bad content, bad acting, the same plot over and over, it gets kind of boring.”
He said he tries to see the ones that seem to have something special or are sure to be great hits.
Both Adams and Anthony said they are excited for the new theater in Providence.
“The ground has been broken for construction, but right now they are just playing in the dirt,” Anthony said.