Warren Theatre

[Bobby H]

The Warren Moore 20 covers a huge amount of square footage. It has to be standalone. A shopping center would not provide parcels with anywhere near enough space for the theater complex itself, not to mention the parking space needed for it.

In recent years, large movie theaters with high end features (such as IMAX 3D screens) have turned into centerpieces of new shopping centers rather than mere afterthoughts. The newest Cinemark theater in Colorado Springs is a good example. It was the first major business to go into the Carefree Circle shopping complex along Powers Blvd. and lots of other large stores and restaurants were built up around it on the outlying areas.

Oh, almost forgot, the news article Easy 180 posted is over a year old. It's been on the Warren Theatres website for a long time.

The early stages of building a huge movie theater are slow. Once the plumbing and foundation are set everything will start going up pretty quickly.

[Easy180]

bobby...knew that was a year old just posting for the description of the place..the city of Moore's website earlier this year was stating it was to open this fall I believe... was why I was wondering if anyone had heard anything

Just want it to open so my house value continues upward : )

[Bobby H]

I didn't mean the comment as a slam on you, Easy 180. I just wanted to point out how the press release was over a year old.

The Warren Theater is going to happen. It's just they have a lot of up front work to do before getting the building going. Oklahoma red clay is very prone to foundation destroying subsidance. They've gotta get it packed in very well before laying down the actual building.

I'm not going to expect the Moore 20 to open anytime before Spring 2007. But when it opens it will indeed be one of the greatest quality multiplex theaters in the United States, if not the outright #1 best. Warren Theaters doesn't play around.

[Easy180]

all I know is it's gonna be crazy busy once it does open...bobby...any idea if there will be a sports bar upstairs?....swear I read that somewhere, but the pics the city's website has only show a cafe

[Bobby H]

It's a reasonably good bet the Warren 20 will have some kind of sports bar. The movie theater will be one of those rare few that actually carries a liquor license.

I'm just looking forward to the place opening and being thankful that people who love movies and great presentation quality as much as those who run Warren Theatres are building perhaps their "flagship" movie theater right here in the middle of Oklahoma.

Some people gripe about having to drive a few measly miles to a certain movie theater. I live down near Lawton and I'll have no problem driving 70 miles to visit the new Warren Theater.

It may not be quite the same as the legendary (but sadly destroyed) GCC Northpark 1-2 near downtown Dallas, which featured one of the original 2 THX movie theaters opened in 1983, personally designed by Tomlinson Holman himself. But the movie theater is still going to be really good nonetheless.

[ETL]

Has anyone e-mailed Warren Theaters about when construction will start?

[Easy180]

I haven't...but its kind of funny seing the Lowes site they just bought....they are making some serious progress already...small army out there working...I prefer Lowes over Depot so I'm kind of psyched about them going in too

[ETL]

Why are they putting it there? Shouldn’t shops go there? I thought the was wanting this to like Bricktown, with the boats and stuff? I could be wrong!

[soonerliberal]

Why are they putting it there? Shouldn’t shops go there? I thought the was wanting this to like Bricktown, with the boats and stuff? I could be wrong!

The "Riverwalk" is just for looks. No boats or anything of that sort. It is a mere glorified drainage ditch with a few sidewalks. There are no plans to put shops up "on it". Basically the Moore concept is a series of shopping centers united at one intersection.

[BDP]

The movie theater will be one of those rare few that actually carries a liquor license.

Is the bar going to be seperate? How are they getting around Oklahoma laws that prevent serving alcohol at R rated and some PG rated movies?

[Easy180]

think I read it will be on the 2nd floor so I would assume it would be 21 and over only up there and the balconies where food and drinks are served...sure they will skirt the law somehow

[ETL]

Ok, thanks. I was confused on what the "Riverwalk" is.

[BDP]

think I read it will be on the 2nd floor so I would assume it would be 21 and over only up there and the balconies where food and drinks are served...sure they will skirt the law somehow

Hopefully, it just won't be enforced. It is my understanding that some old blue laws prohibit the sale of alcohol during films which depict sex or nudity. It's for people of any age. This was a sticking point in the deal with some prospective bricktown theaters.

I doubt I'll make it down to this theater much, but it would be great if it set such a precedent. That would open the door to the Tower showing films or, as suggested earlier, the conversion of the Continental theater into a revival house.

If this law has been changed or reinterpreted since the bricktown development, it will be another case of bricktown missing out due to poor leadership.

[Bobby H]

Items like beer, wine, food, etc. will be served only in the balcony area, which carries a higher premium price tag for entry.

I never heard of the blue law outlawing alcohol sales to movie theater audiences watching movies with any nudity in them. Sounds kind of pointless to me, just like that 3.2 beer thing that only encourages binge drinking.

Most "R" rated movies these days don't show any nudity anyway. It's usually blood curdling violence. But killing and mayhem is perfectly okay in our culture. Exposed naughty bits are not.

[BDP]

When I get some time I will see if I can find more information on it. It was obviously written to prevent showing porn and serving alcohol, but I do remember it being a factor in the brick town theater planning. Of course, the language was vague, so the authors wouldn't appear "soft on sex". That kind of leaves it up to interpretation.

I agree it's pointless, but the self righteousness of our state legislators has no limits. I am hoping it turns out to be a non-factor and Warren can implement its plan to server alcohol and open up the possibility for other potential theaters to do the same.

[SoonerDave]

Okay, need some info here...some people in the Moore area are claiming that there may be some problem with the financial backing for the Warren theater. Anyone have any confirmation/refutation of that? Or is it just flotsam?

-SoonerDave

[Easy180]

That wouldn't be too surprising...heck at this rate Lowes will be OPEN by the time Warren is even started...something has to be up because they haven't done a thing at the site that I can see

Hopefully just some snags and they will get started soon

[ETL]

Can you call the city and ask theme what is going on?

[BricktownGuy]

If my memory is correct, Warren has back out of projects before.

[Luke]

Maybe he's having second thoughts with University North Park just down the road.

[SoonerDave]

What I was told had nothing at all to do with any other development plans (like those in Norman). It had to do with financial backers *supposedly* (again, I reiterate this is RUMOR, and I want to clearly state it as such) were threatening to pull out of the project.

I hope the City of Moore had Warren put up some sort of surety bond or something similar in the event of a pullout to compensate the city for all the work it has done/agreed to do for the land on which the theater is supposed to sit. If they backed out now, that would stink royally.

That said, I'm still certain I've seen construction company signs go up on the Warren site very recently, so I'd have to believe that as a positive indication that the project is still in work...

-SoonerDave

[Easy180]

hopefully they just aren't in a big hurry since it's a big money deal for them being a small company

I emailed their corp office this morning to get an update

[Easy180]

here is their reply


Yes the theatre is very much still on. We are sorry for the delays, but
we just finished up the plans and construction will be starting here
very soon. The Warren Theatre group wanted to make sure that everything
was correct and that the people of Moore will be extremely pleased with
what we will be bringing to them.

Thanks,

Dan Gray
VP of Operations Warren Theatres

[SoonerDave]

Excellent, Easy. I emailed them as well, so they're probably going to wonder what's up

Haven't heard back from them yet..

-SoonerDave

[SoonerDave]

All:

Here is the reply I received just a few moments ago from Ken Crockett, VP of Warren Theaters:

David:
Thanks for checking on the new Warren Theatre in Moore. Please
understand this is a very complex project and changes in the plans and
engineering work have now been finished and construction will start
soon. The Warren Theatre will be the finest most advanced luxury
theatre in the country and the slight delay will be worth the wait.
Thanks Again
Ken Crockett
Corporate Vice President
Warren Theatres

That sounds to me like everything is GO. End of speculation. Rumor quashed.



-SoonerDave