From Multi to Mega.

• Author: GRAHAM, SANDY

MOVIEGOERS' CHANGING TASTES SPELL "THE END" FOR SOME THEATERS -- AND HARD TIMES FOR COLORADO BASED UNITED ARTISTS

What do Colorado moviegoers want?

A good movie certainly -- but they won't go see it in just any theater. Patrons show a definite preference for well-padded stadium seating, realistic sound systems and handy cupholders, all in theater complexes that give them plenty of choice.

Antiquated theaters -- some less than a decade old -- stand dark and empty throughout the state, stark testimony to moviegoers' pickiness. While movie-going is at near-record levels in the United States, the movie-theater business is in the throes of reorganization and rejuvenation.

Roll the clips, please:

* Englewood-based United Artists Theatre Co. in September renegotiated credit agreements, avoiding default. The changes let the company continue with plans to divest unprofitable or "non-strategic" theater locations, President and CEO Kurt C. Hall said in a statement. (Hall and other executives couldn't be reached for comment.) United Artists operated 2,096 screens in 301 locations as of September 1999. Last year the company closed three Denver-area theater complexes, and rumors of more closings continue to swirl.

* Mann Theaters, with 371 screens in 56 theaters in California and Colorado -- including the famed Chinese Theatre in Hollywood -- this summer closed one Denver metro four-plex and stopped construction on a 16-screen multiplex in Northglenn. Spokesmen for Encino, Calif-based Mann also didn't return ColoradoBiz calls. The company declared Chapter 11 protection from creditors in September.

In mid-December, WF Cinema Holdings, an affiliate of Time Warner Entertainment Co. and Viacom Inc., was preparing to buy back the theaters for more than $90 million. The company had sold the theaters in 1977 for $162 million.

* Also in September, AMC Entertainment Inc. (ASE: AEN) announced consolidation of its three U.S. divisional offices into its Kansas City, Mo., headquarters to save $20 million a year. AMC plans to close 650 screens nationwide in the next three years. In the Denver area, AMC shuttered its Colorado Plaza complex in Denver, its Buckingham Village Six complex in Aurora and Southbridge 8 in Littleton.

Did the theater business grow too big, too fast?

"There is way, way too much building of screens and excess capacity, especially in large suburban and urban markets," said Kevin Kuzio, media and entertainment analyst with KDP Investment Advisors...