UNITED ARTISTS.

• Author: ZEIGER, DINAH
• Position: Philip Anschutz

ANSCHUTZ IN LEAD ROLE AS UNITED ARTISTS, THEATRE INDUSTRY SEEK COMEBACK

KURT HALL, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF UNITED ARTISTS THEATRE Co., RESTLESSLY tosses a baseball hand-to-hand. A former minor-league catcher, Hall might compare his movie-theater chain with a baseball team that has been in a long slump.

In the 13 years since Hall joined UA, he has witnessed the Englewood company's dive from the largest theater company in the country to sixth place nationally. Last year, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Yet things are looking up, Hall says.

The company's yearlong corporate restructuring relieved it of 70 unprofitable theaters. Although revenue fell to $550.3 million in 2000 from $631.4 million in 1999, UA actually was operating more efficiently by the end of last year. It had reduced its number of movie screens to 1,599 in March 2001, from 1,908 in March 2000, and boosted UA's average perscreen revenue by 2.6 percent.

And it has a new teammate -- owner, actually.

Philip Anschutz, Denver's billionaire businessman, the largest stockholder in Qwest Communications International Inc. and a major holder in Union Pacific Railroad, is now a majority owner of United Artists. Anschutz, the sixth-richest man in the U.S., also owns stakes in professional sports franchises (the Los Angeles Kings hockey team, the LA Lakers, and several soccer teams), arenas (notably LA's Staples Center) and a concert promoter. He parlayed a $65 million investment in UA's $440 million debt into a 55 percent stake in the company.

UA was the first of the nation's 10 largest theater chains to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the past year, and Anschutz is making a bid for control of two others, including the current largest chain, Regal Cinema Inc.

Yet Anschutz comes to an industry that is reeling.

"It's a crippled industry in the process of fixing itself," says Matthew Harrigan, a senior analyst with Janco Partners in Denver. But the recovery may take two to three years, Harrigan said.

Still, the industry already looks healthier this year than last, posting a 15 percent year-to-date increase in box office revenue, said Harrigan.

Anschutz's successful business record as an oilman, a railroad man and a telecommunications magnate suggests he's on to something in the theater industry. Yet because the industry is in such shambles, not many people are willing to guess what he's up to.

Anschutz has founded a pair of entertainment production companies (Crusader...