Dedham Community Theatre reports drop in ticket sales

Nearly two months after the opening of the Showcase Cinema de Lux movie complex at Legacy Place, the historic Dedham Community Theatre is struggling. Its sales are down significantly, including what owner Paul McMurtry calls “some glaring examples of business being very slow” – such as a few nights when the theater closed early after no customers came for the 7 o’clock shows.

McMurtry said he had never experienced that since he bought the theater in 2002.

“It has been somewhat concerning for us, and not only for me and for my business, but for fellow merchants in Dedham Square,” he said of the drop-off. But, he emphasized, “We’re not pushing the panic button yet.”

Dedham Square Circle’s executive director, Amy Haelsen, said the economic impact of Legacy Place on the 82-year-old theater has long been expected, but it is still concerning, as the theater, the anchor of Dedham Square, has a ripple effect on the surrounding businesses.

Haelsen said in 2007 when as Legacy Place was going through permitting process, two hired consultants predicted the development’s biggest potential impact would be on the two-screen community theatre. Her group successfully lobbied then to reduce Showcase Cinema de Lux from 16 to 15 screens. The previous Showcase Cinemas on the site had 12 screens.

 “We’ve been bracing ourselves for this for the last two years, and I feel like we’ve worked really hard to prepare and get ready for the opening of the theater” through marketing the Square and other projects, Haelsen said. “We’ve been doing a lot of right things in preparing for this, but there are a lot of things that are out of our control, unfortunately.”

Haelsen said because the community theater draws moviegoers, its presence is a boost to business at surrounding cafes and restaurants.

“There would be an enormous void in the Square if the theater were to close,” Haelsen said. “And we’re continuing to try and come up with creative solutions to make sure that this doesn’t happen.”

McMurtry acknowledged “some very concerning and significant declines,” but said he would wait until October is over to run financial comparisons with 2007 and 2008.

“Right now it’s a bit premature to determine where those declines are. It could be seasonal, it could be the product, it could be the weather, and it could be the impact of Legacy Place,” he said, adding that he would be on top of the numbers and work to prevent any negative long-term consequences.

He said he still believes “that Dedham Square, and its character and charm and quaint shops, is the lifeblood of this community.”

McMurtry said studios have chosen to put at the Cinema de Lux a few art house films, such as “Julie and Julia” and “Amelia,” that his customers traditionally would have seen. The movie business is “product-driven,” so if you can’t get the movies you want, “no matter how good the popcorn is, then patrons won’t come in and fill the seats,” he said.

Dedham’s economic development director, Karen O’Connell, said “a curiosity factor” is driving people to the Cinema de Lux. Among the amenities at the complex are four “Lux Level auditoriums” with reserved seating and in-seat dining, three that show digital 3-D movies, a mini-food court in the lobby, and a full-service restaurant and bar.

“Even if you’re a loyal customer of the community theatre, you might want to try out something new,” O’Connell said.

McMurtry said that both local merchants and national retailers are facing challenging economic times, and that Dedham Square and Legacy Place alike want to “successfully coexist.”

Along those lines, Haelsen noted that a 30-second screen ad plays before each movie at the Cinema de Lux, that there are four large poster boxes promoting Dedham Square in the lobby of the theater, and that a kiosk in front of Legal Sea Foods at Legacy Place points the way to the Square.

What is needed, Haelsen said, is a creative solution with National Amusements, the owner of Showcase Cinema de Lux. She suggested a radical plan to bring together the large, corporate theater and the small, independent theater, if distributors can be convinced to play the same movie so close to one another.

“Maybe there is the opportunity to show the same movie, so that both the small theater in the center of Dedham and the large multiplex down the street have the opportunity to attract moviegoers,” she said. “Let’s give it a try for six months and see how it works, and take it from there.”

The company’s response when asked if it was open to such an arrangement was brief. “It is inappropriate for National Amusements to comment on the plans of the Dedham Community Theatre,” spokeswoman Tracy King wrote in an e-mail.

Asked how the Cinema de Lux has fared since its opening, King said it “is performing extremely well and the business continues to grow. We expect that it will continue in a positive direction.”

Meantime, National Amusements said last week that – amid the company’s widely reported financial difficulties over the past year – it would not, in fact, build a new world headquarters at Legacy Place, as once planned. The company, long based in Dedham, moved to Norwood in June 2008 during Legacy Place’s construction.

As for Dedham Square, O’Connell said the town is still waiting for news on the $1.3 million Public Works Economic Development Program grant it applied for earlier this year to pay for streetscape and traffic improvements there. She said the Engineering Department has also devoted $250,000 for this fiscal year to further the design plans for that project.

But, less than a year after the Square Circle raised $75,000 for a new marquee at the Dedham Community Theatre, all is not well inside the movie house.

While discussing the theater’s troubles on a recent weekday, general manager Karen Parrelli phoned a coworker at 4:48 p.m., three minutes after a scheduled showing of “Burning Plain.”

“Ted, don’t start that,” she told him. “Nobody’s in there.”

Dedham Transcript staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.