Harkins Theatres
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| Private subsidiary of Harkins Enterprises | |
| Industry | Entertainment (movie theaters) |
| Founded | 1933 |
| Founder | Dwight "Red" Harkins |
| Headquarters | Scottsdale, Arizona |
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Area served
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Western United States |
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Key people
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Dan Harkins, Owner & CEO Mike Bowers, President & COO |
| Owner | Dan Harkins |
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Number of employees
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about 3,000 (as of May 2009) |
| Parent | Harkins Enterprises, LLC |
| Website | http://www.harkinstheatres.com |
Harkins Theatres is an American movie theater chain with locations throughout the Southwestern United States. Harkins Theatres is privately owned and operated by its parent company, Harkins Enterprises, LLC. The company currently operates 30 theaters with 434 screens throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas.
In 1931, at the age of sixteen, Dwight “Red” Harkins left Cincinnati, Ohio, on his Harley Davidson motorcycle for Hollywood. Dwight planned to pursue a role in one of the new "talkies." By the time he arrived in Tempe, Arizona, he could no longer afford to continue his quest. After several years in Tempe, he sought out a new career operating a movie-house. In 1933, he opened the State Theatre in Tempe, at the age of 18 after putting $50 down on the lease to take over the State Theatre. The State Theatre was originally the Goodwin Opera House, opened c. 1907.
In 1934, Red Harkins expanded to have an outdoor theater in Tempe Beach Park; however this only lasted for one summer. The next true theater that Harkins built in 1940 was the College Theater (currently Harkins Valley Art). The theater contained innovations such as glow-in-the-dark carpet, headphones for the hearing impaired, and automatic drinking fountains. This theater is significant in that it's Tempe's only depression-era theater.
The last theater opened by Red Harkins was the Camelview 5 Theater in 1973. The Camelview 5 closed down in December 2015, and the "Camelview at Fashion Square" opened as a new 14 theater space in Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall.
In 1974, Dwight Harkins died, leaving the company to his eldest son, Dan Harkins. At that time the company was near bankruptcy. After reworking the company, Dan extensively expanded the theatre chain from five locations in the Phoenix, Arizona area to the current 30 locations in five states - Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Southern California.
Harkins Theatres struggled financially because it was unable to book many first-run movies. In 1977, Dan Harkins filed a lawsuit against a group of film distributors alleging they had prevented Harkins from booking many top first-run movie titles. Movie studios began settling with Harkins. As a result of the lawsuit, Harkins Theatres was able to show a run of Walt Disney's & RKO Radio Pictures Fantasia in May 1982, starting a string of successful releases.
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Wikipedia