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Cinemark CEO says theaters face a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar
By JEFF DEMOSSAt age 14, Alan Stock was cleaning up, fixing speakers and doing whatever else was needed at a humble drive-in movie theater in Colorado.
Fast forward more than three decades, and the former Roy resident is in charge of the third-largest movie theater chain in the world.
As chief executive of Cinemark Holdings Inc., Stock, 47, oversees more than 400 theaters in North America and Latin America, thousands of employees, and $1.7 billion in annual revenue.
Stock's family moved to Utah when he was in the ninth grade.
He worked on and off at local theaters during high school, and after returning from a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and graduating from Weber State University, found a job as a manager for Consolidated Theaters of Utah.
What turned out to be his big break came in 1986, after Cinemark purchased a couple of Utah theaters from Consolidated. Cinemark, which had only eight theaters in its portfolio at the time, hired Stock as its operations manager.
Seven years after joining the company, he became president. By 1996, Stock had completed his ascent to CEO.
Today, Cinemark has theaters in 38 states and about a dozen countries, with locations from Alaska to Ecuador.
Still, Utah remains an important market, said Stock, who was in the state last week for the grand opening of a new theater at University Mall in Orem.
"The whole Utah market loves going to movies," he said. "They really love the family-oriented type product."
Cinemark now has 13 theaters in the state, include the Tinseltown theaters in Layton and at Newgate Mall in Ogden.
Stock moved to the Dallas area, where Cinemark is headquartered, after his hiring. But he keeps close ties to Utah and visits whenever he can.
Top of Utah connections run deep in the executive ranks at Cinemark.
In addition to Stock, top brass with local ties include Senior Vice President of Operations Rob Carmony, a Weber State graduate; Jeff Stone, vice president of operations and a Roy High School graduate; Steve Owen, who started as assistant manager of Newgate Movies 4 in Ogden in 1987 and is now vice president of purchasing; and Kim Phillips, a Utah native and Syracuse resident who oversees Cinemark theaters in four western states.
"In those early days, I brought on some guys I had worked with in Utah," Stock said, "so it's really not a coincidence."
He said the company is growing despite the current state of the economy. It plans to add 80 screens across the nation this year.
"During five of the last seven recessions, numbers at the box office actually improved," he said. "People still want to get out and do something, and we're a good escape and still one of the cheapest forms of entertainment."
Cinemark typically locates its theaters in or near malls or other shopping centers. Slower traffic in those areas tends to have some impact on movie attendance, but theaters generally aren't as vulnerable as retailers, Stock said.
"We'll continue our strategy of going out and building theaters. Retailers are slowing down, so naturally our number of new theaters should slow down a little, but our business continues to do well."
Advances in technology have produced new ways to watch movies, especially through the Internet, but have also improved the theater experience, he said.
"The biggest challenge we have is people's time. There are a lot more things you can do with your leisure time today, and that certainly puts pressure on any entertainment business."
But theaters always win the battle in terms of people wanting to get out of the house, he added.
"To the extent that you want a social experience, it's still hard to beat what we can deliver."
Cinemark became a publicly traded company in April 2007, and Stock said that has presented some new challenges in terms of reporting requirements and dealing with investors and shareholders, "but at the end of the day, the reality is we're still the same company."
"We have a different owner to some degree, but our goals and philosophy haven't changed. We basically run things the same as we always have."
Stock's early years of selling popcorn and monitoring movie projectors are a far cry from his lofty perch today, but the bottom line remains the same, he said.
"It's all about making sure your customers have an enjoyable experience. As long as we're doing our job right, people will still come out."
Add Your Comment
Just to keep things in perspective, Dennis:
37 Million is California's TOTAL population, not the number of people who voted.
13,084,570 votes were cast on Prop 8.
Total Yes Votes for Prop 8: 6,838,107 (52.3%)
Total No Votes for Prop 8: 6,246,463 (47.7%)
Margin of win: 591,644
That's a 4.5 % difference.
Hardly an "overwhelming number".
Don't worry, I'm not saying you're a bigot. Your just misinformed. Hopefully, these numbers will help you frame your argument more accurately.
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