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The Multi-Attraction Future of Cinema with Dennis McIntire – Podcast Episode 144
Audio Links: Apple | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio | Pandora
Episode Description
On this episode of the Memory Makers Podcast, Russ sits down with Dennis McIntire, VP of Strategic Development and Innovation at B&B Theatres. With over three decades of experience spanning marketing, construction, and corporate development, Dennis dives into the realities of blending movie theaters with arcades, bowling alleys, and food services, explaining why traditional theater logic often fails in the entertainment space.
“A movie experience is not exactly the same thing that it was 20 years ago, 30 years ago… It always starts as a ‘what if’. What if we put a playground in a movie theater?”
— Dennis McIntire
Dennis also reveals the ultimate business philosophy that drives their constant innovation. B&B Theatres has had its doors open for 102 years, so it’s important to stay fresh, exciting, and highly profitable. He recommends asking a lot of “what-if” questions, stop treating different business models like they are the same, and remain willing to fail fast.
Key Takeaways
- Separate Business Logic Frameworks: Movie theater operations, food and beverage systems, and family entertainment attractions function on fundamentally different employee-to-guest touchpoints; applying the exact same training or operational logic across all three areas creates friction and limits success.
- Prioritize Monetization in Innovation: A novel attraction or creative concept requires a clear path to throughput, capacity, and volume efficiency to remain financially viable for a for-profit business, regardless of how exciting the concept seems initially.
- Embrace Swift Defeat: Successful operators give new concepts a fair trial, but leaders must be willing to decommission underperforming assets quickly once data proves a mismatch with market habits.
- Empower Management Autonomy: True corporate culture relies on giving local managers the authority to run their facilities based on feedback from the community, rather than enforcing rigid corporate mandates without flexibility.
