Our Move Back to the Hazard Center – The Real Story

After spending months preparing to move our film festival to the Gaslamp, we were a bit reluctant to find out that we were able to move it back to the Hazard Center in Mission Valley. We knew flip-flopping locations would confuse some of our patrons, but after weighing in the free parking, Trolley access, proximity to the Doubletree Hotel, and our history at Hazard Center, we decided the move back would be in everybody’s best interest.

We wanted to share with you what was happening behind-the-scenes so you understand what we’ve endured these last few years.

Our initial plan to move downtown was not by choice. After all, the SDAFF had been successfully operating our film festival at Hazard Center since 2001. But for the last few years, the Hazard Center Theatres had been an unstable location. Two years ago, Madstone Theatres, who had an agreement with us to host the festival, unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy, taking our deposit with them. The theatres reverted to Mann Theatres, who owned the original lease. While the corporate office of Mann Theatres supported our festival, the owners made it very clear they did not want to operate at Hazard Center, since it lost money to the massive AMCs at Mission Valley and Fashion Valley Malls.

We learned a few months ago, Mann Theatres bought out its lease and starting September, there would be no operator of the Hazard Center theatres. The timing couldn’t be worse for us.

It should be known that there aren’t many places to host a film festival in San Diego. None of the local AMCs want to rent out their screens (except for maybe on a Tuesday night), and the few theatres that will rent to a film festival either charge exorbitant fees or may not have the most convenient locations.

Our best alternative was the Pacific Gaslamp Theatres, which frankly, has a very nice facility, but no free parking. We banked on the hope that our supporters would follow us no matter where we moved to, even if it meant paying $15 to park and paying another $10 to see a movie. Turns out, that same weekend of our festival, the Padres are playing their final home games of the season – two against L.A., and one against San Francisco. We knew that fact alone would deter some people from going downtown.

Then we received the surprise phone call that would save our sixth festival season.

It was a consultant for UltraStar Cinemas, a locally owned and operated chain of theatres. He called to tell us that UltraStar will be the new long-term operator of the Hazard Center theatres as of September, and that its CEO, John Ellison, wanted to turn this location into a festival-friendly theatre. In fact, he was practically rolling out the red carpet for us.

How could we say no?

Despite having only six weeks left before our film festival, we decided to take up John Ellison’s invitation and move back to our old location with a new attitude – we feel like we finally have a home, and we’re here to stay! (Thank you John!)

The new UltraStar Mission Valley is a cozy location where, as usual, we’ll be operating three of the seven screens. Because of the high number of films this year and our rapidly growing audience, we’ve doubled the number of days of our festival. This means you, our patron, will have more chances to catch the films of your choice, meet more filmmakers, and better enjoy the festival experience. Perhaps you’ll even buy more popcorn to show UltraStar your gratitude for its commitment to independent film and festivals like ours.

See you at the movies!

Lee Ann Kim
Executive Director, San Diego Film Foundation