Keolu Center theater to reopen

The long-vacant Keolu Center Cinemas will reopen at 10:30 a.m. today for an 11 a.m. screening of "Puss in Boots."

The theater has new owners and has been renamed Water Gardens Keolu 4.

The small multiplex is being leased by a hui of "local guys and mainland guys," said Steven Sofos, president and CEO of Sofos Realty Corp., which handles leasing for Keolu Center and the adjacent Enchanted Lake Shopping Center as well as others.

Among the owners are brothers Michael and Scott Daniels, originally from Hawaii, according to leasing agent Nora Bland. Michael Daniels now lives in Utah, as does co-owner Tyler Walters. Scott Daniels and his wife, Toni, live here. The company also operates Water Gardens Cinema 6 in Pleasant Grove, Utah.

Its business model caters to families, as its movies are not first-run and are therefore less costly.

Admission at the Keolu theaters will be "$5 a seat," said Toni, "and our snacks are $1, $2 and $3. We don’t have R-rated movies and we are closed on Sundays," she said.

The latest any movie will end will be at midnight.

Water Gardens Keolu 4 LLC has hired nearly 60 part-time employees.

Along with "Puss in Boots," the first movies to screen will be "Real Steel" and "Tower Heist," with "Footloose" and "In Time" alternating on one of the screens.

"Our hope is that they do phenomenal," said Sofos.

The theaters have been closed since 2008, after the previous owner, Oregon-based Hollywood Theatres, decided not to renew its lease in the center.

Hollywood still operates six theaters on Maui and Hawaii island.