Devoted to show business and the entertainment industry

Shari Redstone, the daughter of Sumner Redstone and president of National Amusements - the family-owned theater business that also holds controlling stakes in Viacom (Research) and CBS (Research), is trying to reinvigorate her theater business by turning them into what she is calling "premium" entertainment.

This is in response to the growing erosion of the movie business. It has been under continuous assault from home-theaters, digital movie downloads, shortening the wait for DVD releases and all the new Internet entertainment that is immediately available.

When I first heard about her strategy, I was immediately skeptical, but in this case it may work. The problem I see with it is that it's targeting high-income people that are a much smaller audience than now exists.

That same limitation is also the plans strength. It is a niche audience and idea. This will work great in some markets, depending on the location, and probably will even increase overall sales per showing with all the added on products.

She is offering cocktails, waiter service, and high-quality food.

Along with that, she's doing what we've been talking about for awhile here - showing baseball games and recreating the peanut sellers by hiring kids to hawk peanuts in the theater. She is also renting the theaters out to Fortune 500 companies and churches for services.

Now these combinations should really do great for the company. There is no way that the industry can count on Hollywood any longer as their main attraction; those days are long gone. This is the first time I've seen one of the theater owners making some wise decisions and knowing what is going to happen to those that won't follow a similar path.