Phoenix Theatres CEO speaks with WBBJ following Empire 8 incident

3 hours ago

Ryan Brooks,

JACKSON, Tenn. — We have continuing coverage following a disturbance that started off as movie outing and quickly caught the attention of many on social media.

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It happened at the Empire 8 Theatre Tuesday evening when police were called and children, parents and chaperones were asked to leave the theater after a heated exchange between management and adults.

Jackson Mayor Scott Conger released a statement commenting on the incident saying in part: “The kids had no part in it, and they shouldn’t have been the ones to pay the price.” Further adding that he contacted the owner of Gracie’s Baby Daycare Wednesday and is working on a solution that puts the focus back on the children.

Phil Zacheretti is the CEO of Phoenix Theatres, which owns the Empire 8 in Jackson. Phoenix Theatres issued a statement earlier Thursday afternoon recognizing mistakes made by theater management.

“Children had nothing to do with it and most of the people there did not. Its been admitted that there were statements and raised voices on both ends. We should have never done that on our end. We should have handled it professionally,” said Zacheretti.

Zacharietti spoke with the owner of Gracie’s Baby Daycare early Wednesday and offered refunds.

He tells us the daycare owner sent in receipts and the company mailed checks for refunds that same night.

“If they would like to come back we’ll have a complete free showing of the movie and they’ll get all the free food they want. We’re flying someone in from the corporate office tomorrow to start kind of helping oversee the staff. We’re sending a second person in on Saturday that’s going to do retraining to make sure they all completely understand how to operate. We’ll be making complete reviews of everything that’s happening at that theatre and we’ll correct anything that’s wrong and we’ll retrain where we need to,” said Zacheretti.

Phoenix Theatres operates 14 theatres in 10 states. According to Zacheretti, during the past six years they’ve been in business, they’ve received positive feedback from close to a million people.

He says they hope to have the children back to enjoy a more positive experience.

“They should have never called the police we only do that in very dire situations where we feel threatened or we feel that the public are not being safe and I think she overreacted and she’s currently on leave until we can do a little more research and make a final decision for the future,” said Zacheretti.

One chaperone tells us the group of 3 to 5 year olds were frightened after one officer from the Jackson Police Department ordered them out of the theater.

According to a release from the Jackson Police Department, Chief Corley responds saying: “If it is determined that any officer involved failed to meet the standards of our department, it will be addressed immediately. We will use this incident as a learning opportunity for our department as a whole.”

According to Phoenix Theatres, there is an extensive investigation underway following this incident. They add that cameras inside the theater may not show events in their entirety because those cameras are in the main concession area and not in the auditorium.

Efforts are also underway to talk to every employee at the theater that worked that day. The complaints and investigations tied to the incident are still ongoing.

Phoenix Theatres will have a complete staff and manager training evaluation following this incident.

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