Gail Miller and her son Greg, owners of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, celebrate Wednesday in Sandy the 10-year-anniversary of the Megaplex Theatres. (Francisco Kjolseth / The Salt Lake Tribune )

Sandy » Larry H. Miller would have liked this party.

That was the consensus of the late auto dealer's family and employees, who gathered Wednesday at noon at the Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons to celebrate the movie theater's 10th birthday.

"This is the kind of thing my dad really appreciated," said Greg Miller, Larry's son and CEO of the Larry H. Miller Group, at a VIP reception to mark the date -- Nov. 5, 1999 -- when the Sandy theater opened.

The Megaplex chain has grown to 70 screens in Sandy, Salt Lake City, South Jordan, Lehi and Ogden. The chain has been praised within the industry for its customer service and use of theater technology.

Randy Rigby, president of Larry Miller Sports & Entertainment, praised the Megaplex Theatres for introducing several movie-exhibition innovations to Utah: stadium seating, restaurant-style food at the concession stands, online and kiosk ticketing, and reserved seating. Also, the Megaplex 17 still houses the only commercial IMAX screen in Utah.

In 10 years, Rigby said, 32 million ticket buyers have seen a movie at a Megaplex theater -- and consumed 3.28 million gallons of soda pop. In the past year, the concession stands have sold 55,000 boxes of Junior Mints, 60,000 packages of Red Vines and 320,000 pounds of popcorn.

Larry Miller, who died in February, became a movie-theater owner "by accident," Greg Miller said.

Sandy Mayor

"[Larry] said, 'Yeah, I can build you a nice little park,' " said Miller's widow, Gail. "As I remember, they said, 'We don't want a park. A park won't bring us any revenue.' "

So Miller oversaw the building of what became the Jordan Commons complex -- including an office building, restaurants and the movie house. "People said, 'What does Larry Miller know about running a movie theater?' " Dolan recalled. "I said, 'I wouldn't bet against him.' "

The theater wasn't a big moneymaker at first. "More than once, I heard my dad say that the return we're getting on our investment in the theaters is roughly akin on what you'd get on a three-month CD at a credit union," Greg Miller said. "We weren't in it for the money, and we're still not. It was more a service to the people."

Gail Miller said that Larry and his team visited other theaters, took the best ideas and added others, all to improve the audience's experience. Some of those ideas included central aisles for the disabled, testing which fabrics would best handle food stains, and "never having sticky floors -- that was one of the things that when we went to movies we hated," she said.

"I hope that these theaters will bring enjoyment for a long time," Gail Miller said, her voice breaking a bit, "and with that, the memory of Larry will stay alive."

spmeans@sltrib.com