TAMPA — The beleaguered University Mall area, trying to claw its way back to relevance as it’s absorbed into the major RITHM@Uptown development, is getting its fourth movie theater in the past decade.This time, however, new owners Shana David-Massett and her husband, Tim, say things will be different.Instead of a big chain taking over and making changes from a distance, the new movie theater, under the name Sun-Ray Cinema, will be hands-on, primarily because the mall location will be the couple’s only location.They signed a deal to take over the lease from Look Dine-In Cinema at the former University Mall and expect to have it open this week.While Sun-Ray Cinema plans showing all the big hits, like “Moana 2″ and “Wicked,” it will not abandon its indie and classic movie roots. It will open Wednesday with Dutch composer Jozef Van Wissem performing a live score to Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula” that is considered by many to be a horror genre masterpiece.Plagued by poor online reviews and very mixed experiences, Look Dine-In closed its doors the first week in October.While Sun-Ray Cinema previously ran a small two-screen theater, it will now take over a nearly 50,000-square-foot space at the mall with a 4,000-square-foot kitchen and 10 screens.Several updates and technical changes will be made, like improving sight lines by changing the seating layouts, adding more comfortable recliner seating in some of the rooms and implementing a better sound system and better picture.But David-Massett said one of the first orders of business will be improving the customer experience.“Reading this other theater’s Google reviews, people had some really lousy experiences,” she said. “Their food took forever to get to them, the picture and the soundboard wasn’t working properly, just all kinds of complaints. The whole experience itself should be a lot better when you have a company that’s got their boots on the ground, and more than our boots, we put our entire wardrobe on the ground, in Tampa to get this done.”Moviegoers will still be able to order food to eat at their seats, but they will have to place those orders at the counter before they enter their theater, and it will be delivered to them.If you need another drink during the movie, you’ll have to visit the lobby, eliminating the need for waiters to be taking orders midshowing.The food will also be more reasonably priced and theater-friendly, but David-Massett said everything will be made in-house, right down to the pizza dough.“Some theaters are like, ‘We’re going to serve you ribs while you watch a movie.’ And I’m like, that’s cool. I like ribs and I like movies, but I don’t see how that goes together. So we have a menu that’s really thoughtful in terms of what it makes sense to eat in the theater. And again, it will be done fresh.”The lobby will receive the most noticeable makeover, and some of the changes won’t be fully completed until next summer.“It’s kind of sports bar posh right now, and that’s not our vibe,” David-Bassett said. “So we’ve got an artist named Jason Wright from down in Jacksonville, who does a lot of work with Pee Wee’s Playhouse motifs. He’s going to be coming and doing some interactive components in the lobby. He’s got some 3D pieces he’s making for the lobby and will be doing a lot of painting.”The Massetts previously ran Sun-Ray Cinema at 5 Points in Jacksonville, which was originally the first theater in the state of Florida to show talking pictures.It opened as the single-screen Riverside Theater in 1927 and was remodeled, restored and renamed a few times before the Massetts raised enough funds through crowdsourcing and private loans to purchase it in 2011.In 2014, it expanded to add a second auditorium.David-Massett said the theater grew from 19,000 customers to a projected 70,000 in 2024.Earlier this year, however, the building that housed the theater was sold to developers, who declined to renew the Sun-Ray Cinema lease.That led the Massetts to seek another location, which will be at the former University Mall, where the theater was a Regal Cinema in 2014 before giving way to Studio Movie Grill and then Look Dine-In Cinema.Studio Movie Grill founder Brian Schultz left the company and started Look Dine-In Cinema. The University Mall was its only Florida location, which wasn’t ideal for the company during trying times for the movie theater industry.“A lot of bigger chains are trying to reduce their screen count right at a time that we as a tiny company are trying to grow our screen count,” David-Massett said. “So, we were really excited to get at least transferred to us.”The Bassetts are also thrilled to be part of the RITHM@Uptown development. They think it puts them in an ideal situation to be successful and are confident they will be an integral part of the development’s success.“Based on my negotiations with them, they are very serious about this property,” David-Bassett said. “I think they made an investment in our space by signing us on for a lease because there is no other exhibitor. I don’t want to toot our own horns here, but there’s no exhibitor in this country who’s going to pay attention to the space like we are, and for them to make that choice and make that investment in working with us, to me again, super biased, it really speaks to their intention.”As the Bassetts prepare to open Sun-Ray Cinema, they have been energized by the number of people stopping by and asking when the new place will be open.“People are walking up saying they are here for a movie,” David Bassett said. “There’s no advertising for the theater, there’s no showtimes available. It’s crazy, but I’m thrilled there are still people coming in. Bring it on.”