As Wall Street awaits word Thursday on possible financing for Blockbuster Inc. (BBI), another industry player recently out of bankruptcy says it is financially strong and focused on sales and store growth.

"Folks have counted us out, but not only are we back, but we are going to dominate this industry," said Movie Gallery Inc.Chief Executive Sherif Mityas.

In an interview, Mityas said Movie Gallery's movie business, including its chain of Hollywood Video stores, started out slow this year but has "picked up nicely," while games have been hot throughout the year. The closely held Wilsonville, Ore., company calls itself the second-largest video- and game-rental chain in North America behind Blockbuster, operating about 3,800 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Its stores include nearly 600 Game Crazy outlets selling new and used videogames and competing directly against GameStop Corp. (GME).

Movie Gallery emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2008, canceling its common stock and senior notes. At the time, Sopris Capital LLC owned 86% of the company.

Mityas wouldn't release financial plans or recent sales and earnings figures. "We're still expecting to be a $2 billion-plus organization that is growing in both movies and games by the end of the year," he said.

Mityas said the company was profitable in 2008 and expects "to be more profitable this year." It reported $2.45 billion in revenue for the Jan. 6, 2008-ended fiscal year and a net loss of $19.39 a share.

He plans to add a handful of movie-rental and Game Crazy stores by the end of 2009. At the same time, Movie Gallery is exploring ways to deliver movies and games outside its stores but is taking a different approach than Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Blockbuster and others that have pursued online and TV set-top box delivery methods.

He declined to offer details at this point.

Like Blockbuster, Movie Gallery management seems cautious about putting too much capital toward alternative movie-delivery channels when many people don't have access to broadband Internet service.

"The demise of the home video market is greatly exaggerated," Mityas said. "It's still an $8 billion market, of which $5.5 billion of that is (through) bricks and mortar."

Meanwhile, Mityas said, Movie Gallery has more than 250,000 people signed up for a subscription program that launched this week. The "PowerPlay" monthly subscriptions range from $7.99 to $39.99 and give subscribers a certain number of points each month to use for movie and game rentals. Unused points roll over from month to month, but all plans limit the number of videos or games you can have out at once. That has helped customers return videos in a timely manner without late fees, Mityas said.

And while Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has launched a trade-in business for used videogames, Mityas doesn't see it as much of a competitive threat to Game Crazy because gamers typically prefer getting games the day they are released. GameStop tried an online trade-in business but stopped it after a while, Mityas said.

Game Crazy posted double-digit same-store sales growth in the fourth quarter and is taking industry market share, he added.

About 1,000 Movie Gallery stores overlap with Blockbuster's 7,400 stores, Mityas said. But a major difference between the chains is that Movie Gallery has completed its restructuring, closing 1,200 stores and securing financing in a much better credit environment.

"We are on very solid (financial) footing," he said, adding the company can finance its growth initiatives through 2012 without seeking additional capital.

Blockbuster declined to comment ahead of earnings.

-By Mary Ellen Lloyd, Dow Jones Newswires, 704-948-9145; maryellen.lloyd@dowjones.com