What's the latest theatre to close or open you have heard about?

[Martin McCaffery]

late 80s charm.

Three words I never thought I'd see together.

I know the 80s were somebody's Good Ol Days, but man, that makes me feel old.

[Chris Haller]

The Pittsford Plaza Cinemas 9 here in Rochester, NY, owned by Zurich Cinemas, played its last shows tonight. It's been sold to newcomer Apple Cinemas who owns a small number of upscale, dine in cinemas here in the Northeast.

It was built as part of Pittsford Plaza on the site of a former supermarket and opened in 1988 as a General Cinemas 6 screen theater. In its original configuration it had 5 common height screens and one massive 600 seat screen that was built to THX certification. It allegedly had 70mm capable projection, but according to known records does not appear to have ever run 70mm prints.

It closed as part of General Cinemas' restructuring at the end of the 90s as its not featured in their 1999 cinema listings on their amusingly old website, and was at one point operated by a company known as Entertainment Film Works before closing again in 2002. Zurich took it over in early 2002 and chopped up the 600 seat screen into a series of smaller screens to bring it up to 9. It closed with that same configuration tonight. Each screen had decent 5.1 surround sound, average Sony 4K Cinema projectors, and common height scope screens with curtain masking. It was a great place to see a consistent movie, and I'm sad to see it go, as I'm sure the new chain is going to fully remodel the interior and wipe away its late 80s charm. Such is life.

Apple Cinemas is promising refreshed projectors, Dolby Atmos, and a full menu. Meh.

[Scott Jentsch]

It's been quite some time since I've done an update. I apologize for the multi-month information dump! I limited the reach back to February, but I will put in links to the full lists below:

Openings - Theater Openings & Improvements Articles

The Regal Placerville in Placerville, California has a new operator as of February 2022. Cinema West stepped in to run the newly-renamed Placerville Cinema.

The AMC Classic Madisonville 8 in Madisonville, Kentucky closed in January, but it reopened in February as the Golden Ticket Cinemas - Capitol 8.

The Picture House - Bronxville in Bronxville, New York opened to the public in February.

The LOOK Dine-In Cinemas - Colleyville in Colleyville, Texas opened its doors March 3, 2022.

The EVO Entertainment - Southlake in Southlake, Texas opened to the public in March.

The Carolina Cinemas - Sandhills 10 in Southern Pines, North Carolina opened in the same location as the former Paragon Sandhills, which closed at the end of March 2022. The first day of operation was April 8, 2022.

The B & B Athens 12 in Athens, Georgia is opened in April 2022. The twelve-screen movie theater was formerly known as the AMC Dine-In Athens 12, which closed in 2020.

The ICON Cinema - San Mateo in Albuquerque, New Mexico opened April 22, 2022.

The LOOK Dine-In Cinemas - Arlington in Arlington, Texas opened to the public May 5, 2022.

The EVO Entertainment - Hampton in Hampton, Virginia opened May 27, 2022.

The AMC Dine-In Topanga 12 in the Westfield Topanga & The Village shopping center in Canoga Park, California is opening Thursday, June 2, 2022.


Closings - Theater Closings Articles

The Bow Tie Herricks Cinemas in New Hyde Park, New York closed in February 2022.

The Silver Cinemas - Market Square Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin showed its last movies February 17, 2022.

The Century Gateway 12 in Tucson, Arizona closed in March 2022.

The AMC Classic Bloomfield 8 in Bloomfield, Connecticut closed March 14, 2022.

The AMC Classic Windsor Square 7 in Knoxville, Tennessee closed in April.

The Paragon Sandhills in Southern Pines, North Carolina closed in April 2022.

The Westwood Cinema 8 in Omaha, Nebraska closed April 17, 2022.

The Bow Tie Reston Town Center 11 & BTX in Reston, Virginia closed at the end of April 2022.

The Keystone Cinemas in Bardstown, Kentucky closed April 28, 2022.

The Landmark in the Westside Pavilion Mall on Pico Boulevard and Westwood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California closed in May 2022. The last time we received showtimes updates was May 20, so it likely closed that weekend.

The Cinemark Sandy Movies 9 in Sandy, Utah closed May 26, 2022.

The AMC Promenade 16 in the Promenade mall in Woodland Hills, California closed June 1, 2022.

[Martin Brooks]

That’s truly sick and sad.

Part of me would rather see it scraped than it turned into yet more office space.

I can't speak as to whether office space is needed in San Jose, but in NYC, this big push by developers to continue to build office space (and a push by our governor to build 10 new office towers around Penn Station) is completely ridiculous at a time when many office employees are working from home and as their leases expire, companies are dumping space that they no longer need. Even Apple employees are balking at returning to the "spaceship" in spite of all the amenities. Even if workers are required to show up a few days a week, we simply don't need all the office space that's been built. I think office developers are living in denial of reality because they only know how to do one thing.

[William Kucharski]

That’s truly sick and sad.

Part of me would rather see it scraped than it turned into yet more office space.

[Jim Cassedy]

"Exciting Renovation Plans Submitted For Historic Century 21 Theater In San Jose "(CA)

Original Story: https://tinyurl.com/ycx5t82c

Cent21_Dome.jpg

An historic, dome-shaped cinema building near Santana Row in San Jose could get a major facelift that
would transform it from a former movie theater into something new. The building at 3161 Olsen Drive
was built in 1964 and used to be the Century 21 movie theater, which closed in 2014. The city made it a
historical landmark shortly after it shut down. The dome sits on a prime piece of property just steps away
from the Winchester Mystery House and a new office complex called Santana West which currently has
one new office building in operation and a few others that will be built. The popular Santana Row dining
and shopping destination sits just across South Winchester Boulevard from the domed building.

At this point, it’s unclear what the old theater will be reused as, but there are several options on the table.
Despite not yet having a specific use, the developer and owner, Federal Realty Investment Trust, plans to
renovate the building in a flexible way so that it can cater to several different types of businesses.
According to a preliminary proposal obtained by the Mercury News, “the design team will include
provisions to accommodate the ability to support office, kitchen, cafeteria, gym, and small data center.”
It could also become a restaurant or a performing arts center.

Right now, the former movie house has 18,000 square feet of usable space on the ground floor along with
a 1,000 square foot room above that used to be the projection room. Federal Realty plans to transform the
building into three floors of usable space. The Mercury News reports that “the interior reconstruction effort
that will produce three floors in the building is slated to total 29,000 to 34,500 square feet, depending on
the ultimate configuration of the inside of the structure.”

One notable addition to the building will be a plethora of skylights that will flood the interior with natural
sunlight. Federal Realty plans to add a new center skylight, another in the lobby near the entrance, and
several others around the edges of the dome. If all goes as planned, the old theater is expected to play
an intricate role as part of the 13-acre mixed-use Santana West campus. The developer notes that the
renovation plans are still in the early preliminary planning phase and there’s no timeline yet for when it
could get city approval. It also remains unclear when Federal Realty will start looking for a new tenant.

<END>

> This is the 2nd Bay Area theater in recent months to receive "Landmark Status" - - and while that puts
certain restrictions on the property - - it doesn't mean the property owners have to use the building for its'
original purpose. Mostly, it gives them a certain tax status - - and a "historic" plaque. (Big Friggin' Deal!)
The fact that the new owners plan to put "a plethora of skylights" pretty much dooms the dome of any
chance of ever being used as a cinema again.

Bonus Pic:
This view of the booth was taken in 1965. There's 70mm reels on the bench and that looks like
the ass-end of an Ashcraft Super Core-Lite. . one of the hottest lamphouses I ever ran. I'm
hoping this booth had good air conditioning ~ ~ That Super Core-Lite & all those open vacuum
tube amps had the potential to make it pretty warm up there without good ventilation. !
Century21_Booth2.jpg
(Photo Source: Cinema Treasures)

[Mike Blakesley]

Mike, What's the name of this cinema?

It's the Montana Theatre in Miles City, MT.

[Leo Enticknap]

Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema, San Francisco’s hub for first-run art-house movies for more than a quarter of a century, will cease operations after Thursday, Feb. 3, sources told The Chronicle.

I'm hearing rumors locally that the Landmark in Westwood (LA) is about to close, too. The lease is up, audience numbers never recovered from the pandemic, and the place is losing money. Plus, Google is in the process of buying that entire mall, apparently.

[Mike Croaro]

A theater 45 miles down the road from us closed with heating problems in late 2019, then reopened for a couple of weeks in February and March 2020 before closing for Covid. It was sold about a year ago, and has been converted from one screen to three and is reopening this Friday.

The original auditorium was a single screen with about 600 seats. It had a slope floor in the front half, and stadium seating in the back half. They put a wall across the stadium, and then divided that area in half to create two stadium theaters, each with 49 seats. Here are pics of the "main" screen and one of the stadium screens. The other stadium screen is identical except with different colored drapery.

I'm glad to see them opening it up because I hate when theaters are closed, but we did get a lot of business from that area over the past year and a half so we hope some of those folks will keep coming back!

1.jpg 2.jpg

Mike, What's the name of this cinema?

[Mike Blakesley]

A theater 45 miles down the road from us closed with heating problems in late 2019, then reopened for a couple of weeks in February and March 2020 before closing for Covid. It was sold about a year ago, and has been converted from one screen to three and is reopening this Friday.

The original auditorium was a single screen with about 600 seats. It had a slope floor in the front half, and stadium seating in the back half. They put a wall across the stadium, and then divided that area in half to create two stadium theaters, each with 49 seats. Here are pics of the "main" screen and one of the stadium screens. The other stadium screen is identical except with different colored drapery.

I'm glad to see them opening it up because I hate when theaters are closed, but we did get a lot of business from that area over the past year and a half so we hope some of those folks will keep coming back!

1.jpg 2.jpg

[Steve Guttag]

Warehouse Cinemas in Leitersburg Maryland just completed their "Phase-2" renovations that included the complete transformation of their two largest auditoriums. The rooms were down for the better part of 3-months. Both auditoriums received the normal Warehouse treatment plus both have SkyVue screens with theatre #2's screen growing by 50% over its previous size. Theatre #2 now sports Dolby Atmos.

277438397_272507575074631_8498008810966230758_n.jpg

[William Kucharski]

AMC Flatiron Crossing 14 has reopened.

[William Kucharski]

Not a permanent thing, but I had my ticket refunded today because AMC Flaitron Crossing 14 in Broomfield, CO, is "temporarily closed due to a maintenance issue."

Backed up toilets or lack of employees?

amc.jpg

[Jim Cassedy]

The last time I went to the Embarcadero Cinema was about 5 or 6 years ago to see a foreign film with my
friend Madeline. It was in the winter and the heat wasn't working right, and I remember the auditorium
was uncomfortably cold. We drank alotta hot chocolate & coffee that day. I was also a bit disappointed
with how dirty the auditorium was. - - and this was the 1st show of the day, so, in theory, it had been
cleaned overnight. .. or not.

I've heard rumors one auditorium will be turned into a restaurant, and the other one will be a health club.
(So, I guess now you'll be able to 'pig-out; in one, and work out in the other! ) lol

Here's a partial copy the of Chronicle story:

Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema, San Francisco’s hub for first-run art-house movies for more
than a quarter of a century, will cease operations after Thursday, Feb. 3, sources told The Chronicle.

A longtime publicist who books events at the theater said they were not able to schedule events past
Thursday because the theater is closing. A theater employee, who was not authorized to speak on the
record, also confirmed the theater will not reopen Friday, Feb. 4.


Landmark Theatres, which is based in Los Angeles, and the Embarcadero Center’s leasing office, have
not yet returned inquiries by The Chronicle, but the theater’s website does not list showtimes or offer
tickets for screenings beyond Thursday.

[William Kucharski]