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  • Geoff Jones
    replied
    The Regal UA Court Street & RPX in Brooklyn, NY, featured in post #20 in the Exit Lighting in Regal Theaters Film-Tech Thread, has closed.


    Brooklyn Heights Movie Theater Court Street Regal Cinema Shutters


    The Court Street Regal Cinema has permanently closed after more than two decades, leaving nostalgic Brooklynites devastated at the loss of the quasi-historic movie house.

    Former Brooklyn Paper scribe Ben Verde, who described himself simply as a “devastated moviegoer,” shared on social media that he would “physically chain [himself] to the doors” of the defunct screening emporium to prevent its demise.

    Others simply took the opportunity of the theater’s closing to share fond memories of seeing films at the time-honored location.

    Despite the outpouring of support, the Regal chain had shuttered the Downtown Brooklyn location at 106 Court Street, at the intersection of State, posting signage on the doors to alert neighbors about the closure Sunday.

    Regal Cinemas did not respond to a request for comment. A 27,165 square foot space in the building is available for rent, marketed by Cushman and Wakefield. The building also holds a Barnes & Noble.

    In 2014, another beloved Brooklyn Heights theater, the long-running Brooklyn Heights Cinema at 70 Henry Street, closed down when the landlord sold the building to a developer, who redeveloped it into condos.

    Through the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, movie theaters have been struggling to attract customers, as viewers continue to fear the virus, and movie studios have either pushed back big box office releases, or opted to offer them on streaming services.

    A commenter on the Cinema Treasures website named fred1 claimed AMC may be eyeing the lease. “I got a 2nd hand source through an industry insider that AMC will take over the lease,” he wrote.

    Newly inaugurated Council Member Lincoln Restler, who represents Downtown Brooklyn, shared his thoughts on Twitter while commemorating his past experiences at the theater.

    Pour one out for Regal Cinemas / United Artists Court Street 12. The moving van has arrived. Today’s screenings will be the last,” he wrote. “It was a good 20+ year run since they opened back when I was in HS. For the shouting back at action movie experience — there was no place better!”

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  • Ed Gordon
    replied
    Seattle’s Neptune Theatre, celebrating 100 years, is full of memories and magic

    One hundred years ago next week, in the Seattle Daily News, a small item on Page 9 announced the opening of a new movie theater. Then called the U-Neptune, it was described as “Seattle’s newest photoplay palace and the finest suburban motion picture theater in this part of the country.”

    With a capacity of more than 1,000, the U-Neptune (soon to be rechristened as just the Neptune) featured “all of the latest ideas” in theater ventilation, lighting and seating, as well as a men’s smoking room, ladies lounge and “public telephone rooms.” The decorative scheme was nautical, centering on the king of the sea for whom the theater was named, and rendered in shades of blue and taupe; the paper reported that the ushers, puzzlingly and delightfully, “will wear Dutch costumes.”

    “Nothing but the best of motion picture entertainment will be featured,” the article noted, “as well as the best of music.”

    Flash forward a century and lo and behold — the Neptune Theatre, unlike many of its comrades from the silent movie era, still stands, on the still-bustling corner of Northeast 45th Street and Brooklyn Avenue Northeast. Those Dutch costumes have, alas, disappeared into history’s mist, as has the smoking room and, for the most part, the movies. But after 90 years as a single-screen moviehouse, most recently under the auspices of the Landmark Theatre chain, crowds are still filling the Neptune in its new role as a live music and entertainment venue. The nonprofit Seattle Theatre Group has operated the theater since 2011.
    Full article here: https://www.seattletimes.com/enterta...ies-and-magic/

    Credit: Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times arts critic

    11012021_neptune03_162042.jpg


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  • Mike Rivest
    replied
    opening ad for the Capri January 11th, 1963
    Capri 1963 01 11.jpg

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  • Cecil E Inman III
    replied
    The independently owned single-screen Capri Theatre in Jackson, MS, which dates to 1930 but has been vacant since 1985, is set to reopen this month. Originally opened as the PIX, the theater ceased operations in the late 1950s but was reopened as the Capri in the early 1960s. A co-owned bowling alley and tiki bar will open adjacent to the theater. It will be the first movie theater to operate within the city limits of Jackson in over 25 years.
    Attached Files

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  • William Kucharski
    replied
    Originally posted by Geoff Jones View Post
    The Cine-Capri auditorium at Harkins' Northfield location in Denver is open again after a half-year remodel. It has been rebranded as a "Cine1 XL" auditorium.

    They have installed a new laser projector and replaced the rockers with reclining seats, which reduced the seat count from around 500 to around 300.

    All-in-all, it remains the best place to see a movie in the front range. The image is bright and sharp on their 70-foot-wide screen and the sound is clear and immersive.
    I've seen two showings (Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Spider-Man: No Way Home) in the past five weeks at the Regal Continental RPX and the original/RPX house is still very impressive with wonderful sound and that bass reinforcement you can only get from a theater built with thick concrete walls and a concrete roof, not to mention a screen that properly gets wider for 2.35:1.

    They actually still move their masking, showing 1.85:1 trailers with the masking closed, then opening them for scope.

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  • Mike Croaro
    replied
    UA Regency in Merced, CA closes. https://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/l...256818177.html

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  • Paul H. Rayton
    replied
    The permanent closure of Pacific's 12-screen Winnetka Cinema becomes more permanent, with the announcement that the place will be demolished, to become (ta - DA!) warehouse space. The place was technologically notable because early on it had a theatrical-size LED screen (width almost 34' across), the fate of which isn't mentioned. Article came from: https://www.dailynews.com/2021/12/21...trial-complex/


    Pacific Theatres multiplex in Chatsworth will be demolished for industrial complex

    The movie theater at 9201 Winnetka Avenue, known for comfortable reclining chairs and friendly personnel, will give way to three industrial buildings totaling 273,500 square feet in the area increasingly known for warehouses and distribution centers operated by retail online giants such as Amazon




    The Arclight Pacific Theatres, located at 9201 Winnetka Ave, Chatsworth on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. (Photos by
    Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)


    By Olga Grigoryants | ogrigoryants@scng.com | Los Angeles Daily News
    PUBLISHED: December 21, 2021 -- L.A. Daily News

    Winnetka Pacific Theatres multiplex location in Chatsworth, much beloved by Valley moviegoers, will
    be transformed into an industrial complex, according to a document filed with the city’s planning department.

    The movie theater at 9201 Winnetka Avenue, known for comfortable reclining chairs and friendly, film-knowledgeable
    personnel, will give way to three industrial buildings totaling 273,500 square feet in the area increasingly known
    for warehouses and distribution centers operated by retail online giants such as Amazon.

    Pacific Theatres, the former owner of the multiplexes at The Grove and The Americana shopping plaza,
    operated 300 movie screens across the state, including the popular Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.

    The Winnetka multiplex canceled its shows and closed its doors in March 2020 amid the pandemic.

    In April, Decurion Corp., the parent company of the Pacific Theatre and ArcLight Cinema chains,
    said it decided not to reopen any of its 17 locations, following the catastrophic year amid multi-million-dollar
    losses and the pandemic-related restrictions.

    Earlier this year, Pacific Theatres Exhibition Corp. announced it was filing Chapter 7 to liquidate its
    assets for creditors.

    AMC Entertainment recently took over the leases of the 14-screen cinema at the Grove in Los Angeles and
    the 18-screen theater at The Americana in Glendale formerly occupied by Pacific Theatres.

    Another space formerly occupied by Pacific's branded ArcLight cinemas in Sherman Oaks was recently taken
    over by Regal Entertainment, which launched a multi-million-dollar makeover and reopened in July as Regal
    Sherman Oaks Galleria.

    The Sherman Oaks location originally opened in 2001 as Pacific Theatres Galleria 16 and then in 2007 reopened
    as ArcLight cinema. The theater was closed in March 2020 due to COVID-related restrictions. A month later, the
    theater’s owner announced the closure would be permanent.

    The future of the Arclight Hollywood location, an L.A. icon and most recently the flagship of the once-popular
    mini-chain of prestige moviehouses, is still up in the air.

    Developed by William R. Forman, founder of Pacific Theatres, the Cinerama Dome opened on Sunset Boulevard
    in 1963 to showcase widescreen motion pictures and since then was declared a Historic-Cultural Monument. It
    was featured in Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

    A group of supporters started a petition on Change.org aiming to save the once groundbreaking film palace, urging
    major streaming services to unite to preserve the legacy of the Cinerama Dome. It has garnered nearly 28,000
    signatures. Deadline Hollywood reported earlier that Decurion Corp. asked the city to renew a liquor license at
    the famous Hollywood theater and might reopen by 2022.

    Decurion Corp. didn’t return a request for comment for this story.

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  • Bobby Henderson
    replied
    So I guess that means Harkins is phasing out the Cine Capri concept? According to their web site they're down to just 2 Cine Capri locations now, the Scottsdale 101 14 in Phoenix and the Bricktown 16 in Oklahoma City.

    One other Cine Capri site I visited previously a couple times, the Harkins Southlake in the DFW metro closed in 2020. Now the building is being remodeled into a EVO Entertainment venue. It's supposed to combine cinema, bowling, video games and other stuff under one roof. I'm not sure how that can work, but I guess we'll see. The chain has its own premium big screen "EVX" concept, which includes Dolby Atmos. So maybe they'll retain the Cine Capri auditorium mostly as is and just re-brand it under a different acronym. EVO is also working on another location in the Prestonwood area. Are they messing around with the former LOOK Cinemas location? (quick Google Earth search, that would be a YES).

    At one point a couple or so years ago I thought Harkins was planning a second OKC location on the North side of the city. As far as I can tell plans for that have been put on hold, like the Alamo Drafthouse location that was proposed for the trendy Chisholm Creek development on the North side.

    Originally posted by Geoff Jones
    The low end was very loud, rattling my seat. It seemed a little "muddy" to me - lots of deep rumbling without a real distinctness to it that I have heard at some of the best-tuned theaters (e.g. the Stag).
    I don't know what it is about modern stadium seated auditoriums, but I have yet to visit one where the sub-bass was "dialed in" just right. The sub-bass is always yielding one of two characteristics (or both). The sub-bass is either thin, lacking and weak overall in character. Or it is powerful yet slobbidy flobbidy muddy. The Cine Capri screen in OKC or the IMAX branded AMC house we have here in Lawton goes into that powerful yet sloppy zone. The issue seems really challenging to overcome in large auditoriums with especially tall ceilings. The best sub-bass I've ever heard in a large auditorium was the GCC Northpark #1 THX screen in Dallas. That sound system had very deep, very powerful sub-bass that would punch you in the chest hard. But the sub-bass character was very tight and punchy. It had a very pleasing (and startling) dynamic to it. Our old (and long dead) Carmike 8 theater in Lawton had two THX screens that sounded pretty damned good back in their prime during the mid to late 1990's. Then Carmike started cutting corners (and maintenance) during the 2000's.

    There has to be some way to re-create that kind of Northpark #1 sub-bass in a large, stadium seated house. I don't know if that means more sub-bass enclosures, throwing more wattage at the problem, doing even more with wall treatment. I'm not a sound engineer. But I know what I'm hearing. That Northpark cinema was remarkable for how good it sounded for ALL kinds of movies, not just bombastic action movies. Of course they routinely re-tuned the B-chain frequently and kept up with maintenance. Despite innovations like Dolby Atmos I really think commercial cinema chains have really dropped their focus on surround sound quality in recent years. I think the movie distributors are guilty of it as well. I could be imagining things, but it seems like the movie mixes of today are quite a bit more restrained compared to 5.1 mixes of the 1990's going into the early 2000's. It seems like much of the public is more geared to listening to movies thru sound bars under the TV screen or thru headphones. I'm getting the itch to buy a new AV receiver and speaker system for my living room, maybe even a 7.2.4 kind of setup. But it's a big (and costly) project to undertake. However, contemporary movies need to make such an investment worth it. I've been to enough "Dolby Atmos" movies at the Bricktown 16 theater that sounded like Atmos in name only to make me gun shy at investing in a home-Atmos setup.
    Last edited by Bobby Henderson; 12-17-2021, 09:44 PM.

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  • Geoff Jones
    replied
    The Cine-Capri auditorium at Harkins' Northfield location in Denver is open again after a half-year remodel. It has been rebranded as a "Cine1 XL" auditorium.

    They have installed a new laser projector and replaced the rockers with reclining seats, which reduced the seat count from around 500 to around 300.

    All-in-all, it remains the best place to see a movie in the front range. The image is bright and sharp on their 70-foot-wide screen and the sound is clear and immersive.


    A couple of things kept it from being perfect.

    I found the blacks to be a little washed out. I believe this is due to new recessed lighting on the side walls, which remained on during the feature.
    Cine1 Oval Lights.png

    Additionally, curved concentric lines are visible across the top left quarter of the screen when the screen is bright. They look a little like wrinkles. (I don't believe they are wrinkles, that's just the best way I can describe them.)

    The low end was very loud, rattling my seat. It seemed a little "muddy" to me - lots of deep rumbling without a real distinctness to it that I have heard at some of the best-tuned theaters (e.g. the Stag).

    I passed along my feedback about the contrast/ wall lights and the wavy lines, but didn't mention the bass because that felt overly subjective.

    Despite the issues, which were minor, I was pleased with the presentation and am eager to see more movies there.

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  • Jim Cassedy
    replied
    GWTW.jpg
    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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  • Jim Cassedy
    replied
    "Gone Wth The Wind" ?

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  • Rusty Gordon
    replied
    The entire city was wiped off the map. There'd literally be nobody living there to come watch a movie at the Princess Theater anymore. https://www.princessofmayfield.com

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  • Ed Gordon
    replied
    A damaged theater in Mayfield Kentucky. I found this photo on CNN this morning. The description provided does not include details. There are only four theaters listed at Cinema Treasures and three of those were closed before the tragic storm struck.

    A damaged theater is seen in Mayfield midwest-weather-knetucky-1211.jpg

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  • Scott Jentsch
    replied
    The Cinemark Roseville Galleria Mall and XD in Roseville, California (18 miles NE of Sacramento) opened November 11, 2021. Photo Gallery.

    Subsequently, the Century Roseville 14 and XD about two miles away closed. It originally opened June 19, 1998 as the Century Roseville 14. Cinemark purchased Century Theatres in 2006. The XD screen was added in 2010.

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  • Ed Gordon
    replied
    Seattle needs a hero to save beloved Cinerama

    By The Seattle Times editorial board

    King County vaccination rates topping 80%? Check.

    Movie theaters open across the region? Affirmative.

    Big budget sci-fi epic now on screen? It’s here.

    All that’s missing is Cinerama, Seattle’s premier place to watch a movie. For generations, families and film buffs caught the latest blockbuster, cult classic, or festival at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Lenora Street. Its state-of-the-art projection and immersive audio — not to mention iconic chocolate popcorn — promised an experience second to none. This was where “Star Wars” fans camped for weeks before a premiere.

    Closed since the pandemic, Cinerama is in limbo. The prospect of this beloved movie house slowly decaying — or worse, going under the wrecking ball — is too horrible to contemplate. Seattle needs a hero to make this right.

    The theater is owned by Vulcan, which was founded in 1986 by Paul G. Allen and his sister Jody Allen to “make and leave the world a better place.”

    Allen, who died in 2018, was known for his eclectic interests and love of music, history and movies. He purchased Cinerama in 1998. First opened in 1963, it is one of the few remaining cinemas worldwide originally built to showcase three-projector Cinerama technology. It underwent major renovations in 1999, 2010 and 2014.

    Where it ranks in Vulcan’s diverse portfolio today is unclear.

    In May 2020, Vulcan announced that it was closing its Arts + Entertainment division, as well as its filmmaking entity, Vulcan Productions. Cinerama, which was closed for renovations, was suddenly shuttered “for the foreseeable future.”

    Asked about the status of the theater last week, a spokesperson for Vulcan said there was “no news to share at this time.”

    Maybe because things are slowly getting back to normal, or maybe it’s the debut of the epic adventure movie “Dune,” but now seems an opportune time to advocate for Cinerama’s resurrection.

    A “Save Seattle Cinerama” change.org petition started two weeks ago notes the theater “has been a Seattle institution for over half a century and has offered the city’s most uniquely great movie theater experience since its inception.”

    With about 2,000 signatures so far, it calls for Vulcan to invest in the historic theater and get it back up and running. It also wants the Seattle Neighborhoods Department Historic Preservation Program to designate Cinerama a Seattle Landmark, protecting it from demolition.

    If this isn’t something Vulcan wants to do, how about someone else giving it a try? A reluctant champion who steps in to save the day, and is owed a debt of gratitude. Sounds like a story made for the big screen.

    With a grand reopening, we could mark our 2023 calendars for “Dune: Part Two” where it’s meant to be seen — Cinerama.
    TT-160909-220252.jpg

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