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

[William Kucharski]

Hopefully they won't do anything to screw up Colorado's best motion picture screen, they way Regal did with the Continental...

The RPX at the Continental is still my favorite screen in the state except maybe the IMAX at Colorado Center; how did Regal screw it up?

[Leo Enticknap]

There can't be many cinemas that opened in 1937 and which still exist, and are operating as cinemas, in more or less their original form (inside, at any rate - the frontage of the building facing the square itself was totally redone about 20 years ago and no longer looks anything like what it did originally). The last film I actually saw there was Terminator 2 in the early '90s: while the auditorium itself is still an impressive space, I remember the screen as being disappointingly small, likely because of the way the stage area had to be remodeled when widescreen came along.

[Mike Rivest]

It's quiet here, so I uploaded a classic grand opening ad. It for the Odeon.

Odeon Leicester Square 1937 11 01.jpg

[Geoff Jones]

The Cine-Capri auditorium at Harkins Northfield is currently closed for "renovations" and "remodeling," with a November 2021 reopening target.

Will I have to find somewhere else to see No Time To Die and Dune, or will their release dates get pushed (again)?

I'm glad to know Harkins is putting money into the location. I assume they are replacing the seats with recliners. I've given up on them adding 70MM.



Hopefully they won't do anything to screw up Colorado's best motion picture screen, they way Regal did with the Continental...

[Martin McCaffery]

The AMC Chantilly (formerly Carmike Chantilly, NewVisions Chantilly) reopened sometime this weekend (August 6-8). They announced they were opening on Friday, but tickets were not for sale on Fandango, and nothing was listed on the AMC website. No grosses were posted over the weekend. But they are selling tickets now, so I suspect that means they are open.

[Tom Tomlinson]

My theatre down the street--north shore of Long Island,NY --Soundview Cinemas in Port Washington---local news reporting they are closing in Sept.

[Mike Rivest]

Cineplex closes 30 screens in 3 locations in the Montreal area:
article:

translation in the Queen's English.
While theaters reopen their doors for spring break , we note that some Cineplex theaters in the Montreal area have remained closed: LaSalle, Cavendish and Boucherville.
We therefore inquired at Cineplex and here is what the press relations officer Mélissa Pressacco replied: “ I can confirm that the Cineplex Quartier Cavendish cinema, the Cineplex Odeon Place La Salle cinema and the Boucherville cinema will not reopen after the temporary closures decreed by the province, because we have made the difficult decision not to renew our leases. We thank the community for their support of these theaters over the years, and we will be happy to welcome them to a nearby theater. Positions have been offered to the current employees of these three theaters in neighboring theaters, including the Cineplex Forum cinema, the Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin cinema, the Cineplex Laval cinema, the Cineplex Odeon Brossard and VIP cinema and the Odeon St-Bruno cinema. These theaters offer newer facilities and enhanced movie experiences that our guests love, such as VIP theaters, "


She also adds: “ I want to make it clear that these closures have been part of our plans for some time now and have nothing to do with COVID-19 or the impact of COVID-19 on our business. "

[Martin McCaffery]

The Prattville (AL) AMC Classic Cinema 12 (formerly the O'Neil's Prattville Promanade, Carmike Prattville Promanade and New Visions Prattville Promanade) opened July 20, 2021 a week late due to Fire Marshall issues.
Prattville is, when convenient, part of the Montgomery AL market, and is closer to some parts of Montgomery than the AMC theatres.

[Martin McCaffery]

Variety

AMC Takes Over Pacific’s Grove and Americana Theaters in L.A., Eyes August Reopening
Brent Lang
Jul 19, 2021 1:30pm PT

Two popular Los Angeles movie theaters are under new management after AMC Entertainment announced Monday that it will assume the lease of The Grove in West Hollywood and The Americana at Brand in Glendale.

News that AMC, the world’s largest exhibition chain, was in negotiations to take over the venues broke in June and came after its operator, the Pacific Theatres chain, was shut down permanently in April. The Decurion Corp., the owner of the chain, also shuttered the ArcLight Cinemas and is facing lawsuits alleging that the company breached its lease obligations to pay rent.

This week, AMC said it has reached an agreement with Caruso, a privately owned real estate company to take over the leases at the two Los Angeles area locations. The Grove Theatre is a 14-screen venue, while The Americana is an 18-screen theatre. AMC is expected to reopen the theaters in August.

The theaters have been closed for more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a release announcing the deal, AMC notes that in 2018, The Grove Theatre was the second highest-grossing movie theatre and The Americana at Brand Theatre was the fifth highest-grossing movie theatre in the Los Angeles area.

AMC said it is in active discussions with other property owners regarding additional, currently closed locations. The theater chain struggled during the pandemic, but it has reemerged with its debt renegotiated and with its stock sizzling, the latter due to a social-media fueled run that has little to do with its business fundamentals.

“AMC is proud to be expanding in the movie-making capital of the world. And we are eager to get started as soon as possible, showcasing for our guests at these two theatres the exciting lineup of movies scheduled throughout the rest of 2021,” said AMC CEO Adam Aron in a statement.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Just before I moved from Utah to Tennessee, Regal built a brand new 14 screen plex right near my home in Taylorsville. I went on opening weekend when it was just three bucks. I have to say the image quality was excellent if not outright superb, but the sound was extremely lacking in the low end. Like they had no subwoofers at all. I also really disliked the recliners they choose that had the swing away tray built in. I didn't take 5 min fomr someone's kids to start swinging back and forth on them... I never went back again...

[Andy Curtis]

Brand New Regal Stonestown 12 Galleria opened last week in San Francisco CA. Will replace the small UA Stonestown Twin next door to be torn down soon.

Regal has a first for SF a 4DX® auditorium in Theatre #1 with 140 seats and a first also for SF ScreenX® in Theatre #9 at 204 seats and the so called Regal RPX® large screen in Theatre #12 at 296 seats the largest in the new cinema. They have great looking orange/red glow hallo dim lights around the surround speakers and ceiling speakers but when the movie starts everything is turned off too bad.

Nice color lights in the lobby and hall but they skimped on the full recliner seats. Just a few of the spaces have them. You would think in the extra 3 money fee spaces they would have the deluxe Regal orange/pink big electric full leg recliners. Only just the back head part goes back manually in the fancy deluxe 3 spots. What was so strange the large RPX® auditorium I did not think the sound was that good. Century Theatres in SF at their XD large curved screen house has better base sound and surround sound. Same with the AMC Metreon Dolby Cinema® way better sound and a larger true scope curved screen. In fact some of the smaller 130 and 106 seated new Regal 12 rooms had better base sound then the fancy RPX® house did.

.The new Regal 12 screens are not that curved almost flat. I have no idea if Dolby Atmos® was put into the RPX® Theatre #12 as I did see speakers on the ceiling but no Dolby Atmos® logo was shown before the movie Quite Place 2 was shown. No Dolby Atmos® signs outside Theatre #12 entrance. Klisph® speakers are on the side and back walls. So so sound I thought. The manager David told me that the Dolby® tech guys were coming in Tuesday June 1 to set up and tune Theatre #12 what ever that means.

Like so many new theatres no boxoffice. Many of the local older people coming opening week don't even have a computer as they usually buy tickets at the boxoffice from a live person. Many missed the first part of a movie while trying to buy a ticket and look for a seat from few lobby machines. They did have a helper to show how to purchase seats. Next time I hope they come early or buy online Fango someway..

All 12 of the screens looked very sharp and in focus as they have laser projectors I was told. No masking or curtains mostly square type 1.85 screens. All the cinemas just have boring black walls no nice color scone lights. They do have a red LED light aisle railing strip light but It goes off when the movie starts. The rugs are so flat and the same Regal dull pattern that all their theatres have. No glow look with the nice blue lights in the halls. Time for the Cineworld Regal to bring in better rug people

This looks amazing, to be honest. I'm excited to visit it soon!

[Martin McCaffery]

Would the studios do a better job? Maybe at the premiere theatre in the cities where the people who matter live. In the rest of the country? It's up to the bean counters and there is no reason to think the studios care more about what happens on the screen than AMC. They aren't in the business of making art, they are in the business of making money. Audiences (in general) will put up with total crap, especially when they don't have great theatres and presentations to compare it to.

[Geoff Jones]

Would you rather see the Dome and Arclight Hollywood completely gone or owned by a studio?

Owned by a studio. (The Seattle Cinerama should be included on this list.)

The difference today is that the Dome and a few other surviving single screens excepted, most theaters today are large multiplexes and they couldn't just play the products of one studio because there wouldn't be enough product.

There's more than enough product, if the studios include their back catalogs. In many markets, running catalog films alongside new releases would be easy money.

I wonder if the studios would do a better job with presentation than some of the big chains currently do...

[Martin Brooks]

So you want the film companies to own their own theaters.

That type of vertical integration was what led to the law against this very thing as it was considered unfair to competition. A Monopoly.

That is what you would have if the movie companies once again owned the places where their (and probably only their) movies are exhibited. To the exclusion of their movies showing in non company owned theaters:
My Movie
My theater
My money
You go away

How interesting that history might be repeated.

It was always a mistake. When the Government first considered it, it might have been a good idea, but by the time they executed it, TV was coming and theaters needed all the help they could get. When the studios had to have a place to show a movie, they supported unprofitable theaters. But what happened when they had to spin those theaters off? The big old theaters were largely left to deteriorate and those in old neighborhoods and especially minority neighborhoods were closed or given away. In the case of the Loews Kings in Brooklyn, Loews walked away from the theater because they didn't want to pay the real estate taxes and the City of New York wound up owning the theater, but they did a poor job of securing it. But six years ago, it did get a $90m renovation and restoration and it's gorgeous now, but it doesn't seem particularly successful as a concert venue.

And the independent theaters, which pushed for the consent decree, largely eventually went out of business anyway.

The difference today is that the Dome and a few other surviving single screens excepted, most theaters today are large multiplexes and they couldn't just play the products of one studio because there wouldn't be enough product. Besides, it wouldn't be all theaters, it would be just key theaters that weren't going to otherwise survive. Would you rather see the Dome and Arclight Hollywood completely gone or owned by a studio?

But it's a moot point, because the studios seem completely uninterested, aside from Disney owning the El Capitan and Netflix owning the Paris in NYC.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

So you want the film companies to own their own theaters.

That type of vertical integration was what led to the law against this very thing as it was considered unfair to competition. A Monopoly.

That is what you would have if the movie companies once again owned the places where their (and probably only their) movies are exhibited. To the exclusion of their movies showing in non company owned theaters:
My Movie
My theater
My money
You go away

How interesting that history might be repeated.