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

[Terry Monohan]

I think a smart movie theater circuit with huge multiplex space needs to think into the future when they do if ever re open soon.

It may be time in this day and age to convert some of the auditoriums to other entertainment ideas like a comedy club, black light bowling with arcade space in the lobby, music events, tiki bar with plenty of waterfalls/ trees tropical drinks and food you can't get at the candy counter to enjoy before a movie starts ,or just plain rental for touring acts in town.

These special non movie areas need to be spaced away from films being shown for sound leakage problems.

Be creative and computer streaming people will come out of their homes to be entertained!

Most lame American movie circuits won't look into the future and wonder why they keep on loosing money year after year. just showing movies that are only popular for a few weeks and cinemas empty during the mid week!

[Martin McCaffery]

The Eastdale Mall 8 in Montgomery, AL is scheduled to re-open in March (though this is their third reopening announcement since COVID). It will be operated by the company that bought Goodrich in bankruptcy, Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group (who specialize in buying distressed malls). They have apparently redone everything, including seats, which would be a necessity after years of Carmike neglect and then the fly-by night operators who had the theatres for two months a few years ago.

If they manage to run AMC out of town, that would be interesting. A question I've been tossing about lately is, are the mega-plexes dinosaurs after COVID? Will there be business to justify 16-20+ screens, or are we looking at a return of 4-8 screens as the new normal?

[Leo Enticknap]

Studio Movie Grill declared bankruptcy closing locations in...

I wonder what this means for their Redlands, CA (former Krikorian) site. It was a 1980s time warp until around 2-3 years ago when SMG took it over from Krikorian, and then they immediately poured a lot of money into refurbishing it. Everyone was pleasantly surprised at this investment locally, because the railroad station next door is in the process of being reopened, and there was talk of demolishing the movie theater and turning it into a parking lot for rail commuters, or a train maintenance depot. As of now, it's still standing, but closed, and the railroad is allegedly reopening early next year.

[Mike Croaro]

Too bad about the Cinearts @ Empire. Landmark should go into the Empire.

[Terry Monohan]

Thanks Jim for the info. It will be hard to find another movie company to go in this SF 3 plex with the brand new ready to open Regal 12 Stonestown Theatre going in about a mile away from the now closed up Empire Theatre. While the large downstairs part is a nice size the two former loge area spaces are bad news. Small screens and the seats face the wrong angle with sound leakage.

Some of the local business people tell me a fancy gym may be eyeing the place like they have taken over the former Alhambra Theatre on Polk St and the Metro Theatre Union ST in SF. Both still kept their large neon marquee lit up.

I hope It can remain a movie theatre or some form of entertainment like a supper show bar club, comedy, or music live event space.

If It opens again as a movie theatre like if the Vogue/Balboa Theatre people in SF can get a new lease It will have to run as a retro type place. Nice If they can tear down the back balcony wall and make the former Empire Cinema one large cinema. .

The area around this closed cinema is very high priced and local people love to spend money local. So lets hope It does not meet the wreckers ball and turned into more SF condos!

[Jim Cassedy]

Another One Bites The Dust:
The Historic West Portal Theater In San Francisco Is Closing Permanently, Due To The Cronapacoplyse

WestPortalCineArts.jpg

The Bay Area’s arts and culture scene has suffered another casualty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic: the permanent closure of the West Portal CinéArts movie theater.

San Francisco’s CinéArts at the Empire was a beloved neighborhood venue. It opened as the Portal Theatre in 1925 and has been in operation ever since, renamed as the Empire in 1936. In 2003, under parent company Cinemark, it was rechristened CinéArts at the Empire. A representative for Cinemark said the decision to close the theater was made because the lease term was coming to an end.

“It adds to the symbiotic quality of the neighborhood,” said Maryo Mogannam, president of the San Francisco Council District Merchants Association and longtime business owner in West Portal. “Losing it I think is impactful and I would urge whoever it is who has authority to find a replacement theater operator whether it be independent or a large chain.”

The city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development is looking for a new tenant to occupy the Empire Theater, according to aides for Supervisor Myrna Melgar.

Bay Area movie theaters have struggled during the pandemic. Most have remained shut for indoor screenings over the past year, while some have accommodated outdoor screenings and events. CinéArts has been closed since the original shelter-in-place orders came down in March of last year.
In October, CinéArts at the Empire joined a group of prominent movie theaters in the city refusing to reopen due to restriction by the Department of Public Health. At the time, indoor screenings could resume at 25% capacity without concessions, but some larger theater venues said this was an “insurmountable” limitation on their businesses. After shelter-in-place restrictions were reinstated by Mayor London Breed in December, movie theaters that had reopened were forced to shutter once more.

While some independent theaters like the Roxie and Balboa Theater have survived on outdoor and virtual screenings, it remains to be seen if movie theaters can withstand the fallout of the pandemic. So far, other permanent closures have yet to be announced.


“I’ve been going there since I was a little kid,” Mogannam said of the Empire. “People in the neighborhood like to spend time there. I’m really just so sad about it.”

[Martin McCaffery]

Regal Hollywood 18, Huntsville, AL torn down
https://www.al.com/life/2021/01/hunt...es-remain.html

[Mike Rivest]

Studio Movie Grill declared bankruptcy closing locations in

• Scottsdale AZ,
• Glendale, CA,
• Alpharetta (Atlanta) GA,
• Dallas (NW Highway),
• Colleyville, TX,
• Lewisville, TX,
• Houston (Copperfield), and
• Hampton, VA.

Also Regal closed the Hollywood 18 in Huntsville, Alabama.

[Sean Falk]

Remember those big openings, like AMC opening 74 theatres the same day in Kansas City on December 19th, 1997? Also, Dickinson opened their Great Mall 18 and ACT III's Kansas City 18 the same year.
AMC triple opening 1997 12 19.jpg

I might have seen Mousehunt at barryroad 24 when it came out, I still love that theatre

[Tom Doyle]

The IMAX in Norwalk, Connecticut is being demolished and replaced with a smaller theatre. This is not a multiplex IMAX, it's one of the real ones: attached to an aquarium and made to run documentaries on IMAX film on a huge screen. However, they would sometimes run Hollywood fare on 15/70. It was so awesome to have this within a short driving distance, and I caught some great shows here. I was really hoping to see Tenet on this screen, but then the pandemic hit . . . not many film IMAXes left now.

They're still running documentaries for a few more weekends at only $5 a ticket:
IMAX Farewell Celebration (maritimeaquarium.org)


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Connecticut’s largest IMAX theater to be demolished to make room for railroad bridge replacement project - Hartford Courant

By SUSAN DUNNE
HARTFORD COURANT |
DEC 08, 2020 AT 3:01 PM



The cinema at Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, whose six-story IMAX screen is the largest in the state, will close on Jan. 18 and be demolished to make way for a project to replace a 124-year-old railroad bridge, the aquarium has announced.

Another cinema, with a two-story 4D screen and 169 seats, is being built on the other side of the aquarium and will open soon after the IMAX theater closes, aquarium spokesman Dave Sigworth said.

The aquarium and theater buildings are owned by the City of Norwalk. Sigworth said the IMAX theater hugs the bridge so closely that it would be impossible to build a new bridge with the theater still there. The 564-foot Walk Bridge, which spans the Norwalk River, was constructed in 1896.

“It’s a swivel bridge. When a barge or sailboat goes through it, rather than going up, it turns on its axis in the middle of the river to allow boat traffic to go through, Sigworth said. “It’s gotten stuck open a few times in the last three or four years. When that happens, it shuts down Metro North’s New Haven line and Amtrak’s northeast corridor to Boston. It’s time for the bridge to be rebuilt.”

The bridge construction project will take more than five years, Sigworth said.

A fully enclosed seal habitat also will be built as part of the $40 million aquarium project, paid for with state and federal funds, Sigworth said. The current seal habitat is half indoors, half outdoors, and near the bridge. Enclosing the habitat will protect seals and people from the bridge construction project.

“Vibrations and noise from pile drivers, and any sort of industrial things happening like things dropping off cranes, we couldn’t have guests out in that atmosphere,” Sigworth said.

The seal habitat – which will be 150,000 gallons, seven times bigger than the original habitat – is expected to open in April. The bridge project will begin after that.

Sigworth said the aquarium was told in October 2016 that the theater would get in the way of a bridge project. “A long period of negotiations followed to keep us whole,” he said. Groundbreaking was in November 2019.

The aquarium was built in 1988, inside a former 1860s iron works, as part of a SoNo revitalization project. The theater, which was new construction, was connected to the aquarium by an interior walkway under the bridge. The aquarium, a nonprofit, pays a nominal rent every year for the use of both buildings.

The IMAX theater shows 40- to 45-minute nature documentaries every day the museum is open and the occasional mainstream film, such as “The Polar Express,” which is showing every weekend until Christmas.

Sigworth said the 4D film format will work better for visitors. The 10- to 12-minute nature docs and family films require 3D glasses and have smells and other sensory experiences.

“Over the years a lot of people will say that even a 45-minute movie was something they didn’t plan into their visit, so they did not want to take that extra time to watch a movie on that day,” he said. “A 10-minute movie, we feel that guests will not have hesitation over that.”

There will be four IMAX theaters left in the state, at Cinemark Buckland Hills in Manchester, Connecticut Post 14 in Milford, and AMC theaters in Plainville and Danbury, all of which are open. The only other 4D screen in the state is at Regal Waterford, which is closed temporarily due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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[Leo Enticknap]

The Osio Cinema in Monterey, CA, closed permanently last month; a victim of the coronavirus crisis. Very sad: it was a lovely independent nonprofit, played stuff that you'd never be able to see at a chain 'plex, and had a cafe/bar/restaurant in the lobby that was always full of customers, from the moment it opened at 7am until late in the evening. I serviced the theaters for their final two years. On my final visit, around this time last year, I replaced an ancient Series 1 Barco on life support with a new NC1000, and they were making plans to fundraise for further upgrades.

Hoping that a new nonprofit arthouse will be able to be established in the area when this is all over.

[James Wyrembelski]

Tawas Family Theatre located in East Tawas, MI has closed.

[Steve Guttag]

I don't normally post pictures in this thread as it would derail things too much (and I do like a good derailment into a thread hijack)...plus no, I don't have any pictures that I have cleared to have posted (I don't post pictures that can be directly tied to a theatre unless they have been blessed by the owner/operator of the establishment). What I typically will post, picture wise, will be very equipment specific and not tied to just one theatre.

[Sean McKinnon]

Any pictures you can share Steve?

[Mark Lensenmayer]

AMC Lennox in Columbus will reopen (possibly) around Chrismas 2020 under the management of Phoenix Theatres.