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

[Benjamin Ruder]

Some updates from the past few weeks:

Theater Closings

• Columbus, OH: AMC Lennox Town Center 24 Closed, May Reopen Soon Under New Management
• Kalamazoo, MI: AMC Portage Street 10 Closed, For Sale
• Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Atlantic Highlands Cinema 5 Closed
• Hamilton, NJ: AMC Hamilton 24 Closed
• Omaha, NE: AMC Oakview Plaza 24 Closed
• Creve Coeur, MO: AMC Dine-in Theatres West Olive 16 Closed
• Woodridge, IL: AMC Woodridge 18 Closed
• Houston, TX: AMC Studio 30 Closed
• [ More Closings ]

Theater Openings

• Savoy, IL: Goodrich Savoy 16 IMAX Coming Soon as the Phoenix Theatres - Savoy 16 + IMAX
• Cypress, TX: CUT! by Cinemark - Cypress Opens November 12, 2020
• [ More Openings ]

There are more closings to process, but I've been able to confirm these so far. Obviously, not too many openings right now. I try to write articles about each so that there is some record of when it closed, and perhaps why and any references to news articles about them. It's quite interesting at times to find out about the history of the theaters, how they might have impacted the towns there were in, etc. It can become quite a rabbit hole that results in hours spent on a single closing...

I would welcome everyone's comments on these theaters if you have any stories about them or information that you think people would be interested in. It sounds almost maudlin to say, but we may be approaching another inflection point, where the small hometown theaters with history and personality is going the way of the mom and pop shops as WalMart and other big boxes made them fade into history. I'd like to preserve some of that history, as well as celebrate those theaters that are still serving their communities!

I was employed in the St. Louis AMC market at the time of the opening of the West Olive 16. Watched it go from construction, to projection tests (went in to watch several prints), and attended the opening day with my parents who do not like going to the movies, but went along anyways. We saw "Liar, Liar" The addition of this venue helped me in promotion to management as there was suddenly a need for more management staff. I think I only attended a few shows there as I moved away about a year later. It was quite nice, being the only new AMC in town and with the new fangled love seats, and stadium seating (and of course admission was free). I might have some AMC paperwork about the opening. I am pretty sure the refrigerator magnet is still on my Mom's fridge.

[Steve Guttag]

I'm pleased to announce that "The Broad Theater" in Souderton, PA is now open. It is a 3-screen complex featuring Surround 7.1 audio (QSC's QSYS), 2K projection with stadium seating. https://broadtheater.com/

[Scott Jentsch]

Some updates from the past few weeks:

Theater Closings

• Columbus, OH: AMC Lennox Town Center 24 Closed, May Reopen Soon Under New Management
• Kalamazoo, MI: AMC Portage Street 10 Closed, For Sale
• Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Atlantic Highlands Cinema 5 Closed
• Hamilton, NJ: AMC Hamilton 24 Closed
• Omaha, NE: AMC Oakview Plaza 24 Closed
• Creve Coeur, MO: AMC Dine-in Theatres West Olive 16 Closed
• Woodridge, IL: AMC Woodridge 18 Closed
• Houston, TX: AMC Studio 30 Closed
• [ More Closings ]

Theater Openings

• Savoy, IL: Goodrich Savoy 16 IMAX Coming Soon as the Phoenix Theatres - Savoy 16 + IMAX
• Cypress, TX: CUT! by Cinemark - Cypress Opens November 12, 2020
• [ More Openings ]

There are more closings to process, but I've been able to confirm these so far. Obviously, not too many openings right now. I try to write articles about each so that there is some record of when it closed, and perhaps why and any references to news articles about them. It's quite interesting at times to find out about the history of the theaters, how they might have impacted the towns there were in, etc. It can become quite a rabbit hole that results in hours spent on a single closing...

I would welcome everyone's comments on these theaters if you have any stories about them or information that you think people would be interested in. It sounds almost maudlin to say, but we may be approaching another inflection point, where the small hometown theaters with history and personality is going the way of the mom and pop shops as WalMart and other big boxes made them fade into history. I'd like to preserve some of that history, as well as celebrate those theaters that are still serving their communities!

[Mike Rivest]

AMC Oak View 24 in Omaha and
AMC Studio 30 in Houston has closed.

[Mike Rivest]

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

[Martin McCaffery]

Continental Cinemas in Troy, AL closes an files for bankruptcy. Used to have someone from CC on this forum.
http://https://www.wsfa.com/2020/10/22/troys-continental-cinema-closes-doors-files-bankruptcy/

[Leo Enticknap]

Proposals to build a theater in Yucaipa, CA, have been scrapped. This from the San Bernardino Sun:

Plans to bring a movie theater to Yucaipa have been canceled in light of the coronavirus pandemic a developer told the planning commission at a meeting last week.

The commission on Wednesday, Oct. 7 approved swapping the 975-seat theater for a three-story Kaiser Permanente medical office building in the Yucaipa Pointe project south of Yucaipa Boulevard near the 10 Freeway.

City Planner Benjamin Matlock said a resident who lives near the project wrote to the city as part of the environmental process and requested the theater stay in the plans so the city will have more amenities.

But, Matlock added, the pandemic has hit movie theaters hard “and some of the existing sites may be disappearing just because of the impacts to that industry.”

Developer Tom Robinson, with VantageOne Real Estate Investments, said it was difficult enough to get a movie theater into the spot before the pandemic, as a theater project was also slated for the nearby Banning-Beaumont area.

“What I have heard from the industry, in reading, is potentially there won’t be a new movie theater built over the next 10 years,” Robinson told the commission. “There will be more movie theaters closed … people will just be a little scared to go back.”

He noted Regal’s closures of its locations.

The medical offices, Robinson said, would bring a “tremendous amount of people in and out of the (shopping) center, like a movie theater would do.”

The medical building will bring jobs, he added, and a “great service to the community.”

Robinson also noted that L.A. Fitness could back out of the center, depending on the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on that industry.

Grading has already begun on the site.

The fact that there are two theaters in Redlands (an ex-Krikorian, now a Studio Movie Grill, and a Harkins), only a 10-minute drive from Yucaipa, likely played in to this decision, too.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Yea, most of my customers have been closed or not open very much. SO I suspect they may not be as bad as the locations near you. Even though I am pretty much retired I still hear fomr quite a few of them.

[Jim Cassedy]

.... now It will just sit and gather dust.

With all the crap in the air from the wildfires surrounding San Francisco, everything is gathering dust here at the moment...
I've already warned several theater owners whose ventilation systems & projection rooms I know are not very well sealed from
the outside air that they are going to need somebody (preferably me!) to come in and do a good projector clean-out if & when
they decide to re-open.

[Terry Monohan]

William****I don't think our brand new Regal Stonestown 12 in SF will open this year with the release this week about Regal not opening. They rushed to get this new cinema open now It will just sit and gather dust.

[William Kucharski]

Coming soon after a long delay Regal Theatres will be back in San Francisco CA to re place It's tired old UA Stonestown Twin next door The new Regal Stonestown 12 will be the first new cinema built in San Francisco in many years. This will be SF's first Screen X auditorium along with the large curved RPX screen.

With plenty of outdoor free parking this brand new cinema is away from downtown SF and built on the former Macy's at Stonestown Mall near the Sunset/Parkside ocean part of SF.

We welcome the new Regal movie experience with some competition for Cinemark/Century and AMC Theatres.

That's ironic in the face of Regal's recent announcement. :-(

[Ed Gordon]

Seattle’s Ark Lodge Cinemas launches GoFundMe campaign, hoping to tap into support shown for other local indie theaters

When you see a wonderful movie in a place that has meaning for you — a neighborhood moviehouse, perhaps, that’s been there a long time — the movie and the theater seem to meld together; you remember not just what you saw, but where you saw it. I recently wrote a piece about the movie “A Room with a View,” and woven into my memories of the film was the theater in which I first saw it: the Seven Gables in the University District, now likely closed forever; a building haunted by happy ghosts of movies past.

We’ve been lucky, until the coronavirus pandemic forced movie theaters to close last spring, to have a few such places throughout the area. And for those of us who love seeing movies on enormous screens, it’s easy to think of these theaters not as businesses but as places that will always be there, fueled by dreams. But to run a neighborhood moviehouse, you need not just dreams, but money.

This is the story of three neighborhood cinemas in our own backyards; two of which have seen a remarkable financial demonstration of patron loyalty and moviehouse love, and the third of which hopes to do so.

The Seattle Times article is available at::

https://www.seattletimes.com/enterta...ters/#comments

100825-1020x703.jpg

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Closed Is Cinema Cafe in Stoughton, WI. I equipped this theater about 30 years ago. They cited lack of product for the foreseeable future more than the covid. Dennis made the best darn pizza I ever had. They started out in the old Single Screen in Stoughton and then we built out this old store building into a 4 screen Cinema Cafe. They pretty much had their own area as far as first run goes, being 20 miles south of Madison.

Stoughton Cinema Cafe to close permanently after 30 years

Posted: May 3, 2020 7:45 AM
Updated: May 5, 2020 6:51 PM

by Logan Rude


STOUGHTON, Wis. — Owners of the Stoughton Cinema Cafe announced Saturday night that the 30-year-old theater is closing permanently because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a Facebook post shared Saturday, owners Pattie and Denny Lange said “the unexpected shutdown and delay in film releases is not something we will be able to recover from.”

“We’ve thought long and hard, and while we’d have loved to continue serving the community, the unexpected shutdown and delay in film releases is not something we will be able to recover from,” the post said.

Stoughton Cinema Cafe has been in operation for more than 30 years. When it first opened, it was a single-screen, dine-in theater in the building that now houses the Stoughton Village Players Theater.

Video Here>>> https://www.channel3000.com/stoughto...5IfBYYGgNIyeu0

[Steve Guttag]

An unintended consequence to the very dark interior (and it really doesn't feel to cave like...the wainscot is a bit brighter and the floors are more grey) is that the IR light from the ADA emitter has to be carefully aimed to get good coverage. 8 out of 10 screens have a booth that overhangs the last row so the light that reaches them has to travel the length of the theatre, reflect off the screen and then go the length back and sneak under the lip of the booth but over the recliners in front of that row.

But yes, the idea was to make it feel more like you are outside looking up at the screen, which they call "Skyvue" as the screens lean down at the audience (which presented some additional challenges).

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Steve...

I like the black interior in that room... Nothing to distract you from the screen. I had a customer do the same exact ting back in 2010.