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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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/

[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

[Mike Rivest]

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

[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!

[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/

[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.

[Mark Lensenmayer]

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

[Sean McKinnon]

Any pictures you can share Steve?

[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.

[James Wyrembelski]

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

[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.

[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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