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

[Paul H. Rayton]

Mission Tiki closes 4 screens ... and if you look in the "For Sale" category here on F-T, by some coincidence, you'll see there are a set of 4 projectors listed as available, being sold by somebody at the owning entity, DeAnza Co. (DeAnza.com). They sure didn't waste any time trying to clear them out!

[Leo Enticknap]

The Mission Tiki drive-in, in Montclair, CA, has closed down.

The last cars have driven out of the Mission Tiki Drive-In.

Opened in 1956, the open-air theater in Montclair showed its last films — “M3GAN,” “Plane” and “A Man Called Otto” — on Sunday night to a modest number of people willing to sit in their cars in 40-degree temperatures to see a movie.

Although the theater’s days were numbered after the owner sold the land in 2019 to an industrial developer, its last night was not announced in advance.

Still, word spread among the diehards. Variety’s Chris Willman tweeted the rumor Sunday morning.

RELATED: Warehouses, industry to replace Montclair’s Mission Tiki Drive-In

“Hearing tonight is the last night of operation for the Mission Tiki Drive-In, which was sold years ago but somehow lived on borrowed time till now, being discovered by new generations during the pandemic,” Willman wrote. “Been going there regularly for 30 years; it’s like a death in the family.”

I might have gone myself Sunday night, but a flat tire earlier in the day put the kibosh on going anywhere. Ah, well. I’d been there before and enjoyed it. Drive-ins are a piece of Americana that’s fading away as land values rise.

The Mission, its original name, kept plugging away decades after other nearby drive-ins — the Bel-Air in Fontana, the Mount Vernon in San Bernardino and the Mt. Baldy in La Verne, among others — packed it in. One reason is that the theater successfully reinvented itself more than once.

In 1975 the Mission expanded to four screens, one at each corner of the property. Montclair’s indoor multiplexes had all died off by the turn of the 20th century, but the Mission’s owners doubled down on their drive-in, giving it a makeover in 2006 in time for its 50th anniversary.

Rebranded as the Mission Tiki, the drive-in got brighter screens, fresh asphalt and an FM radio sound system to replace individual speakers. The makeover included a ticket booth and concession stand resembling grass huts, tiki idols set amid lush foliage and Hawaiian shirts for the staff. Huell Howser visited for a TV segment.

In 2013, the drive-in was doing well enough to upgrade to digital projection, an expensive proposition when you have four screens.

In car-centric Montclair, the drive-in was pretty much the city’s only cultural offering, unless the Bowlium counts.

Still, the plan all along was to eventually sell.

Frank Huttinger, CEO of De Anza Land and Leisure, the drive-in’s owner, put it this way to me by phone Monday: “We’re sad, but the company was founded by the original partnership, who were former movie distributors, with the idea they would buy substantial acreage in outlying areas of major metro areas and watch the land appreciate.”

De Anza has by now sold the majority of its drive-ins around the country. Montclair’s 27 acres eventually appreciated enough in value to fetch $34.4 million.

The buyer, however, allowed the drive-in to continue operating until plans and permits were approved by Montclair City Hall. That was originally going to be fall 2020, giving the drive-in one last summer. Then progress was paused by the pandemic.

Coronavirus gave the Mission Tiki a final blaze of glory.

In April 2020, after a short closure, the drive-in was allowed to reopen by city officials. Couples and families flocked there to enjoy a movie from their car. I saw “Knives Out,” which I’d missed during its theatrical run pre-COVID.

As Huttinger told me that May: “We’re seeing weeknight business like it’s midsummer with schools out and big movies. Folks want to get out of the house.”

And the long goodbye meant people had a rare window — or windshield? — to appreciate the drive-in experience before it went away. Some brought their children, who got to visit a drive-in for the first time.

The 16 months from spring 2020 to fall 2021, Huttinger told me Monday, “were probably among the best grosses our theater chain had ever seen. It was fun.”

By fall 2021, indoor theaters had reopened, streaming remained popular and few new releases seemed to appeal to the drive-in audience. “It’s been two years of diminishing returns,” Huttinger lamented.

After recently getting all necessary approvals from the city for a technology-focused industrial park, the buyer notified De Anza in early January that the theater would need to be out by the end of the month, Huttinger said.

The end was kept low-key, but loyal customers figured it out.

Offerings at the snack bar grew scant. First one screen went dark, then a second, to allow the projection equipment to be disassembled and crated for possible resale. If you searched the website for showings from Monday on, no results were returned.

“We didn’t really want to have people put up a hue and cry about losing a drive-in theater. We didn’t want to have to hire security to keep people from pilfering,” Huttinger explained.

The swap meet’s last day is Sunday. Vendors have been encouraged to migrate to the other local De Anza-owned drive-in, the Van Buren in Riverside.

The Van Buren seems solid for now. “The theater is a good performer,” Huttinger said. “Even with three screens it generally outperformed the Mission.”

Chris Nichols, a chronicler of midcentury Southern California, tweeted a farewell: “Goodbye to the Mission Tiki Drive-In theater. Thank you for 67 years of movie magic under the stars.”

[Ian Puffenberger]

https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/02/02/ty...o-is-now-open/

CMX opened a Cinebistro at Tysons Galleria in Tysons Corner, VA, on Jan. 27. This is the third theater in a less than one square mile area--with 38 screens between them--with another eight screen theater a couple miles down the road. Yes Tysons is a major regional destination and yes each of these is targeting different audiences, but in this era it's hard not to think this area has become over-screened.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I watched Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom in 70mm at a theater in Berkley in 1984. I can't remember if it was at the United Artists or what ever theater. I do know that the 70mm system had just been installed for the movie though.

[Jim Cassedy]

THE LAST THEATER IN DOWNTOWN BERKELEY IS CLOSING

The closure of the last movie theater in downtown Berkeley has been confirmed, leaving just one cinema left
within city limits after the recent losses of the 10-screen Shattuck Cinemas and the 107-year-old California
Theatre , which is reportedly slated to become a 15 story mixed-use apartment building.

The shuttering of the 90-year-old Regal UA Berkeley on 2274 Shattuck Ave. is part of 39 planned theater
closures nationwide that are expected to roll out starting Feb. 15 after Cineworld, the parent company of
Regal Cinemas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last September. Business Insider was first tor reposrt
Cineworld’s plan to reject the leases of the Regal theaters beginning next month.
Legal filings obtained by Variety cited that the monthly rent per theater had increased by nearly 30%
from 2019 to 2022 and that the closures would save the company $22 million per year as it struggles
to claw back to its pre-pandemic box office earnings.

However, plans to close the theater were already underway. Last August, SFGATE reported that an
application submitted by San Francisco-based developer Panoramic Interests proposed plans for a
“partial removal of the existing commercial structure” that would allow for the construction of a 17-story
mixed-use apartment building in place of the theater. Two-hundred thirty-nine residential units, 24 of
which would be considered affordable housing, as well as a lobby and possible cafe on the ground level
were part of that plan, which would preserve the theater’s ornate facade, though it’s not certain how much
of its art deco interior will remain intact. The firm purchased the property for $7 million.

The Regal UA Berkeley (then called the United Artists Theater) debuted as a single-screen cinema on
Sept. 16, 1932, with a showing of David Butler’s Depression-era comedy “Down to Earth” starring Will
Rogers, Irene Rich and Dorothy Jordan. Admission was 45 cents, a Mickey Mouse cartoon and Metrotone
newsreel were also shown, and among those in attendance were Berkeley Mayor Thomas Caldecott and
Bing Crosby, who reportedly rushed over from a performance at the Fox in Oakland so he could make it.
At the time, the Berkeley Gazette called the opening “the greatest theatrical event in the history of Berkeley.”

SOURCE:
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article...y-17734695.php

[Mark Ogden]

it's seemed to me that the Union Square always did much better than the eWalk, especially recently, and the eWalk isn't on the list to be closed, even though the two best theaters in the eWalk building have been closed for many months.

You're probably right, because in point of fact the E-Walk was on the closure list a few months ago, but it was removed along with a few other northeast locations (including one Hyannis, Massachusetts) after the landlords blinked.

Still, though, it's not healthy sign. With AMC pulling desperation moves like allowing people to use DoucheCoin at the concession stand and investing in literal gold mines in an effort to stay afloat, then, well, I stand by the last sentence of my previous post. In the movie exhibition industry, the fat lady, it would seem, is clearing her throat.

[Martin Brooks]

Astonishing that the Union Square in NYC will close. That has been the classic Manhattan major motion picture first frame exclusive run location since it opened, often co-booked with the AMC Lincoln Square.

Shit is getting real, fellas.

I'm not convinced that it's really going to close. The announcement is a legality as part of the bankruptcy process to get out of paying the leases. It could well be a negotiating tactic to get the landlords to lower the lease price. Notice that the announcement specifically says that Regal is "rejecting the lease".

If you go to the Regal website, the Union Square is still accepting preorders for many films in the future, including screenings of "A Christmas Story" scheduled for December. Those can certainly be cancelled (and hopefully refunded) if they do close, but the fact that they're still accepting such purchases says to me that the theater might not be closing.

Also, while I have no tight numbers, it's seemed to me that the Union Square always did much better than the eWalk, especially recently, and the eWalk isn't on the list to be closed, even though the two best theaters in the eWalk building have been closed for many months.

But I guess time will tell what the reality is.

Another issue is that according to the articles published in the press, Regal says they'll save $22 million by closing the theaters.. But that's really nothing and doesn't even come close to solving any of their financial issues.

If Regal does abandon that theater and no one takes it over, it would cost the owner many $millions to reconstruct the theater into retail and there's no guarantee it would even be rented, so they'd be much better off just giving Regal a break on the lease, but NYC real estate companies never seem to think logically. That space is likely to be empty for ten years.

[Don Furr]

https://collider.com/regal-cinemas-closing-locations/
Doesn't sound good. Those closing include Sherman Oaks Galleria 16 (Los Angeles, CA). This use to be THE place to go back in the day.

[Mark Ogden]

Astonishing that the Union Square in NYC will close. That has been the classic Manhattan major motion picture first frame exclusive run location since it opened, often co-booked with the AMC Lincoln Square.

Shit is getting real, fellas.

[Paul H. Rayton]

In the list from the link Ian Puffenberger sent (see above), one of the named cinemas to close is the "Sherman Oaks Galleria 16 (Los Angeles, CA)".
Wow -- that was a short honeymoon! It had been originally a Pacific Theaters venue, subsequently made in to one of their Arclight locations, and a hot spot for industry screenings of one kind and another, back in the day. Regal created at least one (IIRC) of their "large-format" RPX screens in there when they took over. I don't have the exact date handy that Regal re-opened it, post-pandemic, but it was probably about 2 years ago. So another ex-Arclight is probably permanently gone. And, amazingly (to me) the former Cinerama Dome/Hollywood Arclight plex still remains closed, although rumors continue to circulate that it might re-open sometime. If I live long enough!

[Steve Guttag]

The P&G Essex 5 Cinemas in Tappahannock, VA has closed (at the end of 2022). Their phone line is now dead, FB page stops at the end of 2022 though there was one brief (now deleted) post about redeeming gift certificates on the first week of January 2023.

[Ian Puffenberger]

A list of 39 Regal closures:

https://www.businessinsider.com/movi...neworld-2023-1

It's interesting to see so many bigger multiplexes on this list. It aligns with what I've been thinking would happen in the streaming world though: any theater with more than 10-12 screens that doesn't have recliners is probably in danger. Obviously there will be exceptions, and it will depend on the financial health of operators as well. But some of these are pretty high-profile locations. Regal Gallery Place in DC is on top of a small mall that's on top of a Metro entrance, right next to Capital One Arena (Capitals/Wizards/major concerts) and in a very busy downtown neighborhood, though a lot of restaurants around there closed during the pandemic. It might be a case of the lease just being too expensive. But there's only one other large multiplex in DC proper and it's in Georgetown and not Metro-accessible. Regal Stonefield in Charlottesville is another: that theater is less than ten years old and in a high-end shopping area with probably an expensive lease. But the only other theaters in town there are a seven-screen Alamo and a ten (tiny) - screen Violet Crown. Those both feel like cases where another exhibitor with a better balance sheet might pick up the lease, but others on this list won't be so lucky.

[William Kucharski]

AMC Classic Solon 16, Solon, OH abruptly closed Monday, January 16, 2023:

https://www.clevescene.com/news/amc-...losed-41235448

[Stefan Scholz]

Doubling ticket sales, tough. Well, going from 3 tickets to 6 will not keep a theatre or complex open, simply not paying even utilities, despite wages.
THe recent "every housenhas to show it" Avatar II might work well for the studio blocking every large screen for 6 to 8 weeks. The figures I learnt over the last weeks, from "stunning 14 and 16 tickets" on the first 2 days of the opening weekend followed by "it's not X mas holidays yet, will improve next week", to higher ticket numbers sold, screening small arthouse films, at 28 tickets per day. Even that 28 figure is not economical to run a theatre in winter.
Service work a local 3 screen complex, made me find a woman and her daughter for an infant show at 3 pm, a single woman for the 5.30 evening show. And no pre sales for 8.
The problem is deeper.

[Leo Enticknap]

It hasn't actually closed, but is in serious danger of doing so - the Laemmle in Claremont, CA. From the San Bernardino Sun (my emphasis):

Laemmle calls off sale of Claremont 5 theater but needs more moviegoers

The Laemmle Claremont 5 movie theater may not fade to black after all.

The family-owned independent theater, an anchor in downtown Claremont, was in escrow to a buyer who proposed to shutter the theater and convert the property into a hotel, two restaurants and a rooftop lounge.

But in an ending worthy of a feel-good movie, the sale has been called off.

“It was a very long escrow,” Greg Laemmle, president of the eight-theater chain, tells me by phone. “There had already been one extension. We could not come to an agreement on terms for another extension.”

He adds of the theater: “It won’t be back on the market.”

If this were an old-time movie, Greg Laemmle would tear the contract in half in front of the assembled townfolk, who would cheer and throw their hats and parasols in the air. A character actor would crack a joke to release the tension. Music would swell. The credits would roll.

This being real life, the news may be more of a reprieve, not a guarantee.

The Claremont 5 remains threatened by weak ticket sales. Laemmle says he’ll give his easternmost theater one year to turn around.

I asked how much business needs to improve to be sustainable.

“We’re about half of where we need to be as far as revenue,” Laemmle says.

Business needs to double? Ulp.

Some of that increase will occur naturally as studios get back to a normal release schedule and as people feel more comfortable returning to theaters, Laemmle says. For its part, the chain will try to boost its marketing to get the word out.

Some moviegoers may have not realized the theater is operating again after a 14-month closure during the pandemic. Others may have written the theater off as a lost cause and moved on, Laemmle says ruefully.

To stay in business, he says, the Claremont 5 needs “a long-term solution.”

If you’re a movie lover, consider this a call to arms. Or to eyeballs.

In the meantime, this is better news than many of us expected.

The Laemmle family has operated theaters around L.A. County since 1938 that are generally dedicated to foreign, indie and arthouse movies. A recent documentary about the chain, “Only in Theaters,” tells the story, including how L.A. County’s shutdown of indoor theaters for 14 months during the pandemic nearly wiped the Laemmles out.

Theaters in Pasadena, West L.A. and North Hollywood were sold. Claremont’s was put up for sale.

Greg Laemmle came to one screening of “Only in Theaters” at the Claremont 5 in November, then fielded questions afterward from anxious moviegoers. “Is this theater going to close?” was the first.

Laemmle said he didn’t know. The sale wasn’t final, so all wasn’t lost, but he didn’t seem hopeful.

“The more people come, the more we’ll have the fortitude to say, ‘we’re going to stay,’” Laemmle said.

“Only in Theaters” is making a return visit to the theater at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. Laemmle will again be in attendance. Yours truly will host the Q&A.

“I wanted to give people another showing, share the news — and throw down the gauntlet,” Laemmle says. “There’s a level of business we need to do, and we’re not doing it. But I like to think it’s achievable.”

The theater has many fans, me among them. But attendance is often marginal.

As Laemmle puts it in our conversation, “It’s not enough to say ‘there should be a theater in Claremont.’ People should be supporting a theater in Claremont.”

I remind him of an anecdote he shared with me in 2008 on the first anniversary of the theater. A woman had urged him to show a certain specialty movie she wanted to see. He replied with good news: It was booked to play the following Tuesday through Thursday.

Her classic response: “That’s not convenient for me.”

The theater has settled upon a mix: a mainstream movie — currently “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” — in the main auditorium, with the four smaller theaters hosting a range of specialty films. Starting Friday, they are “The Whale,” “Corsage,” “Broker,” “A Man Called Otto” (starring Tom Hanks) and “Saint Omer.”

In recent weeks, friends who are regulars at the theater tell me worriedly that they’ve watched acclaimed movies like “EO” with audiences in the single digits.

On Tuesday night I went to see “Turn Every Page,” a documentary about biographer Robert Caro and his editor, Robert Gottlieb. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a “90% fresh” rating from critics and an audience rating of 100%. “What a pleasure it is to witness these two gentlemen at work, doing something they love,” wrote Leonard Maltin.

When I entered the small theater, every seat was empty.

During the coming attractions, a man entered, soon followed by his wife. And that’s how it stayed for the next 90 minutes: three of us in the theater.

If the Claremont 5 needs to double its ticket sales, well, getting six people instead of three people to see a movie does indeed seem achievable.

The movie was a treat, and all three of us laughed at various points. The audience rating of 100% held.

In the lobby afterward, David and Lisa Pion-Berlin told me they’ve been patrons virtually every week since the Claremont 5 opened. Like a lot of us, the Claremont couple used to drive 30 miles to the nearest Laemmle in Pasadena.

But they’ve worried about the theater’s future from the start.

“We’re lucky if we see three or four other people in the theater for any film. We’re always concerned about whether the theater will survive,” said David, 70, a political science professor at UC Riverside.

The younger generation doesn’t seem as interested in the collective experience of seeing movies in public, David lamented.

“It’s like we have our own private screening room. It’s cool,” David allowed, “but it’s sad at the same time.”

Lisa, 67, is president and CEO of Parents Anonymous, a nonprofit devoted to strengthening families. She said it’s important for people to get out of their homes and into the world.

“It’s really great it’s here,” Lisa said of the theater. “It’s a special jewel.”

What I find worrying is that this is an arthouse, not a mainstream 'plex, meaning that the widely held belief that the lack of decent movies coming out of Hollywood is to blame for poor movie theater attendance post-covid doesn't explain what is happening here. Claremont is a pretty affluent small city (by Inland Empire standards - it isn't a Fontana or a Colton), too. Doubling ticket sales over the next year is going to be a tall order.