BROOKLYN, NY — Brooklyn is getting some more moviegoing options that provide more than just the movie.

Austin, Tex., has the Alamo Drafthouse. San Francisco has Foreign Cinema. Portland, Ore., has McMenamins. And Brooklyn has — well, Brooklyn has many places where you can bring a blanket and a picnic basket and watch a film in a park or on a rooftop, but few indoor options for dinner-and-a-movie year-round.

That will change on Friday, with the opening of reRun Gastropub Theater, a movie screen, bar and restaurant that is an expansion of reBar in Dumbo. The space, with 60 seats, some on low-slung couches, has a college town art-house feel and a sophisticated concession stand, serving things like pulled pork and popcorn topped with duck fat. The programming will focus on festival films that don’t have distribution, as well as cult favorites. (The opening lineup includes “Audrey the Trainwreck,” an off-kilter romance that played at South by Southwest this year, and a one-night-only showing of “The Prowler,” a 1981 B-movie.) A similar theater, indieScreen, is to open in Williamsburg in the fall.

Read more in the New York Times.

Also mentioned in the New York Post.

COTTAGE GROVE, MN — We are 12,000 members strong for our “Save the Cottage View Drive-in” facebook site - please, feel free to ‘LIKE’ the page - even if you don’t live in MN. The support of everyone here would be greatly appreciated.

Facebook Page

Thanks!

-Thomas, Moderator of the “Save the Cottage View Drive-in” Facebook page.

MORGAN HILL, CA — Preservationist-minded citizens are challenging the City Council which favors tearing down the 1952 Granada Theatre to build a mixed use housing and retail development. Although a business plan to renovate the theater as both a cinema and a mixed-use entertainment venue has been presented, council members feel the theater is not historically signficant and think a construction of a new cinema would be preferable. Current mayoral candidates are on opposite sides of the issue.

But a group of citizens and local businesses say saving and renovating the Granada as a local entertainment center is key to the revitalization effort, and are making a last attempt after 18 months of battles through a petition drive to put the future of the theater on the November ballot.

“We think we’ve put out a fairly compelling business model,” said Stephen Beard and Pamala Meador of the Save the Granada Foundation. “But we’ve been blocked every step of the way."

The story is in the Contra Costa Times.

WASHINGTON, DC — I have recently leased the old Inner Circle 5, 6, 7 space in Washington, DC and will reopen it as the West End Cinema — a three-screen art-house movie theater — this fall.

The old Inner Circle was a move-over house opened in 1985 at 23rd and M Streets, as a sister venue to the Circle 1 -4, which was located a block south on 23rd (in a building that was torn down to build the Ritz Carlton residences). The 5, 6, 7, which I leased, is in a multi-use building and was never demolished — in fact, it still has the projector systems, platters, sound systems, screens, seats and concessions line exactly where they were when the theater closed in late 2003/early 2004.

I look forward to moving this theater from the “old” listings to the “new” listings on Cinema Treasures soon!

H. Donald Busch, 74, died July 12. In 1984 he became president of Budco Theatres, Inc. a Philadelphia area movie theater chain, and upon its acquisition in 1987 by AMC, became president of AMC Philadelphia until retiring in the mid 1990s.

When a Pennsylvania state law was passed to ban blind bidding, movie distributors sued the state, Budco Theatres, and Fox Theatres. The U.S. District Court eventually ruled that the state law banning blind bidding was legal. It was a big win for movie theaters, said Adam Koppel, Mr. Busch’s stepson.

By 1987 Budco had 113 movie screens in 42 locations when it was acquired by AMC Entertainment Inc. Mr. Busch was president of AMC Philadelphia until retiring in the mid-1990s. He was past chairman of the National Organization of Theater Owners.

Read the full story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

I have an old theater with a mechanical ticket machine and I need to purchase some packets of 2,000 tickets each. Tickets can read admit one-adult or child or read with an auditorium no.

Email me and let me know what you have or you can call 276-701-6901.

Thanks

SPENCER, IA — Fridley Theatres will soon be closing the Spencer 3 which opened as the New Spencer in 1941 and became a triplex in 1979. Jeri Lagenfeld, who started working for Fridley in 1978 as a summer employee at one of their drive-ins and who has managed the Spencer 3 since 2004, shares her thoughts in this article from the Spencer Daily Reporter.

Originally, the theater utilized reel-to-reel projecting.

“The projectionist had to flip from one projector to the next and had just a matter of seconds to flip-flop and the movie continued onto the second reel,” Langenfeld explained.

Because the projectionist had to change and manually rewind reels every 15 to 20 minutes, he or she stayed in the booth for the entirety of each film.

CORONA, CA — The Krikorian Dos Lagos 15 will reopened by the end of July by Knoxville, Tennesee-based Phoenix Big Cities theaters. The new operator plans to add additional 3D capability and other upgrades, and rename the theater as the Dos Lagos Stadium 15.

Karen Lane, vice president of marketing and advertising for Phoenix, said the theater is still being assessed, but plans include expanded concessions, digital projection and surround sound, online ticketing, and digital 3D.

Harrington said the site has a 3D theater now, but two or three more will be equipped, too. Plans also could include a bar and lounge in the lobby, he said.

The full story is in the Press Enterprise.

RIDGEWOOD, NY — Friends of Ridgewood Theatre is dedicated towards the long-term preservation, restoration, and creative adaptive reuse of the 1916 Ridgewood Theatre (55-27 Myrtle Ave). We are seeking preservation-friendly buyers who will acquire, restore, and creatively& adaptively reuse the Ridgewood Theatre, ideally as a performing arts center with community spaces. It would border 2 boroughs, and serve up & coming Ridgewood, emerging art communities of Bushwick & Williamsburg, as well as create jobs, enhance property values, and preserve the country’s oldest extant first-run theater designed by America’s foremost theater architect Thomas Lamb. Future owners would be eligible for restorative grants & tax credits, and we would help launch fundraisers. Please e-mail, and leads will be shared with the appropriate parties. It has been listed by Massey Knakal for $3.4 million.

Read more…

STANLEY, WI — New work is being done to bring the Stanley Theater back to its look during its heyday.

It is that look, with the Vitrolite glass, that Eslinger is bringing back with the current project. It’s not easy, since production of that kind of glass ceased around 1950, according to Dunn.

His business is to find the glass as old buildings are torn down around the country, retrieve the glass, and install it in restoration or other projects like the one at Stanley Theater. He is the tops in the field, worldwide, if you want Vitrolite glass.

Read more in the Chippewa Herald.