Theaters

  • September 4, 2009

    Smadar possibly to be owned by movie-goers

    JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — The Smadar Theater in Jerusalem’s German Colony neighborhood is going to be closed. Will it end up as yet another luxury building site?
    Last week hundreds of devoted movie-goers offered to buy the place, each one will pay $1000 per share, and keep Smadar opened. Their hope is that city council will declare Smadar a site for preservation.

    Thousands already signed a petition.

    “There is a huge response because people don’t want to lose the fabric of their identity, which is their pride and an important part of daily life. People don’t want this to be taken away from them in favor of economic real estate initiatives. They want a share in designing the place they live in, and I believe this is wonderful.”

    Read more at Ynet.

  • Dickinson Theatres “Fall Back Movie Specials”

    $5.00 Tickets Monday-Thursday
    ~ All Seats ~ All Shows ~ All Day ~
    3D Presentation Extra

    $5.00 Combo Monday-Thursday
    Medium Popcorn and Medium Soft Drink
    Including free refills

    Tuesdays are “BYOB"
    Bring your own bowl for
    Free Popcorn with Unlimited Refills

    Dickinson is running this special for all of their Kansas City area theaters.

  • September 3, 2009

    Financing sought to re-open theater in San Bernardino

    SAN BERNARDINO, CA — The city council has approved a loan application to The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to enable Maya Cinemas to re-open the 20-screen multiplex in downtown San Bernardino, CA formerly operated by CinemaStar. The plan would remodel the facility and add an IMAX screen.

    In April, a City Council majority voted to let the EDA apply to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to borrow $9 million to finance Maya Cinemas' project.

    The money would have been borrowed against San Bernardino’s future allotments of Community Development Block Grants in what’s called a Section 108 loan.

    In May, the council voted to extend the deadline for Maya Cinemas to complete the first phase of its project to Dec. 31.

    Read the story here in the San Bernardino County Sun.

  • September 2, 2009

    Santa Cruz’s Nickelodeon Theater celebrates 40 years

    SANTA CRUZ, CA — A gamble taken by Bill and Joanne Raney forty years ago when Santa Cruz, Califonia was regarded as a place for people with one foot in the grave eventually became a [url=/theaters/17562/] successful cinema[/url[ operating venture.

    Santa Cruz was a sleepy, conservative seaside town of retirees then, but Raney figured the recently opened University of California was only beginning to exert its influence and it was only a matter time before the sleepy town woke up.

    Part of that wake-up call came in the summer of 1969 when the Raneys opened the Nickelodeon on Lincoln Street on the site of a former bakery. The first film played on the first day in business at the Nick was “Elvira Madigan,” a lush Swedish romance that featured what today would be thought of as a modest amount of nudity. But in an era when the term “Swedish cinema” was practically a synonym for wild carnal licentiousness, it was a significant cultural moment.

    Read the whole story about the the Nickelodeon Theater in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

  • August 28, 2009

    Tacoma’s Grand Cinema adding fourth screen

    TACOMA, WA — The Grand Cinema in Tacoma is adding a fourth screen, expanding its lobby area, and replacing all of the theater’s seats.

    Cowan, the Tacoma theater’s executive director, has just announced detailed plans for the cinema’s expansion. Come September, the nonprofit art-house movie theater will expand into the adjacent area formerly leased to the Grand Impromptu art gallery to create a fourth screen, central ticketing desk and larger lobby and concessions stand. The construction is slated to finish by December this year.

    “What’s exciting is the program: We’ll be able to play 33 percent more films, maybe even more,” said Cowan. “It’ll enable us to bring in more smaller films, more independent films, some film series, even art movies partnered with Tacoma Art Museum.”

    Read more in the News Tribune.

  • August 26, 2009

    Ten Screen theater proposed for Royal Oak

    ROYAL OAK, MI — A developer is proposing to build a 10 screen multiplex in Detroit’s suburb of Royal Oak as part of an entertainment center that would include a bowling and a bar.

    Catching a movie in downtown Royal Oak could become a one-stop fun shop in the near future.

    The developer behind the Main North building wants to build a combination 10-screen movie theater complex, bowling alley, and bar. He will go before the city’s liquor commission tonight to make his case.

    “You could get a drink and go see a movie or order something from the bar,” says Tim Thwing, director of planning for Royal Oak.

    Read the full story in Metromode.

  • August 25, 2009

    Cinema in Poland turns 100; claims to be oldest in the world

    SZCZECIN, POLAND — According to its owner, the Kino Pionier in Szczecin, Poland will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year and that it is the oldest operating movie theater in the world.

    When the first moving picture was projected on the screen in the Kino Pionier cinema – then called Helios – tickets cost just two pennies and Germany was ruled by an emperor. What is now the Polish city of Szczecin on the Baltic coast was then the German city of Stettin, just an hour’s drive northeast of Berlin.

    While Hollywood may now be the film capital of the world, it was there in Szczecin that the very first movie was shown in 1909.

    Read more in DW World.

  • August 24, 2009

    Paris & Beekman projectionist pickets

    NEW YORK, NY — Local 306, the projectionist’s union in NYC, is picketing the Paris and the Beekman theaters.

  • Clemson wants a theater

    CLEMSON, SC — Ever since the Astro III closed in August, 2008, the college town of Clemson, SC has been without a cinema. The city hopes that the Astro can be re-activated or that another cinema can be built, with the city able to provide at least some backing.

    “It’s left a huge gap in the community,” Clemson Mayor Larry Abernathy said. “We miss it.”

    The Astro had been open on College Avenue in Clemson for more than 30 years before it closed in August last year, Abernathy said.

    He said the city has a “passionate interest” in acquiring the property but said he has discussed the issue with the owners, whom he said don’t want to sell.

    Read more at Greenville Online.

  • August 20, 2009

    Norwood celebrates 60 years

    BRACEBRIDGE, ONTARIO, CANADA — The Norwood Cinema is celebrating sixty years in business as it looks back at the changes in moviegoing over the years.

    Joseph built the original 600-seat building in 1949, complete with a stage for live shows, two aisles and a screen to show movies.

    Times have changed and the building now houses three cinemas. Cinema One has 235 seats, Cinema Two has 220 seats and Cinema Three has 120 seats.

    The original theatre also had red velvet curtains and its live shows were well attended, remember its owners.

    Read more in the Bracebridge Examiner.