Have a news tip for us?
Just email . Ideas for stories, links to interesting articles, and press releases are welcome.
The latest movie theater news and updates
-
May 23, 2006
Brookhaven Multiplex Cinemas
MEDFORD, NY — Sometime this past week, I don’t know exactly when, Brookhaven Multiplex Cinemas on Long Island was demolished.
I used to work there and have some great memories of that place seeing movies there over the years since I was a kid until they closed in 2003. It’s a shame to it wasn’t very old and I always passed it while riving down the LIE.
Never again.
4 comments -
NCG Trillium Cinemas opens in Grand Blanc, MI
GRAND BLANC, MI — The 14-screen NCG Trillium Cinemas outside Flint opened on Friday, May 19 with construction still in progress.
Four screens will initially open with the new movies “The Da Vinci Code” and “Over The Hedge”. Among the construction crew completing the megaplex is co-owner Gary Geiger along with his son Jeff.
This is the 10th location for Neighborhood Cinema Group, based in Owosso, MI, which specializes in multiple screen theaters in smaller cities. The NCG chain’s URL is http://www.ncgmovies.com and the website for this cinema is http://www.ncgmovies.com/index.asp?iTheaterID=10.
-
May 22, 2006
Indiana Jones Trilogy at CinemaWorld
LINCOLN, RI — With success of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on April 15th, CinemaWorld will next host the Indiana Jones Trilogy on Saturday June 24th.
The trilogy starts at noon with a 45 min. break between each movie. The price is $12.50 per person with a repeat showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark at 9:00pm for $7.00. Tickets are available online at www.cinemaworldonline.com or visit the theatre and purchase them at the box office.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact the theatre at (401)-333-8019.
-
Red Carpet Theaters?!?
“Now playing at a Red Carpet Theater near you.”
I rememeber this as a kid in the 1960’s into the 1970’s, then it strangely ended. General Cinema and Century participated in Westchester County, NY. What other chains did and what was the meaning of this designation? Why did it end ?
It was just another one of those promotional things that made moviegoing kind of neat and unique back then. Same when Channel 9, NYC had “Million Dollar Movie.”
-
May 19, 2006
Chicago’s Portage Theater Reopening Tonight
CHICAGO, IL — After a year of refurbishing the Portage Theater from a worn-out twin back to its original one-screen auditorium seating over 1300, the Silent Film Society of Chicago is reopening the Six Corners (Milwaukee, Irving Park, and Cicero) landmark as a showplace for Silent Films and much more.
Doors open May 19 at 7 with pre-show entertainment by the Ron Smolen Orchestra, and the opening film will be an early full-length comedies, 1914’s Tillie’s Punctured Romance, starring Charlie Chaplin with Mark Noller on the theater organ. Also on Saturday and Sunday, Chaplin’s classic Modern Times will be showing.
This weekend kicks off the Spring Silent Film Festival, featuring a different silent each Friday through June 16. Visit www.silentfilmchicago.com for more details.
-
Passing of General Cinema Manager Israel (Izzy) Strier
A wonderful human being and dedicated theater manager for General Cinemas in Massachusetts, I just got word that Izzy Strier passed away on Thursday, May 18th, 2006 and his graveside service is planned for Sunday in Sharon, Massachusetts.
Hundreds of employees will remember his quick laugh, sharp wit, accented humor and ability to relate to anyone… CEO to cleaning staff. He managed the busy General Cinema in Shopper’s World, Framingham and was a legend there. Customers will remember the short, fiery, “can do” manager who somehow juggled a busy six theater complex and 100 young employees (like me, once!) with ease and humor. A legend in his own time, and he will be missed.
I’d clean the stickiest theater floor for you Izzy, any day.
— Julie “would you like butter with that” (Ferer) Dennehy
GCC Framingham 1982-1990 -
May 18, 2006
Renovations for twin in Pennsylvania
Looking to buy a theater in Pennsylvania. It is a twin with 150 and 200 seats. I am looking to renovate the lobby, marque and add a ticket booth and expand the concession stand.
Stage 2 the auditoriums need new sound walls, seats and screens. Need contact info for local people interested in the project and also a really rough figure to give the bank!
The place has potential and still operates first run, but needs a lot of work. Basically, the lobby would be the major selling point to bring back the people. The ticket booth is a stand in the center blocking the concession. Would either like to place a booth near the entrance or off to the side (where it was originally?) But rather have someone on the outside to clear up the lobby.
Email for pictures to see to get an idea!
Thanks.
Email me: -
The Polk Theater’s Last Days
The Village Voice is running a report about the closing of the Polk Theater:
Harold Gussin never expected that one day he’d end up running a porn theater. When he started working at the Polk, a theater in Jackson Heights, Queens, it was the late 1950s and the Polk was just a regular movie house.
But only a decade later, it was starting to show films like charscalex98 Carmen, Babcharscalex98 y, an update on the opera that was billed as “Carmen in modern undress!” And for the next 40 years, the Polk showed nine dirty films a day. The place got increasingly run-down.
By last winter, there were only five flickering bulbs above the entrance.
-
May 17, 2006
Theatre Pipe Organ For Sale
CINCINNATI, OH — The 4 manual, 33 rank Theatre Pipe Organ from the now closed Music Palace Restaurant is for sale.
The organ was originally installed in the Mastabaum Theatre in Philadelphia, PA in 1929. The console was rebuilt in 1998 after a 1992 fire destroyed the orginal. All the other components were not damaged and are originals.
The organ and the entire business are for sale. Inquires can be made to Barbra Martey at 513-821-1675. Photos can be seen at http://the-music-palace.tripod.com.
-
May 16, 2006
Loew’s Jersey Theatre Presents 3 Classic Dystopian Films - May 19-20
Sleeper — On The Beach — Brazil
“The Future” is a concept that is often imbued with optimism. America’s good fortune in our 230-year history has tended to endow us with the expectation that tomorrow will be a better day. But if we let our imaginations stray into our darkest fears, wallow in our baser tendencies, and peruse not the triumphs but the horrors of the past as prelude, The Future can seem a very dark shadow indeed. Though the movies have often been criticized for looking at the worlds — including The Future — with rose-tinted glasses, certain films have gone in the opposite direction, vividly and unforgettably depicting the most dystopian possibilities for tomorrow. Amazingly, some of these films have even wrung black humor from the subject.
“Sleeper” — Fri., May 19 at 8PM
Starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory. Directed by Woody Allen. (1973 — 88mins. — Rated PG)
Woody Allen goes to the hospital for a routine procedure, dies on the table, is cryogenically frozen, and awakens 200 years later into a Brave New World of deadening conformity ruled with an iron fist by a never-seen omnipotent Leader. So begins one of the goofiest yet insightful dystopian films ever made. Four years before his Oscar-winning breakthrough with Annie Hall, Woody Allen was still deep in absurdist humor. While the comedy is broad, it’s hardly unintelligent, delving into political and social commentary. Allen may have made more personal and moving films later in his career, but on a laugh-out-loud scale, Sleeper is one of the most enjoyable works he’s ever produced.“On the Beach” — Sat., May 20 at 3PM
Starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins.
(1959 — 135mins. — Not Rated, but not recommended for children.)
Although there had been “doomsday dramas” before it, Stanley Kramer’s On the Beach was considered the first “significant” entry into the genre. Released in 1959, the story was set in the then-future of 1964, when most life on Earth has just been destroyed by radioactive fall out. The population Australia is still alive, but only until the fallout inevitably drifts “down under.” Much of the population resigns itself to doom or goes mad, while some desperately try to figure out how to survive. The film captures the now half-forgotten fear of inevitable, if not imminent nuclear holocaust that gripped the
civilized world in the late 1950s and ‘60s, and is a harrowing experience.“Brazil” — Sat., May 20 at 7:15PM
Starring Jonathan Pryce, Michael Palin, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro.
Directed by Terry Gilliam. (1985 — Rated R.)
In 1985, director Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame) concocted this comedic fantasy-nightmare about a world where which life seems to go on routinely, except that fear of nameless, faceless terrorists is the excuse for government bureaucracies to seize citizens, force confessions from them, and kill them — even in cases of mistaken identity. From our post-9/11 vantage, we can only hope any resemblance to our world is an eerie coincidence and not frightening prescience. Rather than diminishing the film’s coherence and emotional impact, Gilliam’s intermixing of humor actually makes the characters and situations seem more human. When it was first released, Brazil’s American distributor forced Gilliam to change the ending to something “happier.” Fortunately, when new prints were struck a year ago, the original ending was restored. Brazil will be screened at the Loew’s in this restored original ending.