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The latest movie theater news and updates
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June 16, 2005
Current Day Movie Palaces
There is an interesting article in yesterday’s (June 15) Wall Street Journal that has found a successful formula for drawing customers by emulating the movie palaces of the 1920s.
From the WSJ article:
[i]“They’re doing what needs to be done,” says Paul Dergarabedian, Exhibitor Relations' president. The industry needs to emphasize the difference between watching movies at a theater and at home. Muvico “does that by creating these incredible theaters,” he says. “It tells people, ‘I can’t do the same thing at home.’ ” National Amusements Inc. and Pacific Theatres Exhibition Corp. are two other chains with similar state-of-the-art theaters, he says.
“The industry is still going through changes,” Muvico’s Mr. Hashemi says. “With the shortening of the window between the DVD and the theatrical release we really have to create an event."
[/i](rudy franchi, www.nostalgia.com))
1 comment -
Theatre’s Rooftop A Practical Joke?
MILWAUKEE, WI — The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has this story about our former BAY theatre which later became the LAKE:
A local eccentric owner painted huge letters on its flat, black roof saying “Welcome to Cleveland” when planes fly over it to Milwaukee’s airport a few blocks away. This has amused and startled more than a few flyers, and the story of it makes interesting reading.
Click on the link above, and when there, click on the photo to enlarge it and see what all the fuss is about. The marquee still hangs on the front of the theatre which has been Mr. Gubin’s photo studio and residence for many years now, and which has had its seats removed, but its new incarnation is probably a more suiteable usage than many others.
What will become of it when Mr. Gubin becomes too old to climb the steps to his balcony-home is anyone’s guess, but maybe the roof top joke will by then have long faded away, much to the delight of both cities. Maybe the author of the forthcoming sequel to “Milwaukee Movie Palaces,” Larry Widen, can get permission to copy this photo into the appendex of his new book: “Silver Screens” to appear in a year from now. He can hardly overlook this bit of trivia about the fates of our movie palaces!
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June 15, 2005
Movies Return to the Palace Theatre in Albany
ALBANY, NY — This summer will mark the return of movies to the historic Palace Theatre in downtown Albany for the first time in 36 years. When final installation of the new projection and sound equipment is complete, the Palace will feature the largest screen in the region and, more importantly, an amazing sound and visual presentation system.
From a programming perspective, the Palace will be paying homage to the independent movie houses of old. The selections will include a mix of classics, family friendly fare and contemporary films. Efforts are being made to have at least one notable traveling film festival make a stop in 2006. Also in the works is to honor the theatre’s history as a rock and roll palace with a series of some of the best Rock n Roll movies ever produced.
Additional themed sub-series will also be included in the first season. In addition to this mix the best new movies will be included when they leave the malls whenever possible.
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Two Additional Profiles Of The IFC Center
NEW YORK, NY — Two more profiles of the IFC Center have appeared in The Village Voice and New York Magazine.
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June 14, 2005
Cinema Treasures Reaches 10,000 + Theaters!!!
In less than five years, Cinema Treasures' database has grown from a small group of 125 theaters to a site that now contains over 10,000 theaters and hundreds of thousands of comments, thanks to all of your support.
Although it took roughly three years to reach 5,000, the number of listings has exploded recently, growing from roughly 6,000 a year ago to over 10,000 today and counting. (It was exactly three months ago that we announced our 9,000th theater added.)
When we first started making these incremental announcements back in 2001, we could name and thank all of our major contributors in a few lines. Today, there are (thankfully) so many of you who have dedicated your time and knowledge to building this incredible database that we can’t possibly list everyone.
However, for everyone who has ever submitted a comment, theater, or news story, or voted in our weekly poll, or if you just show up every morning for the latest news about classic movie theaters, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
We won’t bore you with yet another statement about how amazed we are at the rapid growth of this site (we’ve had to switch to a dedicated server, which is already overloaded!), but let’s just say that the site is growing so fast, we were already over 10,000 when we realized it.
Thank you all for making Cinema Treasures what it is today.
See you at 20,000!
[i]Ross Melnick, Patrick Crowley, and Bryan Krefft
Cinema Treasures[/i] -
June 13, 2005
Tulsa’s Admiral Twin Drive-In Wins Hampton Inn Contest
TULSA, OK — Tulsa’s Admiral Twin Drive-In was the winner of a Hampton Inn contest, “America’s Favorite Landmark.” In addition to the title, the theater will receive $20,000 to do renovations. For information, read the Tulsa KOTV 6 Story
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Pittsburgh, PA – “Birthplace of the Movie Theatre”
PITTSBURGH, PA — June 19th, 2005 marks the bithplace of the movie theatre. 100 years ago, June 19th, 1905, the NICKELODEON was opened by Harry Davis and his brother-in-law, J.P. Harris. There will be an article in the weekend edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I will visit the site where it once stood; marked by a bronze plaque.
[Editor’s Note: Pittsburgh as the birthplace of the movie theatre is a highly debatable fact. There were certainly theaters showing movies (even exclusively) before Harry Davis coined the term “Nickelodeon” for his famous Pittsburgh movie house. I suspect Newcastle, PA, the site of the Warner brothers' first movie house in 1903, would have something to say about that, as would other towns in the United States and abroad.]
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“Question on Strand Theaters”
I’m trying to find out the origin of the word Strand, the name of so many theaters across the country. Can anyone help?
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June 10, 2005
DuPage Theatre Demolition Alert
Dear Theatre Supporters,
In case you haven’t already heard, the Lombard village board voted 4-2 in favor of demolishing the DuPage Theatre. This was a shocking turn of events, given the positive direction our new development plan was taking.
The plan would fully restore the theatre, add retail and residential space to the theatre property, and be funded through grants, private donations and TIF dollars. And, it enjoyed an outpouring of community support demonstrated by 1000 lawn signs displayed over the course of 2 weeks.
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June 9, 2005
Bow Tie Cinema Group Announces Two Projects
Bow Tie Cinemas, a subsidiary of Manhattan-based Bow Tie Partners, announced two new cinema projects in the past week.
In downtown Schenectady, NY, Bow Tie will build and operate a deluxe six-screen upscale venue on the corner of State and Broadway, just down the street from Proctor’s Theatre. Set to open in the Fall of 2006, the cinema project, to be called Movieland, replaces a previously-announced 14-plex that was to be built on another site in the Metroplex Development Authority’s project zone.
The other site, in downtown West Hartford, CT, will be located in the Blue Back Square project. The five-screen Criterion Cinemas at Blue Back Square is set to debut in late 2006.