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The latest movie theater news and updates
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February 11, 2005
Grand Theater 3D Renderings
BALTIMORE, MD — Ed Dobbins has sent us these wonderful three-dimensional renderings of the now demolished Grand Theater.
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February 9, 2005
Heights Cinema’s Future in Question
BROOKLYN, NY — The sale of Screen Arts Corporation’s Park Slope Pavillion may be bad news for Brooklyn Heights Pavillion, the company’s last theater and one of the last duplex theaters in New York City. (Park Slope was sold to Access Intergrated Technologies, which still runs the theater.)
The Heights Pavillion has had to reduce its hours of operation recently and has had to face stiff competition from the United Artists Court Street Stadium 12 Theater nearby. Screen Arts had to also sell the Flatbush Pavillion recently, which as of now, is still unoccupied.
The Park Slope Pavillion, though a multiplex, has managed to keep its independent-cinema charm with unique concessions, art cinema film choices and an elegant restaurant upstairs.
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February 8, 2005
Watts Theatre Receives Local Media Attention
OSAGE, IA — Our good friends at the Watts received some well-deserved recognition after being profiled in our book and listed as one of USA Today’s 10 Great Places.
The local CBS television affiliate ran a segment quoting manager Earl Kennedy, “It’s a very, very short list. It’s just awesome to me to be included on the list. It is wonderful, it’s a one of a kind experience and I consider it a huge honor.”
To Mary Peiper’s article in The Globe Gazette he added, “In the age of the multiplex it seems small town theaters are going out the door. But the Watts has always been one to buck the trend.”
Keep up the good work, guys!
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“Sweetheart Tour” of Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre
HOLLYWOOD, CA — On February 12 & 13 (10:30 AM), the American Cinematique at the Egyptian Theatre hosts a special “Valentine’s Day Sweetheart Tour.”
Featuring “tidbits from the life of America’s original Sweetheart, Mary Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks (who were frequent visitors to Grauman’s Hollywood Egyptian Theatre in the 1920s) and some tasty sweets,” the special event offers two tickets for the price of one.
“Highlights of our regular historic tours are included,” the press office assures. “See what it would have been like to be in a Grauman stage show with a visit to the dressing rooms and singers' boxes. Discover the painstaking restoration work and the marriage of modern technology with a landmark of Hollywood history.”
Future dates are March 12 & 13 and April 9 & 10 (10:30 AM). As always, the hour-long documentary “Forever Hollywood” screens on the same days at 11:35 AM; 2:00 PM & 3:30 PM. Tickets $7 Adults. $5 Members/Students/Seniors 65+. Tour & Movie $10. Private group tours available. Call 323.461.2020, ext. 3 for more info.
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February 7, 2005
MoMA’s Titus Theaters Receive Major Upgrade
NEW YORK, NY — The February edition of Film Journal International reviews the biggest facelift since 1984 and latest technology upgrades to the famed Roy and Niuta Titus auditorium on the lower level of the Museum of Modern Art.
The article includes comments from senior curator Laurence Kardish, Mary Lea Bandy, the Celeste Bartos chief curator of film and media, and by Charlie Kalinowski, chief projectionist since 1987 and recently appointed Audio Visual Department head.
“When New York City’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) reopened the doors to its expanded and gorgeously redesigned home, not only were Matisse and MÃro seen in an all-new and column-free gallery light, but also the likes of Mamoulian and Mizoguchi…”
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Report on New Cinema Venues
The February 2005 issue of Film Journal International also reviews some of the newest theaters worldwide that opened during the past holiday season:
“Not so long ago, reports about new theatre construction could be summed up with two words: "still standing.” These days, however, exhibitors are moving again and building up and out.
From the Cinemark Savassi in Brazil to My Theatre in Ratchaburi, Thailand, from Vancouver, Canada, to Khimki, Russia, unique locations and designs to match are expanding our views of service and experience.
Bright new KinoStars illuminate Heavenly Villages, and CineStars are rising above more than one Belo Horizonte. From the German side of Lake Constance to South Lake Tahoe, California, to Solomons Island Road in Annapolis, Maryland, theatres everywhere are committed to bringing the best possible film experience to their customers."
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February 4, 2005
Coronet Theatre Will Close On Feb 10th
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Earlier this week, the staff of the Coronet was told that the theater would be closing its'doors forever on Feb 10, 2005. The Coronet, which opened in 1949, has been operated by United Artists since some time in the late 1980’s or early 90’s.
According to the San Francisco Examiner, in 2000, the owners of the building sold it to The Goldman Institute On Aging, who plan to tear it down and construct a senior citizens center on the site. The 1,200-seat Coronet is one of the last single-screen 70mm movie houses (with good sound and projectionst) to actually to run 70mm prints on a regular basis. There are one or two other single screen SF movie houses with 70mm capibility- -but they haven’t run 70mm in years.
JimC/San Francisco
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Mishawaka’s Tivoli Succumbs to Wrecking Ball
MISHAWAKA, IN — The Tivoli Theatre, Mishawaka’s 1925 movie palace, gave one last show February 2nd to a crowd of about 75, who watched the decrepit theater withstand several blows by a wrecking ball before it finally gave in and crumbled in a cloud of dust.
According to the South Bend Tribune, for one of the bystanders, Jeremy Unruh, whose theater company might have been one of those to have used a restored Tivoli, seeing the wrecker’s ball slam through the arched window framed by terra-cotta on the brick facade gave him mixed emotions. “I’m sad to see it torn down, but at this point, it’s like seeing a dying animal being put out of its misery.”
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Gas vs Oil For Heating A Movie Theater???
I was recently told that a theater I once knew of had the oil tanks removed from the lot it was on. This was done when it closed because the tanks were on a lot owned by another business.
How much could it cost to hook up gas and install it into a theater with about 11,000 square feet. How cost efficient is it compared to oil??? Thanks for your help, this is in effort to get the theater up and running again.
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February 3, 2005
What’s Up With the Uptown Theatre?
CHICAGO, IL — There is an article about the Uptown Theatre published in this week’s edition of INSIDE, a north Chicago newspaper, which updates the current legal battle surrounding ownership of the theatre.
The article mentions a grassroots petition to support the theatre. It can be found at www.compassrose.org along with a history of the Uptown.