Loew's Capitol Theatre
1645 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
1645 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
47 people
favorited this theater
Showing 276 - 300 of 1,085 comments
Wonderful pictures! Thanks Stevenj
Accidentally put the wrong link in yesterday – here is the correct one for this theatre w/article MarkDHite mentions: Capitol
I’ve seen five other Cinerama screens (Montclair NJ, Washington DC, Dayton OH, Los Angeles, Seattle) but the one at the Capitol is the only one that felt close to being 93 feet wide. I know memories are often faulty, especially 50-year-old ones, but that screen was truly an unforgettable sight.
You know I love putting down the Ziegfeld because it was a joke compared to other NY houses. Even the Todd AO Oklahoma at Cinema one was a much better experience than it ever would have been at the Ziegfeld. I’d rather even see many other 70MM spectacles at other east side houses which I did with El Cid which I believe was at the Gotham.
Ziegfeld screen size 50 ft.
Warner Cinerama 81 ft.
They both had very close seating capacities. Except the Ziegfeld was a long shoe box. The ‘loge’ was a block away from the screen.
I mean we are talking the Minetta Lane compared to the Winter Garden.
2001 Would be terrible at the Walter Reade. It’s widescreen uses up a smaller portion of its screen size. Yeah it’s one of those. Instead of the screen expanding it gets smaller.
I knew I recalled reading somewhere it was more than 90 feet but couldn’t quickly find that online yesterday! Thanks. Sometime in the next week, I will get that into the Introduction.
The article on that site from the time of the Capitol’s 1962 Cinerama conversion says that the screen was 33x93 feet.
It’s sad to think how the really big screen at the Capitol was torn down 50 years ago, and nothing was ever really built since to replace it. I’m grateful I got to experience “2001” on that screen.
Hello-
I thank patryan6019 for their reply. I don’t see the point behind issuing a blu-ray disc of the film unless its in the correct aspect ratio.
also when 2001 gets its 50th Anniversary Reissue in
May it had better be shown in a theater with a really
big screen.
bigjoe59…If the main title sequence is missing the Cinerama credit (which I expect it is) the transfer was made from the 35 mm printdown.
Hello-
the last week of February Olive Films released a blu-ray disc of The Hallelujah Trail which opened here. they botched it big time. my main critique is simple. since the film was shot in Ultra-Panavison 70 the blu-ray disc should have an aspect ratio of 2.75.1 but they give it 2.35.1. i had other problems with the disc and sent it back to the company headquarters. I haven’t received a reply yet by mail or e-mail.
Hello-
to Bill H.–
thanks for your reply. I don’t get it. I can get a senior discount for a 3D-IMAX film at the Lincoln Square but not a 70MM screening at the Village East? what’s the logic?
Mike (saps), it did. And after 372 showings over 11 weeks, the print was still dirt and scratch free.
Phantom Thread was one trippy movie, it must’ve looked sensational in 70mm
I wish WB would take one of its 70mm projectors and install it in the Uptown in DC for a 2001 exhibition there. It’s not only still a fab movie theater with a huge screen, but it’s also historic as the site of 2001’s world premiere.
HowardBHass also the Regal E Walk still has the 70MM equipment from the recent releases. I just checked on it a few weeks ago when I finished the Phantom Thread run at Lincoln Square. The equipment at both E Walk and Lincoln Square is owned by Warner Brothers.
Joe, I was very surprised at the $20 cost of a 70mm show. I do qualify for senior discount but I had already seen on their website that they don’t apply to 70mm, so I just handed over my $20. But I’ll gladly pay it to see 2001.
Hello-
to Howard B. thanks for the info. I hope the 50th Anniversary print will be shown in a theater with a really big screen.
to Bill H.– the Village East Cinemas is in fact a renovated Yiddish Art Theater originally built in 1912. the 70MM print of Ready Player One in playing in what was the Yiddish theater’s main stage. all the other auditoriums at Village East are renovated storage space.
also to Bill H.– don’t you think $20 with no senior or children’s discount is a rip off? that’s the first time I can remember a theater having no senior or children’s discount.
Howard mentioned the Village East. I saw Ready Player One there last Friday, and they showed a 70mm trailer for 2001. Just before it was over, it said that 2001 would be playing “at this theater”.
It was no Capitol, but it was a very nice theater with a big screen. It had the look of an old movie palace, or half of one anyway. It looks like the balcony of what was once a much bigger theater.
NYC venues for reissued 2001 have not been announced yet. City Cinemas 1,2,3 and City Cinemas Village East are strong possibilities, as is AMC Lincoln Square. The Walter Reade also has 70mm capacity, and outside Manhattan so does the Museum of Moving Image. The Paris might still have capacity but hasn’t shown 70mm recently.
Hello-
at what Manhattan theater or theaters will the 50th Anniversary re-issue(supervised by Christopher Nolan) be playing?
Fantastic article, Michael, just like all your others, but this one is extra special to me.
Reposting Paul Noble’s reminiscences from the 40th anniversary. He attended the first-ever screening at the Capitol:
Paul Noble on April 3, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Three nights in advance of the NY premiere, I attended the first press screening of 2001 at the Capitol at its full-length. I believe it clocked in at 161 minutes. The place was packed, but after intermission several hundred people were missing. During the closing credits, there were just two of us left, the other being Gene Shalit who was “conducting” “The Blue Danube”. I turned around at the end and waved to Kubrick in the booth and gave him a thumbs up. In the lobby, I joined a heated conversation with Judith Crist, Bruce Bahrenberg and other critics, who were loudly putting the picture down. I told them about “The Sentinel,” the landmark Clarke short story, and what the possible meaning of the picture was. They laughed me out of the lobby! The director cut the film, supposedly on the print, over the next few days, and the shortened version was the one which opened at the premiere. I’m still a great fan of 2001 with its enormous impact on future motion pictures, and the Capitol Cinerama as it was on that night with that gigantic curved screen, even in sharp focus from my third row seat!
Just in time for the big anniversary, here’s a new retrospective article on Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The Capitol and lots of other cinemas get mentioned in the piece.
Still the Ultimate Trip: Remembering “2001: A Space Odyssey” on its 50th Anniversary
Happy actual 50th anniversary today to 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Capitol. Big article about it in last Sunday’s NY Times, big 70mm re-release coming in May. It’s the movie of the year!
But the Kings in Brooklyn did show a movie about a year ago, and it sold out the place: Barry Lyndon, accompanied by a live orchestra. That’s why I thought it would be cool if they showed 2001 this year. They’d get that same huge audience back.
The Kings is the name of one of the auditoriums at the AMC Lincoln Square.