Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
131 people
favorited this theater
Showing 4,126 - 4,150 of 4,512 comments
Clearview has booked a string of bombs in this place recently…The Island, The Great Raid, and now The Baxter. Over 1100 empty seats at each performance. Good Lord!
‘The Baxter’, the IFC Films release booked exclusively into 47 Clearview Cinemas properties, including the Ziegfeld, experienced a near-total flameout this past weekend, grossing an estimated $37,708 for a per-screen average of $802. Almost needless to say, I think Clearview overestimated what they had on their hands, especially with ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’ and ‘Wedding Crashers’ as competition.
Well they maybe have to start thinking in terms of showmanship again if they want to start bringing people back into movie theaters. With movie companies considering releasing films simultaneously on DVD’s why in the world should anyone go to a theater when you make up for the(relatively) larger screen in the comfort and convenience of your own home. The audience that was collectively enthralled by a new film is a thing of the past.
Maybe cinema as a public experience is about to become as extinct as vaudeville.
Well thanks Bill, ya know this business just gets into your blood and becomes a very important part of your life, I think Rob Endres would agree.
Vincent I think more theatre owners haver got to begin thinking the way we do. With attendance numbers decreasing, they must find ways to bring em back to the theatres. God knows we have the resources to equip the theatre with mind blowing “Super Projection” on giant screens with better sound than they can generate at home. Other problems I hear about all the time stem from the rudeness of many theatre goers, everything from ringing cell phones to crying babies has got to be addressed, Then there is the problem of DVDs, Of course the studios make a fortune on the DVD sales, but it hurts theatre owners when the DVD is available so soon after the movies release, the talk now is to shorten the window between release of films and DVDs. We can give them what they can’t get at home, it’s time we started doing that,IMAX is a step in the right direction.
Multiplex’s are here to stay but there has to movie theatres as well, tear down those 100 seat screening rooms being called theatres today.
theatres and DVDs.
Vito: your love for your profession was never more apparent than when you talked about the IMAX prints loving the high humidity, as if they were alive. Guys like you and Rob Endres belong in the Projectionists Hall of Fame.
So why doesn’t the Clearview make the Ziegfeld a real presentation house and install a real 140 degree curved 80 ft screen which would be adaptable to show everything from 1:85 to panavision to 70MM like the old times Square houses. Thereby utilizing the theater a lot more than it is being used now and garnering a lot of publicity for itself. The way theaters used to years ago when they were modernized.
Now its just being used as another screening room along with all the other multiplexes in Manhattan.
Maybe this can be the East Coast American Cinemateque.
Michael,
I had not visited the site in a while, happy to see you have included IMAX. The format is growing, many young people have never seen a true 70mm movie and are loving it. At National Amusements Cinema Delux in White Plains New York we are splitting three IMAX movies over the course of the day. Charlie, Batman, and Nascar, all are very popular. The format continues to improve with new and more user friendly software, many of the bugs have been worked out and the technical support is first rate. The prints are holding up very well, we have found keeping a high humidity level in the booth has made a big difference, we keep the booth like a rain forest and the prints love it. Oh and I promise to visit the website more often.
Vito,
Surf the site; we do have some IMAX content posted. What kind of list were you thinking of?
Michael, Since IMAX is a 70mm format, I think it may be time to start an IMAX listing on your website, it may be the only 70mm we will see for a long time.
Dennis, the IMAX theatres are gaining momentium, National Amusements has plans to incorporate an IMAX theatre in future locations. When a movie like “Batman Begins” or “Charlie” plays in IMAX, people will go out of the way to see it in the IMAX version rather than the 35mm.
Warners is very hot on the idea and has plans for more releases, the new Harry Potter will be shown in IMAX in November and Lucas is planning an IMAX release of all the “Star Wars” films. I would love to see “2001” in IMAX as well.
Now that someone has brought up “2001”. What do you think it would be like to see it projected in Imax? After seeing “Charlie and the chocolate Factory” and seeing a scene from it in that film, it got me wondering. I know there are people that think regular films presented in Imax is not what it is cracked up to be. However, I must say after seeing “Charlie” and “Harry Potter” previously, I will take an Imax film presentation over the shoebox theatre showings anytime! Even drove 50 miles to see them! Reminds me of my childhood days when we would drive into center city Philadelphia to see the “roadshow 70MM films.” It is like someone else stated elsewhere on this site, you have to give the moviegoer something that is extraordinary to get them off their sofas. In addition to better films, better manners by moviegoers, better presentations would be ideal. I still remember the curtains opening, opening, etc. as the lights dimmed in the movie palaces with 70mm presentations. The overatures ended and the movie logo’s filled those fantastic screen! Oh what memories!
“The Ziegfeld is the only theatre in the country equipped with 6-track stereophonic sound.”
Michael, I can just see the foam building around your mouth and the smoke coming out of your ears when you read that. I still cannot believe they actually made that claim.
Mark, the whole thing was sooo 50s, like 3-Ds,“A lion in your lap,and a girl in your arms” or CinemScope’s “The miracle you see
without glasses”
That is one of the funniest ads I’ve ever seen. If 50' is “half a city block”, then they have some mighty small blocks! And I’m sure the note of using Zeiss Favorit projectors just packed them in!!!
“The Ziegfeld is the only theatre in the country equipped with 6-track stereophonic sound.”
Don’t you just love the outrageous hype present in that “2001” ad?!
1970 saw 2001 at the Ziegfeld
View link
I’ll be in NYC in November (18-26) and was wondering what might be playing during this time. Any assistance would be appreciated. Also, do you need to purchase tickets in advance or can you get them at the door!!
Thanks….
Interesting ad in tomorrow’s Times for “The Baxter.” Produced and released by IFC, it will be playing exclusively in Clearview theaters throughout the NYC metro area starting next Friday. Corporate synergy at work. The ad highlights the engagement at the IFC Center, but the list of Clearview theaters in Manhattan showing the film includes the 62nd & Broadway cinema and the Ziegfeld. Even though the film seems a better fit for the IFC Center than the Ziegfeld, it’s odd to see the IFC Center favored over the Ziegfeld (not to mention a film screening simultaneously at the Ziegfeld and the 62nd & Broadway cinema).
Probably the only reason ‘The Island’ is still showing at the Ziegfeld is a contractual obligation between Clearview and Dreamworks, obligating it to be shown for a certain number of weeks.
Speaking of ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ cinematic re-do, can anyone explain to me why theatre owners in the NYC area gave this film the usual booking treatment (multiple screen runs at select venues, openings in every booking zone, etc)? Not to sound like a complete NYC, blue-state snob (O.K., I guess I AM being a complete NYC, blue-state snob), but where did they suppose the audience is in the area for this film? If there is an audience for this film, I’d think it would be in the red states (and hopefully the folks in the red states will prove me wrong on this and not go see it this weekend)…
Aw Bill, let’s not forget “Dukes of Hazard”, a relative talked me into taking him to a Warners screening, makes “Island” look like “Gone With the Wind”,God awful movie. They just get worse and worse.
Now I’m really depressed – the march of film history as it progresses from Oklahoma to West Side Story to Fiddler on the Roof to … The Island.
Sounds like a roadshow to me. Oklahoma, West Side Story and Fiddler had 3 shows a day on weekends at the Rivoli I believe.
Yeah, like they need the time between shows to handle the crowds.
I never understood the small amount of showings per day at that theatre.
Just glanced at today’s “Island” ad in the Times. The number of daily screenings at the Ziegfeld (and yes, the ad states DLP) is down to three; the last showing starts at the absurdly early hour of 8:15 pm. At least Clearview decided to not to close the Ziegfeld until the next attraction.
I guess he plays in the combo.