Regency Village Theatre

Dear Mark — We tried (to no avail) to hold a meetup at the National several months ago before it closed. After speaking with the manager of the theater, who approved our hosting it there pending approval of the owners, we never heard back from him despite follow up phone calls.

When we decided to relaunch this event it was with the intention of finding a cinema-related venue that could hold a number of people without worrying about showtimes beginning or ending and getting in the way. The plight of the Village and Bruin is certainly something to discuss that night. I’m not sure how easily we could do that in their lobby. :)

Your point is very valid and it is something that we discussed before we picked this venue. Since it is our first, we wanted to see what the turnout is before deciding to begin asking other theaters to let us take over for the evening.

Ross

As a counterpoint to Senorsock’s comments, the curtains were lowered AT THE END OF ANOTHER FRIGGIN DIGITAL MOVIE TRIVIA/TV COMMERCIAL PRESHOW ala “Regal/AMC First Look.” Mann’s preshow is run by Screenvision and, yes, the curtains are left wide open as folks buy their popcorn and take their seats after arrival. Once the preshow’s done, THEN THEY CLOSE THE CURTAINS! BOO-HISS!!!

Dang…no one cares about classic presentation anymore (except Arclight – save the trivia barrage at AFI’s 40th).

Had not been to this theatre in about ten years and was curious to see what kind of shape its in since Westwood’s decline. Happy to report the theater is well kept, from its 6-pointed star on the ceiling to its large balcony. The curtains lowered and then opened to start the show, everything was clean and the seats were very comfortable. The film was “The Brave One” so there were only three other people in attendance, but despite this they kept the balcony open. The screen was big, projection was bright, and I’m happy to say its still a GREAT place to see a movie!

The distant future of the Village and Bruin will be determined on if someone sees a revitalization of Westwood Village. Personally I still see life in Westwood Village and hope someone has the foresight to keep these theatres going. They are situated pretty much in the heart of Westwood and should stay open as movie theatres. Pacific theatres would be a good operator. They have done wonders with the Arclight/Dome and the El Capitan. I’d hate to see the Village turned into a Target.

My vote for next theatre to go is the AVCO. It lost is lustre when they split the main theatre.

The studios loved doing event screenings over at the Plitt.

I was just using the Bruin as a what if, because that was a easy seating capacity to remember at this time. At one point Pacific was going to do something near the Plaza site. Mann has been wanting to do something for the longest time. So if they do raze the National for the stupid plan for that store. That might give them the right of way for that plex. I know it was never going to be a monster-plex. Maybe by that time they get planning done, the lease for the Festival will be up and they will get a few more seats. And place all the action closer to the Village & Bruin to save in staffing and aid in move-over houses for premieres and regular films.

People like Santa Monica, Century City, complexes like the Grove, ArcLight. AMC holds on to the Avco just as a Westwood location, to play off the Century City, Santa Monica westside market. The big problem that Westwood has is the parking to seats zoning with the city. It’s not that they can build a new theatre in the village area without dealing with that zoning. It’s based on seats vs. parking spots. So if the company wants to build a plex. Let’s just say they raze the National (1000 seats), Plaza (600 seats) and the Bruin (800 seats). That’s 2400 seats in their pot for the plex. No problem with the zoning in the area. But if they want to build a 3000 seat complex, big problem with those 600 extra seats with no real parking.
Is Pacific Theatre willing to spend over a million dollars a year on the Village’s and Bruin’s lease. When Cineplex won the bidding war for the old UA Egyptian location. Mann Theatres, Edwards Theatres, Cineplex Odeon and another chain. That lease was for that location was between $300,000-$400,000 a year. That theatre could not make a profit, but was a bargaining location for booking films. (Westwood, Santa Monica, Beverly Center/Fairfax, Marina, Hollywood(Showcase) and Universal City. So for they build some park structures that may fix the problem. Oh wait the people that live in the area, next problem more traffic. That why home owners had the city put in permit parking so they could have it, but not the patrons to the area. So Westwood will never be the same after some of those police problem during the late 80’s too.

Westwood is no longer high grossing area it once was. You would have to have seen it during that time. When all the theatres were important in the market area. It’s what Mann did, but what the studios did. When you had clearances available and your theatre was the only theatre showing the feature for so many miles radius. The theatres that they dropped were no longer performing for them for the terms on their leases. Other chains have picked up a house here and there. Westwood became a force in the late 70’s till late 80’s. Because when AMC Century City opened Mann tried but lost in trying to make the clearances stick. AMC was going to play day and date with Mann’s Westwood bookings. I worked for Mann and the other chains in the booth. Another problem is Mann never owned the theatres there, they are all leased in Westwood. So the owners every few years want more money for the property. And with newer complexes open all over the city. People like the newer and easier locations like Century City, Santa Monica. They offer better parking, food and a larger selection of films at different show times. People talk about why can’t we save the National Theatre now. It’s fate was written a few years ago by events in the area, market changes movie going habits. Look back at booking patterns Hollywood / Westwood, before that it was Hollywood / Beverly Hills. Before that it was Los Angeles / Hollywood. Each first run area died over time. Only time will tell. I really Hope the National Theatre stays running film. I had many great time running shows there and viewing many films there too.

Well for booking the studios always want a Hollywood type house and a Westwood house for their main showcase showings. At one point Mann Theatres had a clearance clause in the contracts with the studios of 5 miles between the closest theatre that could play that feature. That vanished in the late 80’s. When a independent theatre owner filed suit againist Mann Theatres and one of the studios. The loss of the National Theatre will always be a problem. Just like the loss of the Century Plaza (Plitt) houses and those houses in Beverly Hills (Warner, Fox Wilshire, Beverly and the nearby Carthay Circle). Just wait a few more years when the leases on the Village and Bruin are up again. Mann Theatres does not own those locations. They did not want to renew them the last time, but a deal was worked out with the owners.

Yeah, I figured HP would be locked in, being a big Warner film. Even though it’s a common occurance it just seems redudant for it to play at both the Village AND Grauman’s for that length of time, IMO. Oh well, at least Transformers got at least a week to play at the Village before it was bumped out.

I’m surprised neither the Village or Grauman’s Chinese will be playing the Simpsons Movie. Instead both will continue playing the latest Harry Potter film. Pretty disappointing as I really wanted to see it on either of their 2k DLPs. The Dome’s 2k just doesn’t cut it.

was the theater busy for spidy 3????