Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

259 Richmond Street W,
Toronto, ON M5V 3M6

Unfavorite 4 people favorited this theater

Showing 26 - 40 of 40 comments

VincentParisi
VincentParisi on October 27, 2005 at 8:15 am

Are these places really Cinema Treasures? More like Cinema Bomb Shelters. I’d rather go buy a DVD.

chrisjwarden
chrisjwarden on October 27, 2005 at 5:38 am

After visiting this theatre while researching movie theatres for my masters thesis in architecture I must say I was extremely disappointed. It has little to no street impact due to the fact that its jacked up on top of a parking garage and a chapters. I’m glad that I only went to look and didn’t actually go see a movie there. While still a vertical power centre, the Paramount in Montreal has a Department Store below it. As for the name I figure it will remain at least for a while. It really whether they were granted a licence to maintain the name. That way they would have to spend movie replacing the signage. And hey, by keeping it as a Famous Players it maintains the illusion of competition.

barbg
barbg on August 31, 2005 at 8:58 pm

Thanks much, Chad!

mrcinema
mrcinema on August 31, 2005 at 7:43 pm

I was talking to one of the guys who works at the Paramount and he says the number of seats at the Paramount Toronto are…

1 / 550, #2 / 530, #3 / 450 & #4 / 430.

I cant wait for Cineplex Odeon to take over this theater. Just maybe the new owners will take better care of there customers. I wonder what the new name will be? Im guessing “The Richmond Cineplex Cinemas 14”.

barbg
barbg on August 30, 2005 at 7:36 pm

Does anyone know the number of seats in each of Theaters 1-4 at the Paramount? I’m trying to plan my schedule for the TIFF and have never been to the Paramount. Thanks in advance.

telliott
telliott on July 6, 2005 at 8:29 am

All 4 new Paramount theatres in Canada, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver will have to be renamed after Cineplex Odeon takes over. The Paramount name is a trademark of Viacom and won’t allow the names to be used. I wonder what they will call them now?

tross
tross on May 29, 2005 at 11:40 am

Why is this hunk a junk even listed on here?

As noted by edward…
“From the same company that declined to upgrade and closed the historic Eglinton and Uptown theatres.”

Planning on toronto seems to continue in the path of ripping down anything with a bit of substance to surplaning them with souless condos and peices of crap…like this useless, over priced, theme park suburban like hunk a junk. What a waste of prime downtown real estate.

telliott
telliott on May 19, 2005 at 12:54 pm

gmiller…I don’t know if you had been to the movies often in the past few years before Dec 30 but in Toronto and across the country, most theatre companies have had advertising before the film starts for years. I’m not particularly fond of it either but if I want to see a movie on a BIG screen, I put up with it. As for the prices, Famous Players has just extended it’s policy of $9.95 or less for all theatres in the GTA that it started a few months ago. I personally could do without the commercials and just watch the coming attractions. I believe I read that the major chains are going to list the actual start time of the movie after advertising which I think stems from all of the complaints. By the way I haven’t had any bad experiences at the Paramount and think it’s a great place to watch movies.

mrcinema
mrcinema on May 19, 2005 at 12:29 pm

gmiller… I have had some bad experiences at the Paramount Toronto too, but after all it is located in Downtown Toronto. If you dont like the way they run things then you should choose another theater. You have to contact Famous Players head office to see if you can get a refund. By reading your letter im guessing thats what you want. I hope this helps.

Ross Melnick
Ross Melnick on December 30, 2004 at 4:55 pm

gmiller — as you can see below: “Note: Cinema Treasures is not affiliated with Paramount Toronto.” If you want to reach the theater, you should email them directly. Thanks.

gmiller
gmiller on December 30, 2004 at 3:15 pm

Today my nephew from Nova scotia and I attended a movie in your theatre. We were very upset over the fact the tickets were $11.50 for a matinee AND we were subjected to over 15 minutes of commercials before the trailors even started to play. The movie was billed for a 2:00 pm start and did not start until 2:25 or so. I can understand the competion, when charging $5.98 for a movie, having a number of advertisements in the beginning of the show. But to charge the rates you do and subject us to the unwarranted assault of the advertisements as you did is nothing short of harrassment as far as I’m concerned. As you probably surmised, I’ll not be stepping another foot into your establishment and will do my utmost to inform as many people as possible of your tactics. To make matters even worse, I’ve just found out I cannot e-mail you without being a member of Cinema Treasures. To put it mildly, your company sucks!!!

mperju
mperju on August 10, 2004 at 8:48 pm

Edward, the Uptown’s “sticky floors” are nothing compared to the filth present in the Paramount!

Readers, keep away from the Paramount at all costs!!! There are really frightening substances on all surfaces inside the auditoriums… you need to have the cleaning lights on to notice them! Keep away from the back of the theaters as unfavourable patrons hang out there doing, um… whatever they do best. (Stay away from the back of the auditoriums during midnight shows, as wandering there might create for you a personal safety issue).

Speaking of safety, Famous Players uses extremely poor quality step/ aisle lights. They tend to break off at the edge of the step, and you can notice that many are held on with black duct tape! I have personally witnessed patrons taking 20' tumbles down these steps. Yay to stadium seating!!!

Aside from extremely akward floor planning, few staff do any actual cleaning of the essential pop syrup rooms, or food storage rooms for that matter. This creates a permanent “musty, mouldy” smell throughtout the entire upper lobby/food service area. How enjoyable!!!

If all of the above still make you want to see a movie there, all you have left to hope for is that the film is not scratched and actually is projected on the screen (prior to my last visit, the “booth usher” must have been having fun and bumped the projector which moved slightly and was projecting slightly onto the theater wall). Contrary to lies spread by incompetent theater managers, projectors DO NOT scratch film… untrained staff does!
In case you are still wondering if Famous cares at all, take not of this: they employ four technicians to perform maintenance for the four hundred screens they operate in southern Ontario. This gross understaffing results in problems not being fixed until a theater is rendered completely inoperable… and there goes your famous night out!

edward
edward on May 8, 2004 at 11:16 am

Considering Famous Players is a division of Viacom Inc. (owners of Paramount, CBS, Blockbuster and MTV among others), this multiplex has more in common with Parmount’s theme park division.
With a concession area as big as any suburban mall food court and marketing driven distractions filling the public areas, its a wonder they bother maintaining the screening rooms at all.
Give us back the old Uptown Cinema 1, sticky floors and all. R.I.P

sdoerr
sdoerr on May 8, 2004 at 9:57 am

in reply to edward, it seems like all multi-plexes are like that, bad managment, bad acoustics, no spectacular deco..

edward
edward on March 31, 2004 at 4:19 pm

Lots of flash with no substance. A tacky and forgettable multiplex experience provided by Famous Players. From the same company that declined to upgrade and closed the historic Eglinton and Uptown theatres.