TCL Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
159 people
favorited this theater
Showing 576 - 600 of 1,670 comments
94 foot screen is amazing … I owned a 78 foot screen theatre by 42 …amazing!!
I think they’re arguing it’s “LieMax” because it will be digital projection and a 1.90:1 screen rather than 1.44:1, not because of the size.
Roger what wrong with trying to make money .. This is the mentality of America today !
According to an article I read, the screen specs are 94 feet wide by 46 feet 2 inches tall. DEFINITELY doesn’t sound like a LieMax!
I recently added the last sentence to the Intro above, as to future seating capacity. As to original seating capacity, Theatre Historical Society of America (not an online source) has it at 2,200 seats when it opened in 1927.
This just looks like a desperate attempt to make the venue profitable again. The overhead is huge; electric and heat are big expenses and the reason why the large houses cost a lot to run. Also they have lost much of their audience. I saw the Hobbit and the place was empty. Back in the 90’s the theater used to fill up all the time. Time will tell but everything they are doing just smacks of desperation. Mann theaters lost their top technical person years ago when Brent Walker died suddenly and things started to go down hill from there. Mann never made full use of the venue they refused to run any revival stuff like the new owners are doing. That is the one idea that at least seems to draw a large crowd.
The Hollywood Highland project was supposed to do wonders for the whole area but still the Theater seems to be losing money year after year. The majority of people just seem to like their neighborhood mutiplex.
Zuni, the 1,162 seating capacity is what is listed right here on this page.
RogerA, I also read that they are planning to show occasional Chinese films (to tie the theater to it’s “sponsor” and also play off the Chinese name), so that suggests to me that they plan on showing not just IMAX stuff. But my jaw would drop if they didn’t show both Catching Fire AND The Hobbit in IMAX this Thanksgiving/Christmas.
The original seats were smaller and spaced closer together. When the theater was built the seats went a lot further back to where the snack bar is now. The newest latest large snack bar takes up the space once used by the Cinemiracle booth. The seats that are installed now are wider and have more leg room than the standard theater seat so there are a lot less seats than there were when the theater first opened.
The Chinese was only remodeled once to put in a larger screen and that was a major renovation for Windjammer. There is a 120 foot screen holder under the 90 foot screen holder that is used now. The IMAX screen will be limited width because of height restrictions. It will be sad to see the Curtains and masking get taken out but that is the trend. If they will only be able to run IMAX films that will limit the films they can show.
The more I’ve thought about it, the more curious I am about the potential upsides.
First off, Zubi… to be fair, the current seating in Grauman’s is actually 1,162, so a new seat count of 986 isn’t exactly a major slash in seats.
But the truth is that the Chinese is dying. They can no longer book the “A” titles and when they do, they’re stuck playing it for so long that they’re a ghost town for weeks at a time (The Hobbit is a good example). They need some way to bring in titles again and fill seats, otherwise it WILL turn into a dance club. And let’s be honest… this ISN’T the first time the Chinese has been renovated to increase the screen size. It’s just the first time most of us can remember and instead of going horizontal, this time it’s going vertical. I would love to see them use some top/bottom masking so that when they aren’t showing in full IMAX, they can return to the screen shape they’ve always had. Don’t know if that’s possible.
BUT…
The real question is going to be whether or not the studios are going to consider “The IMAX Experience” films to be different than the standard DCP/3D/35mm engagements. If they do (and I don’t see a reason they can’t) that would mean that the Chinese can book films simultaneously with the Arclight and even the El Capitan. Just imagine the Dome playing something like Man of Steel in standard 4k and (god help us) their patented god-awful 3D, while a few blocks away the Chinese is playing Man of Steel: An IMAX 3D Experience (even though I know the new Chinese won’t be re-opened by June for MOS). Will the studios allow the IMAX version to play at the Chinese at the same time as the standard version at the Dome? Technically it’s not a movie the Dome can play, so you’re not double booking in the same territory. Now Pacific is absolutely not going to want this to happen and is going to fight it, but it could make things interesting and Arclight might actually have to step it up again in the presentation department. I feel they’ve gotten waaaaayyy too complacent, especially after losing what competition the Chinese used to offer when still a Mann theater.
Add in some reserved seating and I’m certainly game to check it out. Would probably beat going to Universal City or The Rave.
“I am told that the new laser light source delivers a picture as bright as carbon arc used to give.”
Laser projection will be able to play 3D at brightness levels of 14 foot lamberts on the IMAX screen. So, that is a huge improvement from what one normally finds with 3D image brightness on screens of any size. Perhaps, more importantly, the laser technology allows for a uniform picture on large screens (3D and 2D). The demonstration conducted at last year’s CinemaCon was very impressive.
While I’m not fully sold on the proposed alterations either, I do hold out hope that these new deals and changes might place the Chinese back in to the realm of being a competitive cinema once again. Perhaps, the “latest and greatest” technology or the IMAX deal will finally result in better bookings.
Bravo , sounds like a plan that might actually save this theatre.
IMAX at the Chinese, well that will make the minions who don’t know any better happy. I will not go see a movie shot in 1:85 or 2:35 projected in an aspect ratio of 1:34 besides IMAX is mostly hype. Blowing up a low resolution original only makes it easy to see how bad it really looks. Besides the resolution of video projected IMAX is only 4K at best (they were using two 2K projectors). Looks like they will never be able to match the picture size and quality of Windjammer in Cinemiracle or even Todd-AO. I am told that the new laser light source delivers a picture as bright as carbon arc used to give. So finally the Dome will be the big screen leader in Southern California. If these people were really smart they would install a custom system like the major chains are doing.
Hey guys, the LATHF is working with them to ensure they do it right. They are also holding an event here on 4/20.
Check out http://www.lahtf.org/2013-movie-making-movies.html
The big question is… HOW? They’re saying the 3rd largest screen IMAX has. How is that possible unless they dig and go underground? What kind of destruction will that cause? Most of me is mortified, but part of me is very curious.
Sad News. It was bad enough they were changing to stadium seating NOW IMAX is the final nail in the coffin. Film exhibition is really going down the toilet.
So…they’re turning the most famous movie theatre in the world into…AHEM…an IMAX!
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-chinese-theatre-goes-imax-20130411,0,2203702.story
The pool at the base of the fountain on the right side was removed when that fussy, fussy fire department and the Dept of Building and Safety decided that more clearance was needed at a major entrance portal. Why stop at a wading pool? Maybe add a water slide to the stairs/escalators that ascend from the portal? Next time you go, don’t miss the musical stairs and Sweet – a candy shop for the gods at the top of the stairs.
Thanks CTC with news about the right side fountain. Maybe the new people at TCL can put in a small plastic wading pool at the bottom and sell tickets and make some extra money for the tourists little kids on a hot day to put their feet and splash around in while the parents look at the prints in the forcourt. The strong adults can pay a rock climbing fee to TCL Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to climb what was left of the nice fountain that gurgles no more. They can make extra money If they want their photo taken on the top. Why did they take out the base pool on the right side?
Regarding the right side fountain terrywade wondered about. While the main fixture remains, the base pool was removed.
I agree that The Birds projection was great, much superior to the 35MM print the New Beverly showed about a year ago. The person who interviewed Tippi Hedren should have found out who was in the audience and announced them: Oscar winner George Chakiris was there and was completely ignored.
Forecourt landscaping has been mentioned in several accounts that I’ve read. I don’t know the details, but will post them here when I do. I enjoyed Tippi Hedren and Veronica Cartwright on hand for a screening of The Birds. It was a pristine print, a nice sized house and wonderful to behold. So glad TCM uses the theatre as its prime festival site.
I think the right side waterfall can’t be used as they opened up a hole in the right wall to go upstairs from the forecourt to the shops upstairs near the fountain, I may be wrong but the last time I was there I think the right side waterfall was blocked someway? Let’s put in some gold fish in the working one on the left and blue underwater lights the tourists can feed them. The poor Egyptian Theatre down the street has waterfalls but they leak into the wall and restaurant next door. Hope they can fix them someday.
Mr. Wright, did you hear anything about any changes to the forecourt such as bringing back the palm trees or fixing the right side fountain? Also, do you know if the heating system is functioning? When I saw The Hobbit there a few weeks ago it was freezing.
Upgrades and maintaining means nothing if the theatre is poorly booked. It will remain iconic but the lack of “A” titles makes it seem less attractive. They need to get a major chain to book it, or double book with Arclight.