TCL Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
159 people
favorited this theater
Showing 851 - 875 of 1,670 comments
Caught the 10:30PM showing of “Jumping the Broom” on Saturday 5/14. Only 25 of us in the audience. The movie was standard fare, but the gorgeous cinematography was projected magnificently on the big screen.
The geniuses that run the Chinese have to learn how to capitalize on the thousands of Chinese tourists that visit the forecourt every week. It must be a point of pride to the Chinese that one of the most famous theaters in the world has a Chinese motif.
Just as Broadway theaters depend heavily on the domestic and foreign toursist trade so must the Chinese.
Tickets are on sale for Friday evening shows and the entire weekend day/night shows at both Grauman’s & Chinese 6 at Movie Tickets.com. I don’t know why both complexes are shutting down during the day on Friday – no news has been reported.
All in all, rumors of this being Mann’s last weekend as operator are just that: RUMORS!
I’m wondering if the new owners are just taking a week off to tweak some stuff in the theatre before the X-MEN relaunch. I’ll have to see if Chinese 6’s listings have been removed, too.
Mann has removed the showtime listings for the Chinese from their site. Currently there is nothing listed on either MOVIE TICKETS.COM or FANDANGO for this weekend. But yes, they do have X MEN booked for next week which is probably a Mann booking. My guess they will run the theatre(s) as usual for the summer and fill the Mann bookings. After the summer who knows. Maybe I am cynical but I do not think these guys bought the theatre out of the goodness of their hearts. They are movie producers, and as producers they are only out to make money. Hopefully the rumors of Studio 54 are false. But I am going to patronize the theatre as much as I can this summer.
And where did y'all hear that Mann is handing over OPERATIONS of the theatre? I haven’t seen that in the news. We all know that ownership is changing but I have not seen any reports that Mann was bowing out as operator.
Confirming what Danny said: Grauman’s IS getting “X-MEN: FIRST CLASS.” So don’t be sad, Brad. :)
As controversial as the new owners and the various rumors might be, I’m holding out hope this change will mark a rebirth. That the new owners/operators will initiate some efforts which will ultimately lead to more people entering the theatre to watch a movie, rather than treating it as just a courtyard sightseeing stop/photo op. It’s a beautiful historic theatre, with an unsurpassed pedigree, but it’s true value is found in being a living cinema treasure, not as a marker of what once was.
Now I am sad, this is the end of Mann Theatres. I grew up with this theatre chain. My first job was in 1980 at the Village in Westwood where I worked for over 2 years.
The new owners are going with business as usual for now. But I am not holding breath for a positive future for the Chinese.
They are getting X-MEN instead.
well, tickets are now on sale for KUNG FU PANDA 2 at Arclight Hollywood. When was the last time Grauman’s got a tentpole release? The last one I remember off the top of my head was CLASH OF THE TITANS, which was released the first weekend of April – April of LAST YEAR!
I’m not sure, but I think Mann has booked KUNG FU PANDA 2 into the Chinese first run on May 26. It is not showing up on Arclight Hollywood for pre-sale but is at the other Arclight venues. Mann has some premieres booked for June already also. The new owners will probably keep it as business as usual, at least through the summer since Mann has bookings set in place.
Enjoyed seeing movies this year at the TCM festival. I dont think there is a bad seat in the house.
Agree with “robertalex” on CAROUSEL (played in smaller theater upstairs)…holy dear mother of God was that a gorgeous print. The audience was going “wow” out loud as the curtain kept opening to reveal the big screen. Then…applause at the Cinemascope logo. Gotta love that!
Saw FANTASIA in the main theater. I found it distractingly digital looking…pixilation and digital noise very apparent. A bright and colorful picture, but very flat looking. HOWEVER…I was sitting very close. I’m told the digital image is more impressive if you sit back a bit. Either way, the very SIZE of that screen was breathtaking indeed. We non-LA folks dont get to experience that very often.
THATS ENTERATINMENT looked good, not spectacular. They did the overture and full curtain treatment…those little things mean a lot to me. The Technicolor sequences looked like really good video…but 100% different from the genuine 35mm Technicolor print of ROYAL WEDDING that played at the Egyptian. You cant beat the real thing.
STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE looked crisp and clear. No grain. So…it looked very blu ray DVD-ish to me. That is…gorgeous, but NOT like 35mm. Trying not to be a purist snob, but digital lacks that shimmer and warmth. I notice it.
I guess I better get over my 35mm love…I hear studios wont be doing 35mm prints forever. Enjoy them while you can.
Chris, that was too funny. There were no set # of tickets per show. Anyone with a pass could wait in line and enter the auditoriums 30 minutes before the show. At 15 minutes before the show, they counted the empty seats and then let in the stand by line.
For Carousel, it was in the 177 seat theatre, and I was #1 in stand by line, getting there an hour early. I was told not to hold my breath and that I might not get in. Then at 10 min before the show, they let us all buy tickets.
For the shows at Grauman’s it was the same, with the stand by line way over on Orange St. They let us in close to 20 minutes before both shows I saw since it seats so many. I heard the evening shows were much more occupied but I didn’t try for any of them.
How many standby tix were available for each show? I’m asking for the future. I couldn’t make it to the Festival the last 2 years but I’m hoping to make next years…provided Grauman’s ain’t a disco by then.
I was not able to see Spartacus, only That’s Entertainment and Goldfinger in 4K, Carousel was a gorgeous 35mm print in the upstairs cinemas. The festival was very expensive! The passes, which sold out, where like $600. All stand by tickets were $20 each film, so I only went to the three movies I had not seen.
so NO ONE saw last Saturday’s screening of ‘Spartacus’ ????
Hope the new owners can keep the Big Chinese for both film and live events. Enlarge the curved screen and move it up a few feet to the ceiling plus put a circle stage into the first five rows of seats in front of the huge screen for live entertainment. Add a seperate reverse curve curtain track to cover the new stage area. Bring back all the nice color lights.
I asked the Conservancy about the level of protection the interior of the Chinese enjoys. This is what they wrote back: “The local landmark (HCM) designation mandates a review process that addresses the exterior and interior.”
There aren’t likely to be any nasty surprises concerning this building.
Nice to hear the report on TCM. Are the events in the Chinese selling out?
Came back from the TCM festival at the Chinese. Yesterday was a great 35mm print of Carousel at the 6 plex in one of the smaller theatres. They did an awesome job.
This morning I waited for That’s Entertainment playing in Grauman’s. It was so much fun being there with a large enthusiastic crowd. After that, my buddy met me and we saw Goldfinger at 12:30. Nothing like seeing James Bond at the Chinese!
I cannot get over the projection of both films with that Barco 4K DLP projector. It was unreal, truly a game changer for larger screens.
If you examine the rumors (especially Hollywood Elsewhere and it’s “inside source”) the alleged dramatic changes are centered more on the Chinese 6 than Grauman’s.
If the Chinese 6 were to be convereted to a nightclub style venue, would anyone really care? It’s not like that annex holds the same historical/cultural significance.
As for Grauman’s, the only changes that have been rumored, to a significant extent, are transitioning to “multi use”; which would suggest the need for a stage, thus restoring an original feature of the theatre. About the only questonable alteration suggested, thus far, involves removable seating.
While I’m just as concerned as the next guy, especially considering the track records of the parties involved, I could see the potential for some of these alleged changes being beneficial. Say, Grauman’s continues to screen movies and adds the option of hosting live events once again. Perhaps, the kitchen/bar adds a luxury service to the theatre. And, the former 6 supplements the venue with post event options and extra drawing power via alternative entertainment choices. Yes, that involves a great deal of speculation and wishful thinking on my part, but, at this point, it’s no more speculative than saying “this is the end”.
If Mann used historic preservation tax credits for their restoration several years ago, it would make it very difficult for anyone to significantly alter the interior now.
oh I don’t know if it was sold out, I’d go to this in a heartbeat if I lived in LA or travelled out to attend the film festival – I’m just very intrigued in knowing if this digital screening is superior to the shoddy bluray transfer Universal dumped on us. Let us know how ‘Outlaw Josey Wales’ looks BradE41, as it’s another 4K DLP digital presentation.
other 4K DLP festival presentations include:
Was it sold out? I hoping to see The Outlaw Josey Wales tomorrow.
I just looked at Mann site. There are premieres for Hangover 2 and Green Lantern booked past May 20. So it looks like these guys will keep as is for a while at least. They still probably will not have top films this Summer. Mann probably has films booked already. Still, I am NOT breathing a sigh of relief.
Tonight there’s a 4K DLP digital screening of ‘Spartacus’ – is it better than Universal’s hidef transfer that they released on bluray – I really hope so… Criterion needs to rectify and release a definitive proper bluray edition.