The sale to Cineplex sounded a bit odd to me as well. Cineplex is a big fish that builds stadium-seat megaplexes, why would they want to sink money into 2 outdated theatres that run art films?
My guess is they will run them for a short period of time and then close them, striking two more theatres off their list of competitors. The properties are in good locations ripe for retail/condo development.
Cineplex is also building a huge megaplex at the foot of Cambie street along the Canada Line Skytrain which is easily accessible to the surrounding neighbourhood of the Park theatre.
Leonard Schein and Tom Lightburn, owners of the Park and the 5th Avenue Cinemas, have announced they have sold both theatres to Cineplex. The sale will be completed in March.
Leonard Schein and Tom Lightburn, owners of the Park and Festival Cinemas, have announced they have sold both theatres to Cineplex. The sale will be completed in March 2013.
Unfortunately this theatre is slated to close, once again, at the end of September, 2012. Rumor is it will be home to a new Dollarama store. Pretty sad.
I still remember going to this theatre on its opening night. They rented a pair of powerful spotlights which waved back and forth in the air.
The opening films were The Naked Gun and Twins.
The theatre was the best deal in town. They ran three movies and charged $2.50 which allowed you to see all three movies plus you could see two of the movies a second time if you wanted.
That’s right. I forgot they actually had a Cineplex and Famous Players right across from one another. I guess this made sense at the time when each chain had exclusive rights from the major studios.
Famous Players had Warner Bros, Paramount, MGM, Touchstone, Disney and Cineplex Odeon had Universal, Orion, Columbia, Tri-Star, New Line.
These exclusive deals semmed to go out the window when the 18-plex Silver City theatres popped up.
rl_83, I stand corrected. I looked up some old Vancouver Sun microfilms from 1991 and The Stanley did close in September.
I guess my memory isn’t what it used to be…
The sale to Cineplex sounded a bit odd to me as well. Cineplex is a big fish that builds stadium-seat megaplexes, why would they want to sink money into 2 outdated theatres that run art films?
My guess is they will run them for a short period of time and then close them, striking two more theatres off their list of competitors. The properties are in good locations ripe for retail/condo development.
Cineplex is also building a huge megaplex at the foot of Cambie street along the Canada Line Skytrain which is easily accessible to the surrounding neighbourhood of the Park theatre.
I guess we’ll see what develops.
Leonard Schein and Tom Lightburn, owners of the Park and the 5th Avenue Cinemas, have announced they have sold both theatres to Cineplex. The sale will be completed in March.
Leonard Schein and Tom Lightburn, owners of the Park and Festival Cinemas, have announced they have sold both theatres to Cineplex. The sale will be completed in March 2013.
Here is a link for a terrific website showing the dismantling of the Granville Seven.
WARNING: The following pictures contain graphic images that will offend anyone who loved this theatre.
http://adventuresinmikeslife.blogspot.ca/2012/11/granville-7-theater-interior-demolition.html
Here is an article about the removal of the ironic Paramount sign.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Iconic+Chilliwack+theatre+sign+comes+down/7591639/story.html
I read that this theatre is slated to close any time now.
There has been an explosion of re-development in this area of town and this property is to be demolished and turned into mixed condo/retail.
Unfortunately this theatre is slated to close, once again, at the end of September, 2012. Rumor is it will be home to a new Dollarama store. Pretty sad.
One of the very few theatres in BC that still have the Famous Players branding, which have been slowly changed to Cineplex.
The “Famous Players” lettering has been removed from the building as they are gradually rebranding it to Cineplex.
It will be sad when they finally phase out “Famous Players” as the name has been a film staple across Canada since the 1920s.
I still remember going to this theatre on its opening night. They rented a pair of powerful spotlights which waved back and forth in the air.
The opening films were The Naked Gun and Twins.
The theatre was the best deal in town. They ran three movies and charged $2.50 which allowed you to see all three movies plus you could see two of the movies a second time if you wanted.
I think the last film to play at this theatre was “The Marrying Man” in early 1991.
Considering it was best theatre in Vancouver, that was kind of a sour note to leave off on!
I remember going this theatre on opening night when Titanic premiered.
I think this theatre had the fourth or fifth highest ticket sales in North America during its first five or six months of operation.
People were driving in from all over the lower mainland to experience the first “Jumbo” megaplex.
That’s right. I forgot they actually had a Cineplex and Famous Players right across from one another. I guess this made sense at the time when each chain had exclusive rights from the major studios.
Famous Players had Warner Bros, Paramount, MGM, Touchstone, Disney and Cineplex Odeon had Universal, Orion, Columbia, Tri-Star, New Line.
These exclusive deals semmed to go out the window when the 18-plex Silver City theatres popped up.
Back in March they sold off many of the seats and started dismantling the theatre and lobby (see pictures). Sad to see another theatre disappear.