New World Stages

Is it currently operating as a live stage? If so, the status should be "Open".

Here is an article about the former Worldwide Plaza Cinemas and what the Dodgers organization plans to do with it:

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm?int_news_id=4520

Thanks. The article, published a year ago, announces an upcoming Fall 2004 opening. Did the theatre in fact open?

I used to go here often when it was both a first-run house then a discount theatre. It was a good place to see a film twice, the second time not having to pay full fare or a place to catch a film late in its run.

I remember seeing "Seven" for the second time here and I could have sworn they dropped a reel or left out a part of the movie for some reason.

It was wild here when it was a second run house due to huge crowds taking advantage of the low rates. However, it was noisy. It wasn't exactly an upscale crowd.

The name of the stage incarnation of the Worldwide is Dodger Stages. The five theater complex opened in the fall of 2004. Although some of the productions are doing well (the play "Modern Orthodox" with Jason Biggs and Molly Ringwald recently recouped its investment), given the financial problems of the Dodgers organization I wouldn't be surprised if there is a new owner by the end of the year.

The Worldwide opened in the summer of 1989, at or around the same time the nine-screen Chelsea multiplex opened its doors for business. Unlike the Chelsea, however, few people seemed to know (or care) the Worldwide existed and struggled to compete as a result for product with the theatres within the Times Square/immediate area zone at the time (the Criterion, the Astor Plaza, the combined four Embassy screens, the Ziegfeld, and the Guild 50th Street), eventually mostly becoming a move-over house and a repository for schlocky low-budget genre pics and very minor indie-type films.

In March of '94, Cineplex Odeon converted the Worldwide, the Manhattan Twin, and the 59th Street East Cinemas into discount theatres (with each of those three sites being rebranded as 'Encore' houses - i.e., the Encore Worldwide, etc.). While the Manhattan and the 59th Street East eventually again became first-run venues (within a matter of months or, at the latest, by the 1996 holiday season), the Worldwide continued to serve in its then-present incarnation. Wildly successful during weekends and holidays, the Worldwide was generally a ghost town during non-rush periods, making it the perfect target for closure when Loews Cineplex' bankruptcy reorganization plan was accepted in February of 2001. (Among the Worldwide's final films: 'Charlie's Angels', 'Meet the Parents', and 'Vertical Limit'.)

One quick, unrelated query (again, this is why a general message board on this site would be a welcome addition): does anyone know whether, during its recent sale, whether Loews Cineplex unloaded its Cineplex Odeon theatres in Canada as well? The C.O.-published movie clock in the Toronto Globe & Mail makes reference to its general entity being an Onex company, the unit which (I thought at least) unloaded Loews Cineplex lock, stock, and barrel.

Onex, a Canadian company, retained a majority interest in the Canadian Cineplex theatres only, merged it with Galaxy Cinemas creating Cineplex Galaxy Limited Partnership - an "affiliate" of LCE (though I haven't yet figured out the extent of the affiliation). The rest of the LCE operations in the US and overseas were sold by Onex to the Carlyle Group, Bain Capital and Spectrum Equity Investors. As with several other theatre chains, the bean-counters are running the show.

Thanks for the info, Dave; I suspected something of the sort...

This theatre was never called the Worldwide Plaza Cinemas; it was simply known as the Worldwide Cinemas, or, at least on an informal basis after it became a discount house, the Encore Worldwide (or Encore Worldwide Cinemas).

It looks like someone else may be in the Worldwide very soon. The other day there was an article in the paper about the bath the Dodger organization has been taken lately. Back in '04 Dodger lost $7.5 million on the play "Dracula, the Musical." This year hasn't been much better because it is expected that "Good Vibrations" is expected to lose $7 million. Ouch!

The Worldwide lost money from the day it opened to the day it closed and was the source of much grief within Cineplex Odeon. The lack of a replacement cinema at the former RKO Warner Twin site lead Cineplex Odeon to sign this loser deal which was about one block off way from the action.

Lost money?? It was hemorrhaging green....

Don't mistake full seats at discounted prices as profit. The Worldwide's high rent killed any chance at profit. It was bad deal that should never have been made. It went subrun when the other Times Square theaters refused to play day and date. When it dated the same film as the National it did around 10% of the business and it took that from the National hence the discount attempt. Staffing costs and a sometimes violent crowd did not help matters. I understand the AMC Empire loses money as well.

I thought AMC was doing well. I thought I read somewhere that the AMC 'plex in Times Square was that chain's highest grossing theatre, though that doesn't necessarily equate to profits.

And I am surprised that the Worldwide Cinema's rents were so steep. I mean that cinema was underground. What else, besides the boiler room, could they put there?

The "Worldwide Cinemas" was a great place to see a movie! The theatres were mostly large and comfortable. It never really took on due to the lousy programing! It could have easily become a house like the Lincoln Plaza, and it was far more comfortable, large screens and CURTAINS! It is now a very attractive off Broadway thaetre and seems to be doing fairly well!

Shouldn't the name be changed to the current one, which is Dodger Stages? There's a link at www.dodgerstages.com

Yes, it is the Dodgers Stages, and seems to be doing fairly well.

This was a very nice movie mall-style operation when it first opened around 1990. Then, it was caleld "Worldwide Plaza Cineplex odeon," or something like this. I remember seeing "Thunderheart," "Misery," "A League of their Own," and "Forrest Gump" here, plus a few others before it became a discount second-run place. When it first opened, the carpeting and low lighting were very nice, the auditoriums were spacious, and the facility was clean. I saw an usher or a manager here punch a patron in the face when I attended "Forrest Gump," which was the last movie I saw here, in 1995. By that time it was hot, noisy and crowded, with lots of litter and soda on the floors. Seeing the patron get punched (he was being escorted out for some reason and the manager cracked him in the jaw right in the middle of the crowd) turned me off the place, as did the noisy audiences. Never been back.

The Dodger Stages are now the New World Stages.

The Worldwide Cinemas was not the only location that Cineplex made a deal that would never pay for it's rent. When Cineplex got into a bidding war when the former UA Westwood Theatre (aka Mann's Festival)became available. They out bid everyone else and had a rent of 1 million dollars a year for the single screen in Westwood, California. It was all done for having a screen in that market. Mann Theatres a few years later picked up the lease when Cineplex dropped the location.

That was a smart move changing the name to New World Stages. Dodger Stages reminded too much of an ex-Broooklyn baseball team.

This theatre name needs to be changed.

http://www.dodgerstages.com/

When this was the Worldwide Cinemas ($3 movies)-- does anyone remember me "rhyming the movies" (1994-1995)and running the lines out front ?
"When the icebergs melted, and the waves currrled; What once was Earth, became known as WATERWORLD !"
"....is the movie to be seen, and coming attractions are on the screen.."
etc.
Name rhymes you remember, please.

Ive seen a few of the broadway musicals presented here in the last few years- 'Evil Dead-The Musical', 'Mimi La Duck' and 'The Great American Trailer Park Musical'. Ive sat in 2 or 3 of the different 5 theatres and i must say they are all great auditoriums with great accustics and sightlines. Very spacious modern foyer spaces. I imagine they would have been great for showing movies. For now, it seems that the live theatre programming is working OK for Dodgers Stages. Dont ever be afraid to visit.

The neighborhood has gone very upscale now and the cinemas would now be welcome if they programmed movies like the "QUAD" in the village or the undergound "Lincoln Plaza" cinemas/

This is a November 2007 photo. The name on the building is still the New World Stages.

I saw one or two movies here in the late '90's. The only one that comes to mind is Luc Besson's bizarre "The Fifth Element" with Bruce Willis in the summer of 1997. I recall at the time that there was very little in theatres that held any interest for me (at least that I hadn't already seen) and the big new release was "Air Force One." By that point, the prospect of sitting through yet another by-the-numbers action film where Harrison Ford indignantly defends himself and family ("Get off my plane!") against terrorists was depressing - I thought the movie looked like "Jack Ryan Goes to Washington" judging from the trailers. I had a desire to see something "different" and settled on the Besson film - which was at the end of it's run at the Worldwide. Well... I got what I asked for! I'm not saying it's a great movie (or even a GOOD one), but it sure did seem like a refreshing change of pace at the time - though I wanted to jump up on the screen and strangle the Chris Tucker character at several points!

Here is a night view of the New World Stages.

I have no complaints about the only three or four viewing experiences I had here, all of them in the early days when Worldwide was first run.
However, I did have one of those annoying bureaucratic experiences.
Because I was in NYC twice a year to review plays and films that eventually would open in my hometown of Pittsburgh, I tried to see a combination of six plays and movies (or a minimum of five) a say. Wednesdays and Saturdays two of them automatically were plays, with the movies before, between and, when possible, after.
To keep expenses down, I'd minimize breakfasts and lunches by getting through most of the day on moviehouse popcorn, large pretzels, etc.
One Monday in 1990 I arrived at Cineplex Odeon Manhattan Twin (as I think it was called then) on East 59th to buy some filling junk food and see both of its then-current features. It was already a minute or so before noon, so I had no time left to dine elsewhere even if I'd wanted to.
The young woman who seemed to be in charge, who wore her indifference like a medal of honor, told those of us waiting at the concession stand that the stand wouldn't be opening because she hadn't brought the extra keys. So much for lunch.

The next morning I set out on my Tuesday marathon, which was to begin at Cineplex Odeon's Worldwide.

I wasn't even thinking of it being the same circuit, but having just had the experience I had the day before at the Manhattan Twin, I took the precautionary measure of stopping at one of those MOM & Pop delis on Eighth Avenue and purchased a can of Pringles, just as a precaution.

I put it in the deep pocket of my overcoat, bought my ticket and headed to the Worldwide's concession stand. Damned if a young lady in charge, with attitude to burn, wasn't telling patrons at the concession stand that it wouldn't be opening because there was no key.

I couldn't believe the incompetence or the improbability that that would happen two consecutive days in theaters run by the same company.

It happened that my movie wasn't to begin for several minutes, and there certainly weren't many patrons in the whole building, so I strolled in the corridor for a moment, eating one Pringle chip at a time from the can in my overcoat pocket.

The same woman who had announced, without apology or regret, that the concession stand would not be opening, accosted me and told me I had no business bringing in food from the outside and that I would have to leave or get rid of it immediately.

I told her the cirumstances I've just mentioned and that it was lucky I has SOMETHING neat and easy to eat since the theater was not selling any of its own snacks that day. She didn't yield a bit.

The fact that she and her supervisors weren't satisfying their responsibility to the corporation nor to the patrons apparently hadn't entered her head.

Recently the company I work for hired one of the auditoriums here to have its pretentious annual meeting where the whole company gets into one room and celebrates itself and expects even its lowest-paid employees to service the corporate crevices with worship and adoration. I fully intended to hide in the back row and flee after 5 minutes but to my horror I found myself in the front row in the thick of the orgy of corporate self-stimulation onstage, and could not escape until it was over. I blanked my mind in order to survive the terrible occasion but do remember that the CEO's fly was open. I had a front-seat view, and giggled throughout.

The theater is so changed from when it was Worldwide that it is unrecognizable. All that remains familiar is the mall-like layout. Gone are the expanses of carpet and the mood lighting I recall from before Worldwide became a discount sub-run house. The floors are now shiny concrete. The walls are metal and glass. Lighting was harsh. It was like being inside the Death Star, or a post-modern industrial art museum.

There are photos on the NWS website, click the link in the introduction above. It's an interesting design, but places like this, particularly those that I've been in before, always look to me as though they were renovating and ran out of money before the ceiling, wall coverings and carpet were installed.

While I have been and will continue to be highly critical of C/O and the Grand Pooh-bah, THIS was their best theatre in Manhattan. Well laid out and well decorated - and the obnoxious pink neon was kept to a minimum, I always liked this one. Unfortunately they built it in the wrong place.

This theatre had a rather strange opening. It opened on June 16th, 1989 with only three screens open, showing two prints of Ghostbusters II and Field Of Dreams.

The fourth auditorium opened on July 19th, 1989 with two auditoriums running When Harry Met Sally and the other two running Do The Right Thing (which had replaced Field Of Dreams on June 30th).

The fifth auditorium opened on August 2nd, 1989 with two auditoriums running Parenthood, two running When Harry Met Sally and one running Do The Right Thing.

Finally all six auditoriums opened on August 16th, 1989 with Uncle Buck opening with the same films mentioned two weeks earlier.

What was the reason behind this? Was the theatre rushed into opening for the summer season or did they not have much product due to Cineplex Odeon only running Universal and Columbia titles for most NYC locations then?

Usually, they just want to get the place opened no matter what, so even if its 2 or 3 screens, the pencil pushers figure its better than nothing.

CO was not above opening screens as they were finished while still in construction on others.

The project ran late and distributors felt the location was too far out west (duh) and didn't want to risk exclusives of their movies in the zone, so getting first-runs was a problem.

CO was forced to day-date this with the Times Square Warner on "Uncle Buck" and the Warner proved the World Wide was redundant. Universal owned 50% of CO by then so they continued to cooperate for a while.

It began its second-run police on March 4th, 1994 with Geronimo: An American Legend, Addams Family Values, The Joy Luck Club, Beethoven's 2nd, The Accompanist and The Summer House as the engagements.

The theatre closed on February 22nd, 2001 with Meet The Parents, Charlie's Angels, Rugrats In Paris (matinees), Dude, Where's My Car? (evenings), Wonder Boys, Vertical Limit and Proof Of Life as the final engagements.

That should say policy, not police.

Renewing link.