West End Cinema

2301 M Street NW,
Washington, DC 20037

Unfavorite 4 people favorited this theater

Showing 1 - 25 of 34 comments found

JackCoursey
JackCoursey on June 4, 2011 at 3:53 pm

How are the three auditoriums configured? The one closest to the entrance appears to be fan shaped.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on May 31, 2011 at 1:45 pm

Westendcinema, have you taken a nice photo ofthe front of the theater? please post as Profile photo here now that photos can be added again. And, if you have a nice photo from before you tookoever, post that, too. Thanks

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on February 27, 2011 at 3:38 pm

A an article about the theater that appeared on the CNN website: View link.

westendcinema
westendcinema on February 8, 2011 at 4:16 pm

I will ask our booker!

Giles
Giles on February 8, 2011 at 3:32 pm

Any chance the WEC might be booking ‘Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives’ in March? I must admit I saw it last November at the Virginia Film Festival, but I’d really like to see it again. Their digital presentation of the film was a letdown.

westendcinema
westendcinema on January 15, 2011 at 10:37 am

Please do — it’s great!

Giles
Giles on January 14, 2011 at 12:49 pm

‘Summer Wars’ looks really interesting, might have to check it out!

westendcinema
westendcinema on November 19, 2010 at 7:20 pm

Sorry, Jodar, no duck liver! We do serve sandwiches, baked treats like baklava, brownies and cookies, and some gourmet chocolate to go along with the Raisinets and Goobers.
Hope you’ll check us out!
Josh
West End Cinema

JodarMovieFan
JodarMovieFan on November 19, 2010 at 5:00 pm

A 10/22/10 Washington Post article reports that the 7200 sq ft venue has three auditoriums seating 95, 75 and 50 people. Sounds like a cozy place to see a movie.

Aside from the traditional movie theater concession fare of popcorn, candy and soda; they reportedly will serve beer, wine and “gourmet nibbles.” Hmmm. I interpret that as high end fare such as foie gras nuggets? :D

JodarMovieFan
JodarMovieFan on November 19, 2010 at 3:22 pm

It appears they are open now showing movies. Should the status now be open? :) The line up looks interesting.

westendcinema
westendcinema on October 12, 2010 at 4:56 pm

We’re opening with Howl, Budrus and Gerrymandering!

Giles
Giles on October 12, 2010 at 2:08 pm

will the webpage go active as well on the 15th??

http://www.westendcinema.com/

(like the name, plain and simple)

and it also has a facebook page

Giles
Giles on September 13, 2010 at 3:39 pm

can you give ue any hints here what’s going to be playing??

westendcinema
westendcinema on September 13, 2010 at 3:11 pm

Soft opening on Oct. 15, grand opening Oct. 29!

Giles
Giles on September 13, 2010 at 3:07 pm

well considering how large the screens will be – 2K will be fine too. What’s the projected (re)opening date?

Giles
Giles on July 28, 2010 at 1:54 pm

if you go with something other than Sony, make sure that I’ll be able to display 4K DLP – which has a vague date of late 2010.

Giles
Giles on July 28, 2010 at 1:32 pm

don’t know much about the servers – I probably go with Datasats' (formerly DTS), but for projector’s either Christie or Barco’s. Sony is more hype than anything – I don’t like how they repilicate moving white text on black backgrounds (end credits) – it’s blurry and conveys an out of focus look.

westendcinema
westendcinema on July 28, 2010 at 11:48 am

We’re pricing them now. Any recommendations?

Giles
Giles on July 28, 2010 at 10:15 am

oh that’s great news. I remember seeing ‘Cherry Blossoms’ in digital projection and since it was shot in hidef it looked glorious – surprised (and glad) that Strand released it as such. I’ve seen way to many bad 35mm prints over at E Street – where I had wished the studio HAD released the film it ‘digitally’ Can I ask what DP system will be installed?

westendcinema
westendcinema on July 28, 2010 at 10:06 am

We have 35 mm projectors, so it’s not “all digital.” We plan on working with several festivals, which make good use of digital, and also plan on playing films that are being distributed by the filmmakers themselves, which frequently only have digital. On top of that, I have a relationship with a digital distributor, Emerging Pictures, which has a pretty deep catalog of digital content (independent films, foreign films, documentaries, operas, plays and concerts, all in high-def).

Giles
Giles on July 28, 2010 at 9:48 am

question – if all the theatres are going to technically all digial – what distributor’s are actually releasing ‘films’ as such – you can see why both Landmark theatres never changed over to digital projection because not everything is being released as such. The occasional ‘documentary’ might be released as such, but foreign films released in harddrive form is still relatively rare. (Kino released the restored ‘Metropolis’ in digital projection). Even AFI Silver which shows alot of films, new releases, revivals – the only time they show nearly everything in DLP is during Silverdocs. The industry and specifically Box Office magazine thinks the swing towards digital projection conversion is more prevailent, but it’s a tad blind to the fact that still not everyone’s on board

Giles
Giles on July 26, 2010 at 2:06 pm

it will also do great business for the eating establishments near the theatre

westendcinema
westendcinema on July 26, 2010 at 12:42 pm

Fortunately, the building that the theater’s in has an underground parking garage with valet parking. They currently close at 7 pm, but have agreed to stay open at night once the movie theater opens in October. Plus, we’re only two blocks from the Foggy Bottom/GWU Metro stop, and five blocks from the Dupont Circle stop, so hopefully people can use mass transit!

Giles
Giles on July 26, 2010 at 12:37 pm

major thumbs up! how is parking going to work – I know that Visions in Dupont worked out a deal with the adjoining parking garage. Fenty, well… the city really screwed Washingtonians over by instigating extended parking to 10pm

westendcinema
westendcinema on July 21, 2010 at 10:32 am

I will gladly update the info as we progress. Right now, the occupancy limits for the three screens combined is 258 — roughly 100, 95 and 63, respectively. The two largest auditoria will have both 35 mm (platters and reel-to-reel) and digital, and theater 3 will be all-digital.

Yes, we are well aware that we are in the same market as the Landmark E Street. In answer to your question about me, my background is in hospitality business operations (10 years as a bar and restaurant owner) and in film distribution (seven years in NYC before moving back to DC to start work on the theater). My business partner has a dozen years experience in film publicity and marketing, and the people we’re interviewing for managerial positions all have extensive exhibition backgrounds.

I hope if you’re in DC you’ll come check us out this fall!