AMC Empire 25
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
51 people
favorited this theater
The Empire Theatre was designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb and opened in 1912 as the Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre, named for Julian Eltinge, the top female impersonator of the American stage. The Eltinge became the setting for decades of legitimate theater and burlesque.
Converted into a movie theater in 1942 first as the Laffmovie, and later renamed the Empire, the theater finally closed, seemingly for good, in the mid-1980s.
Following the renaissance of 42nd Street, AMC decided to make the entire former Empire Theatre the lobby of its new new flagship 25-screen megaplex. Located just west of Times Square, this immaculate multi-level multiplex is a prime example of theater renovation and reuse.
The lobby of this luxurious, five-level theater has been built inside the shell of the old Empire Theater. In order to build the massive multi-screen complex, the Empire was lifted up and moved down the street to its present location. Once that massive job was completed, a new 25 screen theater was built around it. The multiplex was designed by the architecural firm Beyer Blinder Belle.
The historic facade has been left largely intact, while a new marquee has been added. Just above the box office is a beautiful mural, originally painted by a French artist, Arthur Brounet. The mural was restored by Harriet Irgang, the director of Rustin Levenson Art Conservation. Initially, the former balconies were reopened as the Times Square Cafe, but this have been closed for several years and the space is currently unused.
The megaplex shows first run mainstream and art films.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Recent comments (view all 481 comments)
Ed, check out TIMES SQUARE ROULETTE by Lynne B. Sagalyn, DOWN 42nd STREET by Marc Elliot, and GHOSTS of 42nd STREET by Anthony Bianco.
There are also several newspaper articles and sleazier books about tracking down the landlords of 42nd street. Many owners were buried in the actual paperwork by design so no one would go to prison during obscenity raids. Even arrested employees claimed not to know who the tenants and landlords actually were. Someone came by delivered or and picked up a bag of cash once a month in order to handle payrolls and rent.
The assumption was that the mafia bosses of shelter companies willed some of the properties to the Catholic Church who then became landlords of properties they were unaware of until NYC authorities started procedures to evict them. At least that is the story the church has claimed. Large payments were made to Disney, the church, and numerous shady companies by the Guiliani administration with Federal, State and City tax grants in order to clean up 42nd Street. To sweeten the deal, the Guiliani administration allowed the porn shops to relocate in the boroughs where they had been refused licenses before.
I’ve requested Times Square Roulette and Down 42nd Street from the library and look forward to reading them. Their descriptions sound interesting.
I bought and read Ghosts of 42nd Street and I think I was disappointed by it, but I can’t remember exactly why. Mike (saps)
Does anyone know which screen has Dolby Digital 7.1 Is it 6 with ETX or is it another screen?
As of this week, most of AMC’s top theatres in the US and Canada, including this one, will use Fandango instead of Movietickets.com for online ticketing. As a result, Movietickets.com filed a lawsuit against NBCUniversal, the parent company of the site.
I went in the Empire a few years. I was amazed at how many screens they managed to create out of one little grindhouse. Next time I’ll take a better look at the lobby.
Jessica, you’re kidding, right?
There are actually NO screens in the Empire building; they use it as the ticketing lobby, and built 25 screens on multiple levels in a new building adjacent to the Empire.
But I bet you knew that already.
Saw “Marvel’s The Avengers” in their IMAX-lite auditorium. (Screen #1) Some of the staff here are very rude, for example, I was filming a 360-turnaround of the third floor on my phone, and this lady blocked my camera lenses telling me that I wasn’t allowed to film the employees, or something like that. Sheesh, it isn’t like filming a movie at the cinema! Also, the lines for the concessions are WAYY too slow. A few people in line trying to get snacks felt like 30. Anyways, the IMAX auditorium is pretty nice, in some ways superior to the IMAX-lite in the AMC Tyson’s Corner 16. On the other hand, the Empire IMAX felt like a joke. There was this constant rattling noise during moments with a lot of bass (thankfully this only happened during the trailers) and some of speakers were popping. At least it sounds like it was calibrated more accurately, unlike the ear-splitting EQ of the Tysons IMAX.
The AMC Empire 25 is almost like a big parody of your typical multiplex. Although I’ve never been to the other 24 screens, it’s scope favors quantity over quality at a glance.
I agree. The Rockaway and Garden State theaters as well as clifton commons are like big cookie cutter megaplexes with overhyped movies and few indie movies. The only theater that AMC operates well is the AMC in Lincoln Square, due to its profitable IMAX screen, which is still the largest in NYC.
“Profitable IMAX screen”
I have never heard those words before, in that order.
The Lincoln Square is one of the highest grossing theatres in the U.S., in spite of the IMAX.
Profit or volume are never an excuse for a sloppy operation.
Looks like Wanda group is buying AMC for 2.6 billion making them the largest cinema corporation in the world.