AMC Empire 25
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
52 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 486 comments)
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.
Hello folks. I’ve been looking for something else, but keep on finding ither things by accident. This website has a few very old images of the theater along with historical information. Just passing through to share.
http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/10/lost-1893-empire-theatre-broadway-at.html
Hi Flynn… The theatre described and depicted on that page is a different, legitimate play house, which was located a couple of blocks away from the AMC Empire, at Broadway between West 40th and 41st Streets. It is not listed on CT because I don’t believe it ever hosted cinematic exhibitions – at least not on a regular basis. There is a page devoted to the old house here on the ibdb.com website.
To Every New York Exhibitor: archive
The old legit Empire was never air conditioned. I remember during the run of Wish You Were Here, they brought in dry ice to put in front of the fans.
Rob, are you sure that you saw “Wish You Were Here” at the Empire? “WYWH” was a big musical that even had a swimming pool on stage and opened at the Imperial Theatre. I think that the Empire booked only “straight” plays. “Life With Father” had a very long and record-breaking run there.
Always wondered why there’s no showtimes here late at night on New Years Eve?
Well it’s because they turn it into a huge nightclub party space to give people VIP access to the ball drop and a different place to ring in the new year.