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Ken Cinema to close?
posted by
Michael Zoldessy
on
April 21, 2014 at 10:45 am
SAN DIEGO, CA — Landmark has announced they’re not renewing their lease on the Ken Cinema which expires at the end of the month. Without digital projection, the future of the site is unclear. The art house favorite has been open since 1947.
Read more in U-T San Diego.
(Thanks to monika for providing the photo.)
Comments (5)
Time for new theatre people to take over the lease. SD is short on art type places. Good place for Cinema Draft House to take over a do what Landmark does not provide these days.
Regarding the lead above, the theatre has digital projection according to that linked article. It’s a lease problem, not an equipment upgrade problem.
Mark Cuban is cheap cheap cheap. I'n waiting for him to close down one of the 2 Landmark cinemas here in the Boston area even though they seem to do well. The one in Cambridge and the one in Waltham.
The new remodel at San Francisco’s Landmark Embarcadero is a mess. Some screens are so small I’d rather stay home. No box office girl you buy your reserved seats from a machine. A way for Landmark to save money on the ticket help. Watch they will try to put this system into all their art houses. I have seen seniors leave after they had trouble using the seat machine. If your in SF try Landmarks Opera Plaza on Van Ness so tiny I bought a seat many years ago and walked out. We hope new theatre people will come into the San Diego Ken Theatre.
Regarding the SF Embarcadero they apparently now do have a counter to buy a ticket from a live person. It’s just to the just to the right of the bar as I recall. I’m not sure if it’s been there since re-opening after the remodel or not as I was just there for the first time recently.
I had mixed impressions of the remodeled theatre. The deluxe recliners with power footrests in the smaller “screening rooms” are very nice as are the leather seats & spacious leg room in the other auditoriums. What I didn’t like was there was not only no screen curtains (admittedly not unusual nowadays!) but no screen masking either. In one of the auditoriums there was blank screen space on all four sides of the 1.85:1 aspect ratio film! That’s unacceptable for a premium ticket prices and reserved seats policy I think.
I’m also NOT a proponent of reserved seats in movie theaters and I doubt I’ll be back unless there is something playing there that I really want to see and it’s not playing anywhere else. Frankly I liked the old Embarcadero with unreserved seating much better.