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Theaters
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March 9, 2011
Christchurch cinemas closed following earthquake
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND — All but one cinema are closed following the February earthquake. Only the Hornby cinema has managed to re-open.
The former Joyland cinema in the suburb of New Brighton has been demolished; while the Regent On Worcester Street in the city centre faces the wrecker’s ball.
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March 8, 2011
A Chicago classic film series finds a new home
CHICAGO, IL — The film series previously known as the Bank of America Cinema that was housed in a B of A branch office on Irving Park Road has now found a very appropriate new home in Chicago’s Portage Theatre, not far from the bank. Built in 1920 and opened as the Portage Park Theatre, the Portage is also home to the showings of the Chicago Silent Film Society. The series is devoted to showing actual projected film, not digital images.
“Dennis was really happy when we approached him about it. He thought what we were doing was really cool and worthwhile, and he did everything within his power to make this happen,” Hall said.
The Portage, also home to Silent Film Society of Chicago, is an old-school movie palace built in 1920, which seats about 1300 – a far cry from the modest Bank cinema which topped out at a mere 300 seats.
There is more about the move in the Roosevelt Torch.
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Ten screen theater set for downtown Bremerton
BREMERTON, WA — After eight years of effort by developers, a ten-screen multiplex appears to be on track for a summer 2012 opening here. See-Film LLC of Seattle expects to begin construction this July.
Blissett said having 10 screens will allow the theater to keep movies that remain popular for weeks, showing them in smaller rooms rather than cycling them to make room for new blockbusters. Having more screens also makes it possible to offer art house films, he said.
For now the managing partners are considering an exterior look that imitates a ship’s hull or some other theme related to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, said Blissett, who has designed other movie theaters as an architect at The Design Collective in Seattle. The company also plans to have a film-themed coffee shop on the corner of Park and Burwell.
The final design has not been selected, but a possible exterior design sketch is included in this article from the Kitsap Sun.
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March 7, 2011
Naro Expanded Cinema builds loyal fan base
NORFOLK, VA — Since leasing the Naro Cinema in 1977, Tench Phillips and Thom Vourlas have built up a community of patrons that have consistently supportive of their classic single screen house. Now called the Naro Expanded Cinema, the cinema’s programming which includes mainstream, indie, and documentary films, attracts people from often many miles away.
Despite the intense competition that exists today, Phillips and Vourlas have survived by building a family of loyal movie-goers who choose to attend a film at the Naro when the same one may be showing in their neighborhood. Walter and Susan Russell often drive in from their home in Virginia Beach.
“We could go to other theaters but we prefer the Naro,” says Susan Russell, who likes the theater’s mission and its atmosphere. “We’re concerned about what might happen if we didn’t have the Naro. It offers things that nobody does. They’re the bulwark of the intellectual movie community.”
There is more in this article in the Daily Press.
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New movie series at the Walker Theatre in Indy increases indie options
INDIANAPOLIS, IN — A new movie series called FLIX will debut at the Lady Walker Theatre in April, returning the once full-time movie house back into a cinema once again, at least on an occasional basis. The theater, which has a prominent role in the city’s African-American history, opened in 1927 and has been primarily a live performance theater in recent years.
“It’s an old theater that was built with amazing acoustics. I don’t know another theater in town that gets as dark as ours,” said Malina Jeffers, marketing director at the Walker. “Plus, we have a cash bar; it’s a big party. Those things together make us completely different from the cinema.”
The Walker is just the latest to the party. On screens set in museums, art houses and even chain cinemas, independent films, documentaries and classic flicks are bringing the thoughtful romance of the movies back to the city. Most importantly, they’re giving viewers a much wider range of choices.
The FLIX series will emphasize locally-made and other independent films and add to the number of other alternative film venues in Indy which this article from the Indianapolis Star also spotlights.
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Olympic Theatre in Arlington is a distinctive survivor
ARLINGTON, WA — There are not many cinemas like the Olympic Theatre left operating inasmuch as it is a single screener showing 35mm, but critical to the theater’s endurance and success is unquestionably its owner and projectionist Norma Pappas, who took over the running of the seventy-two-year-old theater when her father passed on.
There is much more in this article on HeraldNet.
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March 2, 2011
The Return of Chicago’s Patio Theater
CHICAGO, IL — Gordon McAlpin interviews Demetri Kouvalis, the 22 year old son of Patio Theate r owner Alexander Kouvalis about the restoration and imminent re-opening of the Patio for Gapers Block. The Kouvalises have been restoring the theater since May 2010 and hope to reopen it in March.
McAlpin also features the Patio Theater in the current arc of his ongoing movie-themed comic strip, Multiplex, starting here, with #564 featuring the Patio’s gorgeous auditorium.
Because it’s a $5 admission fee, the film distributors, they have all these rules. You can’t get first run unless you charge at least $7.50. So we’re going to be second run, like before, but I think we’re going to get the movie maybe a week before we used to. So you can expect to see us show a new movie two, three, four weeks at the most later.
With the $5 admissions, we have the ability, then, to charge less for concessions. Because, you know, AMC and all those big theaters — if they charge $10, the distributors take, like, 95 percent of the profits from tickets, so they have to charge a ridiculous amount for food and popcorn and drinks. So we’ll have a much more convenient price for concessions.
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March 1, 2011
South Walton movie theater still a ways off
SOUTH WALTON, FL — Despite recent reports, there is still no progress on the prospect of a new movie theater in South Walton.
She said the theater again came to the limelight because of a motion that was made at a recent Walton County Commission meeting to support a movie theater in the county. Currently movie lovers must travel to Destin or Panama City to catch a flick.
“It could be months before a deal is made, or longer. So, at this point there is nothing to report,” she said.
Read more in the Walton Sun.
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It’s a wrap for longtime Marc Cinema theater manager
SHEBOYGAN, WI — Dennis Udovich, longtime manager of the Marc Cinema, is retiring after a lifetime associated with the business.
He’s seen his theater go from a two-screen start in 1972 to the current 13-screen setup it currently has, with one feature that might surprise a lot of theatergoers — there are no DVDs.
“We’re still running film here on 12 screens,” he said. “People think we have DVDs that we can just back up, but we can’t. It’s mechanical. If we have a breakdown, we continue where we were at.”
Read more in the Sheboygan Press.
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February 24, 2011
Pressure to go digital stresses small town theaters such as the Ganado Cinema
GANADO, TX — Since 1941, the Ganado Cinema has been entertaining its local residents, and its owner has kept the projectors humming. But just recently the theater’s owner, seventy-three-year-old, Alvin Svoboda gave in to the digital revolution and invested in the new equipment. The problem is, the new projectors have cost him his life savings and there is no assurance that that the investment will pay off as small theaters such his his do not qualify for rebates from the major studios as they cannot show new films for the required length of time.
“A lot of the theaters will have to throw in the towel eventually because they won’t be able to make the change,” said Byron Berkley, chairman of the National Association of Theater Owners of Texas.
The digital switch has been talked about since 2005, but real moves began last year with most major theaters chains making the costly switch, Berkley said.
The full story is in theVictoria Advocate.