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Theaters
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February 23, 2011
Lakeshore Theater to become the Chicago branch of L.A.’s Laugh Factory
CHICAGO, IL — Closed since April of 2010, the Lakeshore Theater will become the Chicago outpost of the Los Angeles Laugh Factory. Originally opened in 1915, the theater was once operated by Balaban & Katz, Cineplex-Odeon, and the Meridian chains and was also known as the Broadway Theater. The venue will be renovated to provide a more cabaret-like setting for the comedy acts.
Lakeshore struggled for eight years to make a go of it, the final three by booking cutting-edge comics in its theater-style room. Owner Chris Ritter pulled the plug last April, in part because the building needed more rehab work than revenues would allow.
After that, the space was nearly converted to dental offices, but the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce pleaded with the building’s owner to give them time to help find a tenant that would continue to bring new visitors and nighttime foot traffic to the area, said Maureen Martino, the Lakeview Chamber’s executive director.
The full story is in the Chicago Tribune.
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$1.5 million in grants to aid conversion of Colonnade Theater into playhouse
MILLERSBURG, PA — Closed since 2000, the Colonnade Theatre which opened in 1919 will be converted into a live performance venue principally for for the Twin Valley Players (TVP) group that acquired the theater in 2008. The cost of the conversion will be substantially the result of the awarding to the TVP of two $750,000 grants. The conversion of the theater, a rare reverse auditorium design, will strive to honor the theater’s cinematic history though it will not be a true restoration.
“With this $1.5 million, we will be well on the path to getting the building renovated and open to the community,” said Dr. Todd F. Hoover, TVP treasurer.
State Rep. Sue Helm, R-104, and Dauphin County Commissioner Jeffrey Haste each obtained $750,000 grants for the project. Helm got the state’s $750,000 portion, which comes from the commonwealth’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, while Haste got money for the county’s matching portion through the Dauphin County Office of Community and Economic Development.
The story appeared in the Republican Herald.
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February 18, 2011
A look at art and independent film exhibition in Detroit
DETROIT, MI — In spite of the weak economy, the interest in art and independent films remains strong in the greater Detroit area. A recent article in the Detroit Free Press examined the array of programming afforded to cineastes at Landmark Theatre’s Main Art, Maple Art theaters, the Detroit Film Theater at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and at the relatively new Burton Theater.
Ted Mundorff, chief executive officer of Landmark Theatres, which operates the Main Art and Maple Art theaters in metro Detroit, says the chain is prospering even though the U.S. economy is still in recovery mode. Profits were down just 2% in economically troubled 2010 from the record box-office numbers set in 2009.
Mundorff says his theaters provide “stories with interesting characters” for filmgoers weary of a steady diet of action, animation and 3D at cineplexes and offer a “mature, adult atmosphere to see a film.”
The article can be read here.
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80 Year Old Projectionist to retire
BRIDGWATER, SOMERSET, ENGLAND — Ray Mascord, a UK Projectionist, is retiring after 67 years in the booth at Scott Cinema. He plans to enjoy his lifetime pass in the new digital cinema.
His heyday, he says, was in the 1950s when wide-screen CinemaScope was introduced with an early form of surround sound. Mascord loved the big musicals – Oklahoma! and Carousel – and the packed houses every night. As a young man, he also enjoyed the view from his booth of the canoodling on the back row.
“I used to say, ‘Aye-aye, where are you putting your hands? Watch it mate!’” he recalls.
Read the full story in The Guardian.
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February 17, 2011
Former Cleveland Heights cinema to become a comedy club
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — The Madstone Centrum previously known at various times as the Heights Theater, the Heights Art Theatre, and the Coventry Cinema, will reopen as the Big Dog Theater on February 19. The theater closed in 2003 as a triplex, and was used only occasionally since then for live entertainment and for the viewing of sporting events. The main auditorium once had 70mm capability. Reportedly, the theater can still be rented for film showings.
Big Dog Theater will feature local and national comedy acts of various forms including standup, sketch and improvisation. It will also house a training center offering classes and workshops in all types of comedy.
The theater will celebrate its grand opening at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 19 with a brand new show from two of Cleveland’s hottest stand up comics, Quinn Patterson and Jeff Blanchard.
There is more, with a photo, at Cleveland.com.
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February 16, 2011
New cinema to open in the former Angelika space in Houston
HOUSTON, TX — The owner of Houston’s Bayou Place center is in negotiations for a new operator to open a cinema by this summer in the space formerly occupied by the Angelika Film Center there which closed quite suddenly in August of 2010. Reportedly, Robert Redford’s Sundance Cinemas, Landmark, and Alamo Drafthouse have all been approached.
Sundance officials could not be reached for comment.
Drew Coleman, director of operations for a new five-bar concept that will open up in Bayou Place next month, also tells CultureMap he has been told that a new theater is scheduled to open in July.
The story appeared at CultureMap.com.
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Ketchikan honors its Coliseum Theater
KETCHIKAN, AK — There has been a Coliseum Theater in this Alaskan town since 1924; the one there now is the Coliseum Twin which replaced the first Coliseum after a fire in 1956 destroyed it; the current one was twinned in 1986.
The theater was recently commended by the local Chamber of Commerce, and this article with a picture of the original theater, reflects upon the cinema’s history.
When presenting the award on Jan. 29, then-incoming Chamber President Kim Glisson said the Coliseum “continues to be the most popular entertainment business in town, showing multiple pictures daily at a variety of times. It’s weathered all kinds of business challenges and the advent of all types of competition, including television and movie rentals from a multitude of sources.
“This is a Ketchikan business of yesterday, today and tomorrow.”
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Cinetopia to open 20-screen megaplex in Overland Park
OVERLAND PARK, KS — Upscale theater operator Cinetopia has announced plans to open a twenty-screen theater at the Prairiefire at LionsGate center in this suburb of Kansas City. The emerging chain has one theater open in Vancouver, WA and is in the midst of construction of two more, one at the Vancouver Mall and another in Beaverton, OR. The new Kansas City-area Cinetopia theater will, as its other theaters do, feature at least one large format screen, a restaurant, a wine bar, and some of its “Living Room” 21+ screening salons.
“We have an amazing opportunity … to enhance the educational experience by highlighting documentaries and movies simultaneously,” Rudyard Coltman, president of Cinetopia LLC, said in a release.
Cinetopia will host community and performing arts events in addition to first-run movies. Tickets will cost between $8.50 and $10.50.
There is more in the Kansas City Business Journal.
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February 14, 2011
Conversion of Covington, LA theatre to brew-and-view delayed but moving forward
COVINGTON, LA — The previously reported transformation of the Holiday Square 12 by Southern Theatres into a seven-screen movie tavern with casual food service has been delayed due to unforeseen problems with mold and the building’s structural integrity. The chain now expects the revamped theater to open in May. The chain operates the theaters in Canal Place in New Orleans and eighteen others under the names Grand and Amstar.
The full story is at NOLA.com
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February 11, 2011
Central Theater in Hot Springs gets new life as a playhouse
HOT SPRINGS, AS — The closed Central Theater will be reopening in May as the new home of the Arkansas TheatreWorks. The theater dates back to at least the late 1930’s and was used previously as a venue for country music.
The story appeared at KSPR.com.