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Theaters
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January 20, 2011
Boulder Theater turns 75; Mayfair in Ottawa celebrates 78 years
BOULDER, CO — The Boulder Theatre is celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary this year (although some might insist it is really a hundred and five years old if one takes into account its its first thirty years as the Curran Opera House). The downtown Boulder landmark now hosts a regular schedule of concerts and film screenings. The story is in the Boulder Weekly.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA — Although it came to close to closing a few years ago, the Mayfair Theatre is still attracting Ottawa area residents to its Glebe neighborhood location as it has for nearly eighty years. Its distinctive programming has made it a destination theatre for the Ottawa metropolitan area. A celebratory article appeared in the Orléans EMC.
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January 19, 2011
Frank Theatres acquires Tilton 9
NORTHFIELD, NJ — Expaning its assests in New Jersey, Frank Theatres has made the Tilton 9 its 25th theater. They began operating it two weeks ago.
Read more in their press release.
They are also embarking on a renovation plan this spring to bring this theatre to the highest industry standards in terms of presentation and dining amenities. You can read more about that here.
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Once-grand Qns. theater to be apt. building
FLUSHING, NY — There are updated plans for the apartment complex that will go up at the RKO Keith’s.
Boymelgreen had intended the building to have 200 massive luxury condo units, “but in the current market that just didn’t make sense,” said Thompson, who bought the dilapidated wreck for $20 million.
“We increased the number of units and they will be market-rate rentals, which better fit in with what makes sense for Flushing.”
Read the full story in the New York Post.
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January 18, 2011
Decatur theater dumps 3D
DECATUR, IL — The management of the Avon Theater has decided that 3D just is not a good fit for this theater. The high costs coupled with the preferences of the theater’s core audience were preventing the Avon’s investment in a Technicolor 3D system from paying off. The theater, unlike most others, did not charge a premium for 3D presentations.
“I sold the cameras back and told them ‘this is more trouble than it’s worth,’” the longtime theater opera-tor said. “I do regret that we ever did it. The Avon is really not the kind of place for 3D movies. The clientele is not the kind of audience for the movies that are usually released in 3D.”
Huston credited the theater’s “art-house roots” and “upscale commercial crowd” with making it a less than ideal venue to screen bombastic 3D blockbusters like “Clash of the Titans” or “Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” two films the theater took significant losses on due to underwhelming crowd response.
The full story appeared in the Herald-Review.
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Carmike to build theatre in West Pottsgrove
WEST POTTSGROVE, PA — Construction is expected here to begin in March on a 45,000 square foot multiplex to be operated by Carmike.
The announcement appeared in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
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January 17, 2011
Plans afoot to renovate, reopen Times Square Theater as a special purpose venue
NEW YORK, NY — Reportedly, plans have been drawn up that would convert the long-closed Times Square Theater into a venue to house a multimedia attraction tentatively called “Broadway 4D,” described in news reports as a Las Vegas-style review of Broadway’s history up to the present. Originally built as a legitimate theater, the Times Square later operated as a cinema for many years, but has been closed for nearly twenty.
Financial backing, sources said, is from Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Kr Capital Partners. Although the signing of a long-term lease was described as “imminent” by one source, it might be premature to line up to buy tickets. “There are contingencies,” a real estate source told us. “This thing is very, very complicated.”
All parties involved either declined to comment or failed to return calls. They would rather wait to present the gift-wrapped deal with names of presumably A-list show business types on the creative team, so it doesn’t sound ridiculous — i.e., an out-of-town version of actual Broadway shows in a district full of real ones.
There is more in the New York Post.
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PDX, like the IMAX Experience is coming to Southpoint Mall Cinemas
DURHAM, NC — For those people who live in the greater Durham and Chapel Hill area who like the immersive IMAX experience for movies won’t have to commute to Raleigh or Cary anymore come late spring.
A new movie theater by Southpoint Cinemas using technology similar to the IMAX is almost under completion at the Streets at Southpoint Cinemas. Completion could be as early as March or even as of May.
Called PDX, for Premium Digital Experience, the new theater will have two digital projectors that will deliver digital 2D and 3D films on a wall-to-wall screen, complete with a 7.1 surround sound system and high back rocker seating.
The new theater is planned to have about 385 seats, compared to the IMAX’s 270, but won’t show scientific and educational films made for the IMAX. It will be able to show movies like “Inception,” “Harry Potter” and other blockbusters.
See the full details of this story in the Herald Sun.
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January 12, 2011
New theater coming to southwest Tulsa
TULSA, OK — Carmike Theatres will be the operator of a new twelve-screen cinema complex in The Walk shopping center; this will be Carmike’s first venture in the the Tulsa area. The theater will include one of the company’s Big D wide format digital screens.
The theater will have 2,330 stadium-style seats and feature an IMAX-style screen called The Big D Digital Experience. It will be 78 feet wide and more than 30 feet tall, with better than high-definition resolution, according to Carmike, and will be able to show moves in both 3-D and traditional formats.
The full story is in Tulsa World.
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January 10, 2011
Senate Theatre seriously damaged by fire
ELSBERRY, MO — The nearly century-old Senate Theatre sustained very serious damage as the result of a fire that started in an adjacent store on January 7. The theater opened in 1912 as the Orpheum. Inspections are underway to determine if the structure can be saved.
Sinnett has owned Senate Theatre for 38 years and says he’s never missed a showing. He kept the Senate Theatre true to form, the way it was when it started in 1912 as the Orpheum. But with the entire building damaged by fire so severely, the building’s owner isn’t sure how much can be saved.
And so much is on the line, Elsberry is trying to get the state to designate their main street as a historical district. And the town’s mayor says the theatre is one of their biggest historical and mainstream attractions.
The story, with video is at KSDK.
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January 7, 2011
Theatre Historical Society Membership Offer!
Karen Noonan, President of the Theatre Historical Society, has just sent us this great membership offer:
“To celebrate the start of another year, THS would like to offer the readers of Cinema Treasures a 2 for 1 deal on THS membership. Any Cinema Treasures user who joins THS by JANUARY 31 will receive 24 months of membership for the regular yearly membership price of $55.
THS memberships support our archive and museum in Elmhurst, IL and members receive our quarterly publication, Marquee, our quarterly newsletter and our Annual highlighting a specific area of Historic Theater preservation.
This offer is available only through mail-in membership. Contact our Executive Director, Richard Sklenar at to take advantage of this limited time offer. Or call our office at 630-782-1800. New members must mention “Cinema Treasures” to receive the 2 for 1 offer."
This is a terrific price for joining a terrific organization. If you care about historic theaters, please consider joining THS. They are a unique and important group and we are proud to be supporters and members.