Have a news tip for us?
Just email . Ideas for stories, links to interesting articles, and press releases are welcome.
Theaters
-
June 7, 2010
Cinema City Moving to Palace 17
HARTFORD, CT — Cinema City will close its current location and relocate in a wing of the Palace 17.
The art house is moving from Brainard Road to the Bow Tie Palace 17 and Odyssey Theater at 330 New Park Ave., where it will reopen under the name Cinema City at the Palace. The new Cinema City will feature five screens, stadium seating, a new café, digital stereo sound and more parking. The South End theater has four screens and a smaller parking lot, said Joseph Masher, chief operating officer of Bow Tie Cinemas.
Cinema City shows a blend of independent and foreign films and higher-budget films.
“We realize they have a very loyal, very dedicated audience, and it’s because of that loyal fan base that we have done this,” Masher said Wednesday.
Read more in the Hartford Courant.
2 comments -
Dickinson Theatres sells 10 locations to former exec.
OVERLAND PARK, KS — Dickinson Theatres has sold 10 locations in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska and Arkansas to it’s former CFO Al Lane. Lane has formed Showplex Cinemas which is owned to the equity group Trinity Hunt Partners, based in Dallas, Texas. Lane plans to upgrade the theatre to include all digital projection.
Lane said one of the key objectives of his new company is to upgrade theaters to digital projectors, capable of showing not only feature films but also “alternate content, such as martial arts fighting, operas — there’s all sorts of opportunities out there,” including live events.
It’s a great time for the cinema industry, Lane said, with the development of 3D movies and digital projectors; he couldn’t say how long it would be before the Salina theaters got digital projectors.
Read the full article in the Salina Journal.
-
June 3, 2010
Beverly Center Cinemas Closing Tonight
LOS ANGELES, CA — According to multiple sources, the Beverly Center 13 Cinemas, once one of the most prominent multiplexes in the United States and a longtime part of LA moviegoing, is closing tonight. Sources note that the theater is to be replaced by a new Forever 21 store. This news, coupled with the possible closure of the AMC Grand 24, marks a moment in exhibition history.
For more information and the discussion of its imminent closure, visit its Cinema Treasures page.
-
June 2, 2010
Canal Place Cinemas gets major makeover, new name
NEW ORLEANS, LA — The Canal Place Cinemas re-opened on May 26 as The Theatres at Canal Place. Southern Theatres, which took the theater over from Landmark last year, has basically given the place a gut rehab, redesigning the floor plan and enlarging the footprint by adding space from the food court to create a fifth screening room. It is, at least for now, an 18+ theater as bar and café service is available along with improved seating and digital projection (one cinema will still be equipped for 35mm though).
Soon after Southern Theatres assumed the lease from Landmark Theatres last September, the aging multiplex was closed and “stripped to the girders” in preparation for the facelift, Southern Theatres owner George Solomon said.
The old cloth seats were replaced with high-back leather rockers. Risers were added to provide a “gentle” stadium seating configuration, improving sight lines. New screens, new projectors and new audio systems were installed. The familiar box office was torn out, replaced with a pair of electronic ticketing kiosks.
“Everything people used to tell me they didn’t like about the old Canal Place, it’s been changed,” Jones said.
The full story is in the Times-Picayune.
The new official website is: http://www.thetheatres.com/
-
May 26, 2010
San Diego Council approves plan to demolish Starplex theater
SAN DIEGO, CA — It is not going to happen right away, but plans were approved to eventually demolish the Starplex Mission Valley 7 as part of a plan to revitalize the Hazard Center by building residential units. Organizers of the Asian and Latino film festivals, both of which have been annually held at the multiplex for several years, are concerned over the availability of another appropriate venue and the costs. The cinema opened in 1990 has the Mann Hazard 7.
There’s a story with pictures (that appeared before the vote was taken) in KPBS.
-
Former Adams Cinema in Quincy to become sports bar and bistro
QUINCY, IL — Opened in 1915 as the Belasco, the twin-screen Adams Cinema closed in 1999 as a movie theater and was later given to a church. Two businessmen plan to gut the interior for a restaurant and lounge. A story with a video clip is here.
-
May 21, 2010
Music venue closer to relocating to Cherry Valley
ROCKFORD, IL — The movement to move a local music venue into the former Cherryvale Mall Cinema is charging ahead.
The proposed live-music venue earned a 5-2 positive recommendation Wednesday in its second hearing before the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals. The board had delayed a vote last month because of concerns about all-age concerts, parking and safety.
“We’re going to be generating a lot of tax revenue for the area by being there and bringing people to the area,” said owner Noah Currier.
Read the full story in the Rockford Register Star.
-
May 20, 2010
Independent theater owners in Idaho share insights on business survival
BURLEY, ID — In a recent article, three owners of independent theaters in south central Idaho discuss the challenges of keeping their cinemas operating. Commenting are Bob Harris, who owns the Burley and Century Cinemas in Burley, Rick Kessler, who owns the Magic Lantern in Ketchum, and the owners of the Shoshone Showhouse , Terry and Gayla Zech.
People who see the lines “think we’re making a lot of money, they think we must be rich,” Terry Zech said, noting the overhead it takes merely to open the theater’s doors. “Over 50 percent of the gross goes to the movie company … and we have to pay sales tax on every ticket we sell.”
The Zechs, who offer three showings of a film each week during the warmer months of the year, have rarely made money, often subsidizing the theater with profits from their other businesses.
The full story appeared in the California Chronicle.
-
May 19, 2010
Young entrepreneurs bring movies back to Roseville’s Tower Theater
ROSEVILLE, CA — Not all young people are hooked on loud, noisy films about superheroes, over-hyped sagas about teenage vampires, or crude comedies. Hector Marquez and Sean Shore have established Mystic Cinema, which presents classic films from Warner Brothers at the Tower Theater in Roseville. Though the theater has been the home to a local theater group since 2002, Marquez and Shore have worked out an arrangement with the troupe to show films when live performances and rehearsals do not require the theater, which last operated as a movie house in 1983.
Last month, Mystic Cinema premiered with its presentation of “Casablanca.”
“It was incredible,” Marquez said. “You had an audience of people from ages 20 on up, some dressed up as characters from the film, mingling with people in their street clothes. Some watched the movie for the first time while others had seen it dozens of times.”
-
May 18, 2010
Grand Theatre’s roof collapses
WILLIAMSTOWN, NJ — The roof over the auditorium and stage house sections of the Grand Theatre collapsed on Friday, May 14, apparently as a result of weakening due last winter’s heavy snowfall. A least one resident of an apartment that was a part the theater building or adjacent to it suffered injury abandoning his residence after the roof’s fall.
The theater – known for its wall sconces, raised-metal ceilings, and velour seats – housed two apartments in the front. Both were occupied and shook as the roof fell.
The first report of the collapse was received about 3 p.m., Williamstown Fire Chief James DeHart said. Residents heard a loud crash and felt a jolt, he said.
The theater opened in 1924; roof repairs were made in 2004 as a part of a renovation. The full story is in the Philadelphia Inquirer and there are pictures here atWPVI.