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Theaters
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March 2, 2010
Campus Theater in Milledgeville, GA reborn as college playhouse
MILLEDGEVILLE, CA — Possessing a varied history, and once a part of the Martin chain (later Carmike), the Campus Theater will now serve as the home of the theater department of Georgia College. Though the exterior has been restored, the interior now houses a bookstore, coffee house, and a black box theater.
The building closed as a theater in 1983, though it was still used as private offices for years after that.
Georgia College bought the building in late 2008 from owner Randall Hattaway and applied for a Georgia Higher Educational Facilities Authority grant from the state to fund its renovations. The school became one of the colleges in Georgia to receive money from the grant, receiving nearly $7 million to complete the work, Bowen said.
Here’s the full story at Macon.com.
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March 1, 2010
Historic cinemas remind of int'l past of Tangier
TANGIER, MOROCCO — You would not usually expect to find the Peoples Daily of China to be often cited here as a source of cinema news, and even less likely to look there for stories about cinemas in Tangiers but this is one story about the Rif Cinema.
Yto Barrada, director cinemateque Tangier, said, “This cinema when we found it was playing Bollywood films, with people smoking inside. It was raining in the screening room. It was a 600 seat theatre and it was going to be turned in to a supermarket. It was just for sale, the lease was for sale. What we did is we worked for 8 years to create a film archive and an art-house cinema in this building.”
In the year 2000, the cinema started undergoing major renovations, before becoming home to the Cinematheque Tangier in 2007.
Read more in People’s Daily Online.
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February 26, 2010
England’s only back projection cinema is leaving 35 mm and going digital
WOODHALL SPA, LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND — After 88 years of 35 mm England’s last surviving back projection cinema is now turning its back on the 35 mm format and heading for the digital age. To be able to compete with the new-age technology of 3-D and digital, it seems that the way forward is to adapt, all we can hope for is that this extreme makeover will not tarnish this rustic and rural beauty that is England’s final back projection Kinema.
At 14 minutes and 50 seconds in (18/02/10): BBC Video
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New uses proposed for former East End Theater in Richmond
RICHMOND, VA – It has been closed and deteriorating for forty years, but the recent purchase of the East End Theater by a developer may signal a coming renaissance for the theater. Three possibilities are being floated, all of which envision its possible return to theatrical use in some form.
The Art Deco building at 418 N. 25th St. has been steadily eroding ever since. The building’s exterior and marquee are rusting over. Vines grow up the walls. The roof is gone.
But a ray of light is shining through the rubble. Sterling Bilder Developers purchased the property Jan. 7 for $45,000. The company recently developed the Sterling Row Condominiums in Shockoe Bottom.
Sterling Bilder Vice President Joshua Bilder said, “We’re in the development phase and we’re looking at possibilities.”
There is more in the Richmond Biz Sense.
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February 25, 2010
Group formed to pursue restoration of La Grande’s Liberty Theatre
LA GRANDE, OR — Closed since 1959 and partially converted to retail use, the 1910 Liberty Theatre may make a comeback if engineering and environmental reports come back positive and the funds can be raised. The theater was also known as the Orpheum and the Arcade.
The upper reaches of the main auditorium, the balcony and projection room, are mostly intact. An ornate but tarnished old chandelier hangs from the ceiling near the balcony. It’s an emblem of the past that draws the eye.
Piles of drapery lay about, and some of the old carpet remains. In the projection room, there’s some equipment left over.
Down below, under a couple of layers of added flooring, can be found the orchestra pit, the stage, stage stairways and doors left and right, dressing rooms.
There is more here in the La Grande Observer.
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February 24, 2010
Tarantino serves as ‘angel’ of the New Beverly
LOS ANGELES, CA — For the past few years, Quentin Tarantino has been operating as the owner of the New Beverly Cinema. This piece in the Hollywood Reporter discusses how he acquired it and how his contributions have led to a smooth running business.
The New Beverly has been the Torgan family business since 1978. But if not for the intervention of the director with the encyclopedic knowledge of film, it would be just another chain franchise.
“It was going to be turned into a Super Cuts,” Tarantino said. “I’d been coming to the New Beverly ever since I was old enough to drive there from the South Bay — since about 1982. So, I couldn’t let that happen.”
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February 23, 2010
Carmike and Cinemark both planning new cinemas in Sandusky
SANDUSKY, OH — Cinemark and Carmike currently each operate a multiplex in Sandusky, and both plan to replace their current theaters with new ones, increasing the total number of screens in this town on the shores of Lake Erie from eighteen to twenty-four.
Joe Bell, a spokesman for the Cafaro Co., said Tuesday the financing is in hand for the Cinemark theater and it will be built despite Carmike’s plans.
The new theaters will replace two older theaters, a 10-screen Cinemark theater at Walmart and an eight-screen Carmike theater at the mall.
The planned upgrade means Sandusky is going from 18 screens to 24.
There is more in the Sandusky Register.
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February 22, 2010
John Waters heads up effort to buy New Art 3 theater
PROVINCETOWN, MA — A local group headed by director and local resident John Waters is gearing up to acquire the New Art 3 theater at Whaler’s Wharf. It would become the permanent home of the Provincetown International Film Festival.
To make it happen, the festival must raise $450,000 in one year, according to the terms of an agreement with the current owners, Whaler’s Wharf LLC, which also runs the Provincetown Art House Theater across the street.
The festival group would need an additional $200,000 to complete renovations on the small, second-story theater located inside a retail mall known as the Whaler’s Wharf. The theater operated year-round at one time, but has been closed for the past few winters, Hanna said.
There is more at Cape Cod Online.
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February 19, 2010
City considering landmark designation for Coney Island Theatre
BROOKLYN, NY — Landmark designation could be coming fro the Coney Island Theatre. However, some in the neighborhood aren’t the biggest fans of it.
And now city officials are considering giving “landmark” designation to the long-shuttered Coney Island Theatre building, so it could be protected and eventually become a key part of Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to finally revive the fabled – but rundown — summer seaside district into a year-round attraction.
“If we’re going to be serious about getting people to Coney Island year-round, we need a live entertainment venue, and this 2,500-seat theater not only showed movies in its heyday, but offered Broadway-style live shows,” said Dick Zigun, of Coney Island USA, which submitted the proposal. “We’re excited.”
Read the full story in the New York Post.
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February 17, 2010
Happy 85th Anniversary, Wheaton Grand Theatre
WHEATON, IL — When the Wheaton Grand Theatre opened its doors on May 25, 1925, it was a landmark event that brought theatrical excitement from the major cities into the western suburbs.
Designed by Chicago architect, Norman Brydges, The Wheaton Grand was a showcase theatre where talented vaudeville performers graced the stage, silent movies brought laughter and tears to the screen. Once restored, the theatre will obtain a rare 4/26 Robert Morton Theatre Organ console from the historic Loew’s Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York.