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The latest movie theater news and updates
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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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Facade design competition
MOSCOW, RUSSIA — There’s a new design competition for the facade of the Pushkinsky Cinema. Check out the link for pictures and more details.
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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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Grand Film Memorabilia Fair & Bazaar at the Cinema Museum
The Cinema Museum a registered charity, which is housed in the old Lambeth Workhouse with its historic connections with Charlie Chaplin are holding a grand Film Memorabilia Fair & Bazaar on Saturday 19th February from 10am till 5pm. Features dealers tables with stills, posters,dvds,books, ephemera,and films of all gauges, plus bring & buy. Speakers include Georgina Hale, Murray Melvin & Valerie Leon. Brian Giles will present a 28mm filmshow.
Admission is £5.00 on the door and the museum is situated at The Masters House, 2 Dugard Way,(off Renfrew Road)London SE11 4TH U.K.
Full details on the website Cinema Museum.
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Historic Carolina Theater for sale
SPRUCE PINE, NC — The historic Carolina Theater located in Spruce Pine, a small mountain town in western NC, is now up for sale.
See the theaters' listing on this site and click on the link to access the official Carolina Theater web site.
This property is being offered by Blue Ridge Properties located at 286 Oak Avenue in Spruce Pine, NC 28777 Visit our web site and enter MLS #23403.
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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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German Cinema review 2010
The number of screens in Germany fell the fifth time in row and landed at the current number 4,699. Ninety-five screens were new openings or renovations, but on the other side 130 screen were abolished. More than a quarter of the screens (1,301; 27,7 %) is a part of multiplex cinemas.
The German Federal Film Board (Filmförderungsanstallt; FFA) also reported a reduction in the number of theatres (from 1,744 to 1,714) and a decrease in the number of seats (from 819,320 to 809,510). According to the FFA “more dramatic because irreversible” was the drop in cities or communities with at least one theater. There were 22 less cities or communities with a movie theater.
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Two of Chicago’s movie palaces open for Saturday tours
CHICAGO, IL — Every Saturday, guided tours are offered of two of Chicago’s few surviving grand downtown movie palaces, the Ford Center for the Performing Arts – Oriental Theatre and the Cadillac Palace. Both are Rapp & Rapp masterpieces but are in very different architectural styles; both have been restored as performing arts theaters, especially for Broadway touring shows. (Occasionally, a tour of the Bank of America Theatre (once the Shubert/Majestic) is substituted, if either of the two is unavailable).
Our guide, Richard, noted that the columns and walls resembling antique marble were done in scagliola, a plasterwork technique using pigmented gypsum. Some of the lighting fixtures are original, but others were added in the $28 million renovation.
There is an article about the tourshere and there is ticketing information here.
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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.”