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The latest movie theater news and updates
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May 5, 2010
Former Red Bridge Theater in Kansas City, MO gets makeover, new name
KANSAS CITY, MO — The former Red Bridge Theater has been acquired by the Fine Arts Group of Kansas City, KS, which currently operates three theaters in Overland Park. The Red Bridge opened in 1999 and closed in 2008. The new owners are re-christening it the Glenwood@Red Bridge, because the owners of the shopping center in which the Fine Arts Group’s current Glenwood Arts Theater is located want to demolish the center and rebuild. The Glenwood@Red Bridge is reopening in phases, beginning April 30.
It has been a year since Mossman and his partners took over the four-plex at Holmes and Red Bridge roads. The facility opened in 1980 and closed in the summer of 2008. Over the years, the Red Bridge had several operators as both a first-run theater and a discount house.
The new Red Bridge theater still has four auditoriums, but each has fewer seats: 246, 230, 160 and 109. Mossman said his crews removed nearly 400 seats to provide more legroom.
The full story is in the Kansas City Star.
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Atlantic Theater in Long Beach appears doomed
LONG BEACH, CA — Time may be running out for the Boller Brothers-designed 1942 Atlantic Theater in Long Beach. The city’s Redevelopment Agency Board will consider the building’s fate soon, and the staff recommendation is that the building be razed except for the building’s distinctive tower; other elements might be saved for use in later construction.
The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency Board will consider the fate of the 1940s building on 5870-5874 Atlantic Ave. that some residents have said stands in the way of a long-awaited North Village Center. The 6.3-acre project along Atlantic Avenue between 56th and 59th streets will feature housing, retail, a community center and library.
The building’s dilapidated condition made it vulnerable to earthquakes, according to a staff report released Thursday.
Read more in the Press-Telegram.
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May 4, 2010
Wheaton Grand might return to full time cinema use
WHEATON, IL — For several years, the Grand Theater Corp., a not-for-proft, has been trying to raise funds to turn the 1925 Wheaton Grand into a performing arts center – with city’s blessing. But efforts have fallen very far short, foreclosure looms, and Chicago’s Classic Cinemas chain is expressing interest is possibly acquiring the theater.
“It’s something we’re interested in,” said Chris Johnson, co-owner of Classic Cinemas. “We’re definitely taking a look because we know the possibilities that are there.”
The Wheaton Grand’s fate has been in limbo since November when Wheaton park board members scrapped a plan to borrow millions to renovate the Hale Street building. But the possibility of the theater changing hands is a recent development.
There is more in the Daily Herald.
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Enjoy ‘Iron Man 2’ on May 7 by avoiding “Fake IMAX”
Echoing the complaints heard far and wide last year when “Star Trek” was released, don’t forget to do your homework before seeing a movie in IMAX these days.
And friends, ain’t nothin' you have access to, save for looking out your own two eyes, that’s more high-definition than IMAX, but do not — let me repeat — DO NOT see ‘Iron Man 2’ (or any film for that matter) in a fake IMAX theatre. To be blunt: it looks horrible, and you’re wasting your hard-earned cash for a non-upgrade.
What you want, what you NEED, is to either find a real IMAX, or the largest, high-quality DLP or 35mm screen in your area.
Read more in High Def Digest.
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Theaters in Tampa for lease?
I am looking for a one or two year lease on a (8) or more screen theater in the Tampa, Florida area.
Any help would be great.
Thank you
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May 3, 2010
Portland’s Living Room Theaters plans Florida sequel
BOCA RATON, FL — Another theatre in the popular Living Room Theaters chain will open this fall. They set themselves apart from the competition by providing a cafe and all digital screens.
The theater, part of a $19 million complex that also features classrooms and offices, would be used by film students during the day, then become a venue for the kind of independent and foreign films Living Room specializes in on nights and weekends. But, unlike at its Portland sibling, no alcohol will be served.
“The university is hoping to build up cultural life on campus, and it creates a captive audience for us,” Rimoch said. “It’s a win-win situation.”
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Proctor’s - No demolition planned?
TROY, NY — Some new plans being released could save the interior of the Proctor’s Theatre.
Columbia Development, an Albany company, is preparing to redevelop the Fourth Street site, including two adjacent office buildings. The company’s original plan, which was backed by the city, called for restoring the Proctor’s facade while demolishing the grand theater for the construction of new office space.
But the Troy Proctor’s Foundation says Columbia has told the group it will not raze the theater, and the community organization is now shifting its focus from campaigning to prevent the demolition to raising money for a restoration.
Read more in the Albany Times-Union.
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Gentry Cinema For Sale - Includes Real Estate
CHECOTAH, OK — The Gentry Cinema is a twin theater that has recently been remodeled and twinned. It was in operation for about a year when we had to close in January. We had spent more than expected on the renovation and didn’t have enough operating capital left to make it through the slow times that occur with any new start up. We also had health concerns for our son, who had been excluded by the insurance company because his health problems were pre-existing. So, I took another job that included better benefits and moved to another state.
The theater had been closed for at least a dozen years when we re-opened it. We started with a building that was on the verge of being condemned and destroyed by the city and then we turned it into a nice little downtown theater that probably looks better inside and out than the day it was first opened in about 1941.
You can read more about it at www.GentryCinema.com or here on CinemaTreasures under the theater listings. You can also see some old photos from before the renovation at www.CinemaTour.com
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May 1, 2010
You are invited to tour historic theatres in Indiana
Those of us who advocate for the renovation and reuse of historic theatres always learn something when we look at successfully operating vintage theatres. Sometimes, you can find them in what you think are unlikely places.
In that spirit, I would like to invite you to consider joining us June 22-27, 2010, for the Theatre Historical Society of America’s statewide tour of Indiana. (THSA tours a different area in the U.S. each year for its annual “conclave.”)
Among the 33 historic venues we will see are at least three “movie palaces.” You can see how the INDIANA (Indianapolis), EMBASSY (Fort Wayne) and PALACE (Louisville) survived the decades and have been renovated for contemporary entertainment. We will travel daily in buses as far north as South Bend, as far south as Lexington, Ky., as far west as Danville, Ill., and as far east as Richmond. You are free to roam on your own in the evenings. Indy has much to offer in the way of theatre, movies, bowling and other amusements.
In addition to the movie palaces, there are a wide variety of opera houses, cinemas, fraternal halls, ballrooms and other unique venues on the tour that really don’t fit into one category. Their diverse stories of survival and endurance are encouraging and inspiring to those of us who are working to preserve great theatres.
You may read the full conclave brochure and contemplate the registration form on the THSA web site:
What follows after the jump is the complete introduction I wrote for the current edition of Marquee magazine that covers all of the Indiana theatres we will tour. It includes a lot of personal history that explains how I came to have this interest. I’m including it here because space limitations and good editing have appropriately truncated it for Marquee.
Thank you for considering this invitation. If these kinds of thing sounds like fun to you, then I hope to see you on the bus plowing through the corn and bean fields of Indiana!
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April 30, 2010
Columnist sees recent TCM classic film festival as a model to emulate
LOS ANGELES, CA — Blog writer Steven Zeitchik sees the recent TCM film festival as more than just a retrospective of great films of the past; he thinks that it may serve as a model of how to present cinematic gems on a regular basis in the future all over the country by creating and event-like atmosphere around great films paired with a live element.
The reason it all worked was because the festival took something that’s part of our pop-culture canon and made it fresh. In some cases, these screenings were simply a way of introducing a piece of art or entertainment to a new generation with the extra flourish of a large-scale screening; in other cases, they added something specific to our understanding of the work. (“L.A. Confidential” director Curtis Hanson, for instance, introduced “In a Lonely Place.” Who better to talk about the history of noir than someone who’s made the best modern example of the form?)
The movie business often frets about the relevance of film-going in the YouTube age, when entertainment is disposable, portable and inexpensive to view (read: typically costs nothing). Hollywood has been intent on trying to compete with these many out-of-theater experiences by mounting ever larger spectacles — see under: the 3-D revolution, a particular hobbyhorse for us and others these days. And theater owners, eager for anything that will give them a leg up or stave off obsolescence, have gone along, sometimes grudgingly, sometimes enthusiastically.
But the entertainment world, as it often does, offers another way. And the TCM festival shows us what that way might be — namely, creating a buzz around a screening of a previously released film.
The full article is in the L.A. Times.