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The latest movie theater news and updates
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September 25, 2009
Woodbridge eyes Fords Theater’s past with hope for future
FORDS, NJ — The long shuttered Fords Cinema may be making a comeback as locals investigate the possibilities.
Today, the nearly 100-year-old building sits vacant and gutted — it’s seats torn out, parts of the roof caving in and paint crumbling to the floor. Its owner, Shah Associates of Woodbridge, has used the building for storage over the years and is looking to lease two store fronts on the first floor.
But now the township and Middlesex County are spending a combined $150,000 to have engineers examine the structure and create preliminary designs for a new or repaired Fords Theater — if they get permission. Officials took the first step toward that last week, giving the owners a draft agreement that would let an evaluation take place.
Read the full story in the Star-Ledger.
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Midnight Movies at Dobie needs sponsors!!
AUSTIN, TX — The Dobie Theatre is trying to start up a series of Midnight Movies!! However, funds are tight.
We are in need of sponsors!
We are looking for sponsors to cover the cost of film screening fees and print rentals.
In exchange we provide plenty of promotion for your business, some free passes to the Dobie for your business, and a lot of input on the films choosen. -
Balto Development Corp (BDC) Issues Senator Theatre RFP
BALTIMORE, MD — On behalf of the City of Baltimore, the BDC officially issued a Request For Proposals and announced a pre-proposal conference (for parties interested in submitting a proposal) today for the Senator Theatre:
Deadline for proposals is November 20, 2009 at noon.
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Michael Moore on film exhibition
His films excite controversy, but many would agree with him when he talks about the fact that, unlike other forms of art, filmmmakers can rarely control the quality of presentation and exhibition of their works. He also mentions his major role in the restoration of the State Theater in Traverse City, Michigan, and how the users of cellular devices during film showings are treated at his theater.
Read more at the Boston Herald.
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September 24, 2009
Charlotte Film Festival highlights actual 35mm film
In spite of all the buzz about digital projection, with many predicting the imminent demise of traditional film projection, this year’s Charlotte Film Festival will be deliberately emphasizing 35mm film to provide attendees with what this article in the Charlotte Observer calls “a different viewing experience:”
Let’s say that with emphasis: It’s showing films. Not digital entries that can be tossed up onto any screen, but 35mm pictures that have to be projected in traditional movie theaters.
Partnerships were the key to this quantum leap forward.
The film festival convinced EpiCentre Theaters and Regal’s Park Terrace Cinemas to provide a different viewing experience. The festival strengthened its bond with Queens University of Charlotte, which hosts eight workshops
Read more in the Charlotte Observer.
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New theater in Davidson under construction
DAVIDSON, NC — Davidson has not had an operating movie theater in decades, but a new four-screener will open soon in the Sadler Square shopping center and will be called the Our Town Cinemas. The theater operators are asking the public, businesses and other organizations for suggestions and ideas for the new multiplex’s programming.
Our Town Cinemas announced Aug. 19 that it planned to convert vacant space at Sadler Square into Davidson’s first hometown movie theater in decades. The theater will occupy the corner of the shopping center next to The Egg at Davidson that once housed a dollar store.
Plans call for a 4-screen, first-run theater with table seating and an expanded concession stand menu.
Read more in the Davidson News:
http://davidsonnews.net/2009/09/18/construction-begins-on-towns-new-movie-theater/ -
Up to 15,000 additional screens slated to get digital 3-D
At a “3-D Entertainment Summit” held in Los Angeles on September 16, major exhibitors were heartened to hear that financing was being made available to equip thousands of additional screens for digital 3-D films over the next five years. Currently, there are about 2,700 screens equipped for digital 3-D exhibition, a number which exhibitors believe seriously limits their profits from the increasing number of 3-D films studios are releasing. Still, some theater owners were skeptical that that the number of 3-D venues would increase as rapidly as projected.
To date there are only 2,700 3-D screens in North America, limiting the potential returns that studios can reap from the higher ticket prices from 3-D releases (moviegoers typically must pay an extra $3 to see 3-D films). With the new financing, that number is expected to grow by 4,000 by the of the year, or nearly 10% of all screens in North America.
Here’s the rest of the story from the L.A. Times.
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September 23, 2009
Ninety-year old OK theater re-opens
ENTERPRISE, OR — Closed since late 2008, the OK Theater in Enterprise has re-opened under new ownership. (And, by coincidence, the opening attraction was “Star Trek”).
Nine months after the 90-year-old movie theater turned off its projector and closed up shop at the end of 2008, it fired up the dusty equipment under new ownership Saturday, Sept. 12, for a test run and as a benefit for the local food bank. The theater will re-open for good Friday, Sept. 18.
Approximately 225 lined up with two cans of food donation to see “Star Trek” and welcome the theater back into their lives at the benefit showing.
Read the story in the Wallowa County Chieftain.
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Former Sack 57 in Boston to re-open as art cinema
BOSTON, MA — The Stuart Street Playhouse, a venue for live theater since 1996, will be reborn as a single screen art cinema though keeping its current name. Some Bostonians will remember it as the former Sack Cinema 57 twin-screen cinema that opened in the 1970s.
Read more at Boston.com.
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Dolby CP55 or CP65
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Thanks-
Bob