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The latest movie theater news and updates
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September 17, 2009
Queen Theater hopes for renovation
EUNICE, LA — The three-screen Queen Theater in Baton Rouge, LA is hoping that the means to renovate the cinema will become available. It’s still operating, but years of deferred maintenance are taking their toll. The theater’s manager describes the theater’s condition in this article.
Guillory, whose wife’s family, the Kellers, built the original Queen, has written to the state’s historical group to procure a grant, to no avail. A new buyer could be forthcoming, he said, and the current multi-theater owner lives in Florida and told Guillory he could possibly be interested in renovations.
But nothing is firmed up yet. The costs could run to at least $100,000, Guillory said, hurrying to switch on the air conditioners for that night’s two new films: “Halloween II” and “Final Destination.”
Read more in the Advocate.
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Reconsidering Hollywood’s greatest year: 1939 vs. 1959
Many consider 1939 to be the Hollywood’s finest year in terms of classic film production, the year that gave us “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz” among others. But in this article from the Seattle Times, the year 1959, during which “Ben-Hur,” “North by Northwest,” “Some Like It Hot,” were all released, also was a very comparably significant year in film history.
But my favorite movie year is 1959, the 12-month period when Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, Otto Preminger, Jimmy Stewart and William Wyler all hit career peaks. Simultaneously, art houses were flooded with some of the best work from Francois Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman, Satyajit Ray and Alain Resnais.
It was a year that seemed to sum up many careers (several veteran filmmakers directed their last pictures), while anticipating the innovations and disruptions of the 1960s.
Read the full story in the Seattle Times.
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September 16, 2009
Bucking the trend, new Naples cinema targets older audience
NAPLES, FL — Perhaps it’s not surprising given its location, but the new Silverspot Cinema 11 is going after the mature audience, both in terms of its amenities and its programming. The first U.S. installation operated by the Venezuela-based Cines Unidos, the multiplex features deluxe seating, a beer and wine bar, and a restaurant. There is no box office; tickets are sold on-line or at kiosks.
“It’s really the plushest theater I’ve ever sat in,” says Eric Raddatz, executive director for Naples International Film Festival, which will be held there Nov. 5-8. “Every chair in there is like a leather La-Z-Boy sofa. It’s amazing.”
Read more in the Fort Myers News-Press.
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Santa Monica wants assurance older multiplex will be closed before OK'ing new one
SANTA MONICA, CA — According to this article in the Santa Monica Daily Press, the City Council wants AMC to guarantee that it will close its existing Broadway 4 theater before it approves construction of an twelve screen cinema a block away to prevent an overabundance of theaters in the downtown area; otherwise it will entertain a rival proposal from Pacific Theaters.
In a local market filled with outdated theaters that have long fallen behind the trends of stadium seating and state-of-the-art technology, cinema giant AMC is hoping to enliven the movie-going experience.
The only thing standing in the way is whether the company can guarantee city officials that its current movie house on the Third Street Promenade just off Broadway will be put out of commission once the replacement is constructed just a block north.
Read more at the Santa Monica Daily Press.
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Classic films return to former Carolina Theater
LUMBERTON, NC — The Carolina Civic Center, born in 1928 as the Carolina Theater, is now showing a series of classic films in addition to its other programming.
The movie is part of the “Gotta See It on the Big Screen'‘ fall series. The purpose of the series, he said, is to show classic movies the way they should be seen – on the big screen.
“These are films that television screens don’t do justice,” said Sceiford, the center’s executive director.
Read the story in the Fayette Observer.
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September 15, 2009
Outdoor movie theater to be be built at Oxnard high school
OXNARD, CA — A California school district has entered into a partnership with a Texas-based company to build a $1.5 million dollar, 1,000 seat outdoor theater with two giant screens. During the school year, the screens will be used for educational and athletic purposes and then family-oriented films would be screened from May to October. The operation is expected to realize over $400,000 in revenue during the first year of operation from ticket and concession sales, and a million dollars a year subsequently, with profits split between the company and the school district.
The Oxnard Union High School District board Wednesday night unanimously approved plans to allow Texas-based Schlosser Constellation Inc. to build the $1.5 million outdoor theater. If state officials sign off on the project, the theater will include two high-definition, 50-foot-high, 200-foot-wide screens with “IMAX-like” quality, Camarillo High Principal Glenn Lipman said.
The theater would feature reclining seats equipped with outlets for viewers to plug in headphones for sound. It would be built between the varsity baseball field fence and the football field.
Read more in the Ventura County Star.
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Fragment of famed Ziegfeld Theater shows up on E. 80th Street
NEW YORK, NY The figure of a goddess carved in limestone that is alleged to be from the front of the former Ziegfeld Theater in NYC has been noted in a yard in front of a building on E. 80th Street in NYC according to this story.
How did it come to be here? Apparently, 52 East 80th was once owned by Jerry Hammer, a theatrical producer. In the 1960s, he was riding past the Ziegfeld in a car with developer Zachary Fisher, who mentioned he was tearing it down. Hammer jokingly asked if he could have one of the limestone heads. Four months later, he heard noises outside of his Upper East Side home – it was a truck lowering the head by crane into his front yard. Hammer moved out of the place in 1998 but left the head behind.
Read the full story in the Huffington Post.
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Automaticket machines for sale
So the Zephyrhills Home Theater is just now getting rid of their old 1930-1940’s automaticket machines. One is lever and the other is electric. Anyone interested in buying them? If so contact me at 813-997-6985. Thanks!
Tim
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September 14, 2009
Young entrepreneur opening art house cinema
WINSTON SALEM, NC — A new twin-screen art house is under construction in Winston-Salem, NC thanks to the passion of Lawren Desai and her business partners. To be called the a/perture, the intent is to create a venue for non-mainstream films, film festivals, and films that played in downtown Winston-Salem in days gone by.
She adds that sharing office space with RiverRun also may enable her theater to play some of its bigger hits, as well as some of the films that didn’t quite make the cut for the annual film festival.
But most importantly, Desai wants a/perture to become a home for local filmmakers, including students and graduates of UNC School of the Arts.
“There are a lot of people from the community that are making films,” Desai says. “I think there’s just a lot of potential for different kinds of films that are not coming here now.”
Read more in the News & Record.
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Forget those expensive computer drives; just hook up the PlayStation!
According to this article, a theater in Japan is showing an animated film using a PS3 connected to a video projector instead of the projector’s hard drive.
In the theatre, folks claim to have seen things like messages to charge the USB controller pop up on the screen.
According to one site, the Blu-ray version of the film is being screened, but Wired Vision confirmed this with the film’s distributor and Sony subsidiary Aniplex that a data file of the movie is running off of a PS3. The film is in full HD, and there is apparently no noticeable difference between it playing from the PS3’s hard drive and a digital projector hard drive.
Read more at Kotaku.