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The latest movie theater news and updates
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August 14, 2009
Palmyra’s only cinema closes
PALMYRA, PA — After eleven years of operation, Palmyra, Pennsylvania’s Cinema Center 12 has closed.
As far as funerals go, this one went almost unnoticed.
There was no big motorcade, no cascading flower arrangements, no somber speeches. Just a moving van, some cardboard boxes and a couple of lonely popcorn kernels.
After 11 years as the town’s only movie theater, the Cinema Center of Palmyra closed last week.
Read the full story in thePatriot-News.
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August 13, 2009
Robert E. Lee Theater in New Orleans to be demolished
NEW ORLEANS, LA — Closed for nearly two decades, the Robert E. Lee Theatre will soon have an appointment with a demolition crew.
But 18 years after General Cinema shut down the theater in 1991, the building’s owners, M&O Realty Inc., have decided to demolish it to make way for a new retail-office development, said Dan Schaneville, who represents M&O.
Although the theater flooded after Hurricane Katrina, the structure was not badly damaged and the decision to finally tear it down was unrelated to the storm. The real problem is that its design is too rooted in the 1960s to be functional in 2009.
Read the full story in theTimes-Picayune.
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TCM teaming up with drive-in theaters
This month, Turner Classic Movies is bringing a classic film series to drive-ins in the across the U.S.
This August, TCM is teaming up with four different drive-in theatres on the East and West coasts for a Summer Under the Stars event. Every Sunday night (see below for start times), each drive-in will screen a film by one of the great actors featured in TCM August programming: Among the films are Elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas, Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief, Gene Hackman in Bonnie and Clyde, and the 1962 version of Lolita starring Peter Sellers. If you’re travelling in August, you can catch the same films in rotation at these four drive-ins: Atlanta’s Starlight Drive-in; the South Bay Drive-in in San Diego, California; the Mission Tiki Drive-in in Montclair, California; and the Rubidoux Drive-in in Riverside, California.
More details at the TCM Website.
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San Antonio Theatres: Now and Then has a new forum
We have just added a new forum with Chatbox. We have many forum catagories including Texas Theatres and theatres outside of Texas. We have a links page with links back to Cinema Treasures. We invite you to pay us a visit and join our forum. Thank you
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August 12, 2009
Grauman’s Chinese for sale
HOLLYWOOD, CA — Citing difficulties making a profit on their single screen theaters, Mann Theatres is attempting to unload the famous Grauman’s Chinese as well as the Criterion in Santa Monica. This comes after they recently closed the Mann Festival and announced they would not be extending the leases on their other Westwood locations.
Amid seismic shifts in local exhibition, Warner Bros. and Viacom are stepping up efforts to unload L.A.-area movie theaters piecemeal, including the iconic Grauman’s Chinese in Hollywood. Such an exit would conclude an initially profitable but more recently tedious tenure of ownership for the studio companies.
Execs at Cinemerica — the co-venture of Warners and Paramount-parent Viacom that operates Mann Theatres — believe the timing is right to make a concerted run at selling one or more of its Mann venues. Two are considered especially attractive: the fabled Grauman’s on Hollywood Boulevard and the Criterion Theatre on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade.
Read the full story at the Hollywood Reporter.
(Thanks to Nico for providing the photo.)
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Bala Theater named to endangered list
BALA CYNWYD, PA — The Bala Theater suburban Philadelphia was named last week on the endangered list of the Lower Merion Conservancy.
There are only two movie palaces in the Philadelphia region where movies are still shown, the Ambler Theatre, and Clearview’s Bala Theater. Two years ago, I sent in a nomination of the Bala Theater to the Lower Merion Conservancy, for its most endangered list, explaining that the Bala is the only surviving “exotic” themed movie palace in the Philadelphia region. There were others in styles such as Chinese, Moorish, but they are all gone.
The Conservancy states that “At its heart sits the gorgeous Bala Theater, an Egyptian revival masterpiece….” and that a local business association “built the Bala Theater, originally named the Egyptian, in 1927, working with the same architects as the Philadelphia’s Boyd Theater fame. This is the only surviving "exotic” themed movie palace in the Philadelphia area. The theater is listed as a Class 2 building, but has maintenance issues with unapproved changes that concern preservationists."
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What will they think of next?
Just what the world needs: another “innovation” to encourage patrons to use their smartphones while watching a film.
According to this story, there is now actually a website and an iPhone application that can alert you to points in a movie where one can make a pit stop without missing anything critical in the film you are watching.
The site provides recommended opportunities to race to the restroom. It tells you when the action or romance wanes, and gives you a cue (“Baby O.J. is taken from Bruno”) for your exit.
The site tells you how long you’ve got and even summarizes what you missed. Since early July, RunPee.com is available as an iPhone app, too.
Read more at MSNBC.
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August 11, 2009
Landmark status sought for Shore Theater at Coney Island
BROOKLYN, NY — Both the interior and exterior of the Shore Theater (formerly Loew’s Coney Island, built in 1925) have been nominated for landmark status. Preservationists hope that the attainment of this status will eventually lead to the theater’s restoration.
Preservationists nominated the façade and interior of the 1920s vaudeville playhouse on Surf Avenue for protective status in 2005, but Mayor Bloomberg’s vast redevelopment plan for Coney Island, which the City Council approved last week, jumpstarted the lingering review by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
“The architectural quality is every bit as wonderful as Broadway theaters that have received landmarking,” said Dick Zigun of Coney Island USA, the group that made the request. “The city let us know they’re sympathetic to our request.”
Read more in the Brooklyn Paper.
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Buyer sought for multiplex in Florence
FLORENCE, OR — The recently closed Florence Cinemas in the Emporium Shopping Center is up for sale.
Florence residents may not have to wait long to watch another movie at the multiplex. Plans are now under way to find a new operator for Florence Cinemas, which closed its doors last week.
Campbell Commercial Real Estate, a Eugene-based company that specializes in commercial property, intends to immediately market the vacant movie theater in its current condition at the Emporium Shopping Center.
Read the full story in the: Siuslaw News.
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Kids need shots? Take them to the mall cinema!
LAS CRUCES, NM — Here’s a new way to attract crowds at the local cinema. TheCineport 10 Theater is being used by New Mexico Department of Public Health as a site for a series immunization clinics.
Read the story at KVIA.