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The latest movie theater news and updates
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April 27, 2009
Majestic Crest Theater for sale
LOS ANGELES, CA – The Majestic Crest Theater is for sale.
1262 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024Seller Will Finance!, Owner will Carry back a Note (AITD)!
Built by the wife of Henry Fonda.Property Description:
One of the countries longest running and last single screen movie theatres. Westwood' s Crest Theatre was originally built as a live theatre in 1939 by Frances Seymour Fonda, wife of Henry Fonda and mother of Peter and Jane Fonda. This unique venue is known for its landmark, hand painted murals depicting establishments from Westwood and Hollywood during the 1940s, and its ceiling’s starlight' s that are celestially accurate the theater is currently operated by the existing owner, who would consider leasing back and continuing to operate the theater after a sale.0 comments -
Old Royal to return
ARKADELPHIA, AR — After years as the Print Mania building, the Old Royal Theater is coming back.
Last week, the city of Arkadelphia closed the purchase on the Print Mania building, which was previously the Old Royal Theater. The site was originally an art deco style theater built in 1932. Plans for renovations are currently in the works, beginning with moving out the contents of the print shop and then hiring an architect to restore the building with an eye for its former style but with all the modern amenities.
“It has to be state-of-the-art sound, state-of-the-art visual and it has to be a destination,” said Jimmy Bolt, city manager and the spearhead for the project.
Read the full story in The Oracle.
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April 24, 2009
Science on Screen finale
BROOKLINE, MA — The Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts wraps up the 2008-2009 season of its popular Science on Screen series on Monday, May 11 at 7:00 p.m. with a special program, An Evening with Ray Kurzweil. The celebrated futurist, inventor and entrepreneur will give a multi-media presentation based on his best-selling book The Singularity is Near and show a trailer of the upcoming film of the same name. Audience members will also get a sneak peek at “Transcendent Man”, director Barry Ptolemy’s documentary charting Kurzweil’s journey to bring the ideas from The Singularity is Near to a worldwide audience. A question-and-answer session with Kurzweil will follow the program.
According to Kurzweil, the onset of the 21st century ushers in an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity. While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, Kurzweil will present an inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.
Ray Kurzweil has been described as “the restless genius" by the Wall Street Journal. One of the leading inventors of our time, he has worked in a variety of areas, including music synthesis, speech and character recognition, reading technology, virtual reality and cybernetic art. All of these pioneering technologies continue today as market leaders.
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Trailers for theatre policy 1970’s
In the late 70’s, one of our musician friends came up with a great idea for intermission trailers that eventually aired in San Jose. Its star was John and his wife, and all our friends. My husband and I would love to get access to these trailers which were hilarious and ran only for less than a year I believe.
They even showed it on Entertainment Tonight. It included singing in the theater, and funny spoofs on no smoking, where the smoker was doused with a fire extinguisher. Does anyone have an idea where I can get ahold of that and the one we filmed for the drive-in in Milpitas?
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April 23, 2009
Former theatre sold to sock manufacturer
BURLINGTON, NC — Leaving many questions marks, the West End Cinemas has been sold to a local sock manufacturer with no clear plans except that it won’t be a theatre.
After being vacant for about nine months, the West End Cinemas property on South Church Street has been bought by a local sock manufacturer.
According to records filed with the Alamance County Register of Deeds earlier this month, Burlington-based Carolina Hosiery Mills Inc. paid Carousel Cinemas LLC $1.85 million for the 5.6 acres. Of that, 37,798 square feet comprise the heated area once used by the movie theater.
But don’t expect to see a movie shown there or a sock outlet being put at that location.
Read the full story in the Times News.
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Vintatge seat info
We have 15 rows of seats, each that have been used for church pews. There are 5 seats per row. It is possible they originally came out of a theater and may date back to 1920’s or 1930’s. They have metal frames with wooden backs and seats bolted to them. Each seat folds up & down and they have wooden armrests.
The metal end caps have a design that consists of an “Aladdin” type lamp with a flame @ the spout and rays of light radiating from the flame.
We were wondering if anybody has seen seats like these with that design and is there anyway to tell who made them? Of course any other information you have we would appreciate.
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Historic Tower Theatres to show Cuban Film Festival
MIAMI, FL — In a sign of changing times, the Historic Tower Theatre in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana Cuban exile community will be hosting a festival of films from Cuba.
In the past, the exhibition of films from the island in Miami have been greeted with everything from accusations of the theatre management’s Communist sympathies to demonstrations to bomb threats and one incident of an exploding projector.
In recent years locals have been able to watch bootleg videos from the homeland and one local TV channel runs some titles without permission on Saturday nights, while making escrow payments for some planned future compensation to the Cuban state run film industry.
Read more about the Cuban Film Festival here in the Miami Herald.
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April 22, 2009
Restoring elegance to a movie palace
BUFFALO, NY — A nice look into the past and future of a surviving movie palace, Shea’s Performing Arts Center.
Motion picture industry pioneer Marcus Loew once said, “We sell tickets to theaters, not movies.”
Loew had movie palaces like Shea’s in mind when he said it.
Everything about the lavish, ornate and palatial “Wonder Theatre” and its neo-classic Spanish Baroque interior was meant to transport people into a breathtaking world of elegance befitting a European palace or opera house.
Read the full story in the Buffalo News.
(Thanks to Aneurysm9 for providing the photo.)
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AMC and Cinemark might merge
According to an article on Variety’s website, there are rumors that the two of the three largest theater chains in America, privately held AMC Entertainment, Inc., and publicly owned Cinemark Holdings, might join forces and compete against Regal Entertainment Group.
Both circuits have hired new head film buyers — and both used to work together at Loews Theaters. Their boss at Loews was Travis Reid … who now sits on the board of AMC.
Bob Lenihan, most recently at Century Theaters, will head up film buying at AMC under the circuit’s new chief, former Starbucks exec Gerry Lopez.
Read the full story in Variety.
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Police seek clues in theater robbery
TRUMBULL, CT — The office of the Marquis 16 was robbed last Wednesday, police said. The manager of the of movie theater complex at 100 Quarry Road was confronted by two masked males as he was leaving about 2:30 a.m.
Inside the office, one suspect tied Hotchkiss up and the other took an undetermined amount of cash from the safe, Harry said. Once they left, Hotchkiss was able to free himself and call police.
Theaters should be adding more security, not less in these hard economic times. Customers and employees need to feel safe when going to the movies.
Read the full story at the Trumbull Times.