The latest movie theater news and updates

  • February 20, 2009
    Events

    4 Classic Noir Films at the Loew’s Jersey Theater

    Film Noir
    Four Legendary Titles
    from
    The Dark Side of the Screen

    February 27 & 28
    At the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre
    54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ 07306
    Tel. (201) 798-6055 Web www.loewsjersey.org Email:

    A Landmark Movie Palace Now Operated as a Not-For-Profit Arts Center

    1 comment
  • Industry

    Theaters sued for not providing captioned Films

    Some Washington state residents are fighting back after theaters fail to provide captioned films.

    For most cinema buffs, silent movies went out with the Coolidge administration eight decades ago.

    But for film fans who are hard of hearing, today’s theaters offer little beyond an indecipherable silence. Captioned showings remain rare, and existing technology that would allow attendees to read along at their seats is rarely used.

    Now, a small group of Washington residents hopes to change that through a lawsuit filed earlier this month in King County Superior Court.

    Read the full story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

    4 comments
  • February 19, 2009
    Memories

    Remembering Cinerama (Part 21: Fresno)

    REMEMBERING CINERAMA
    Part 21: Fresno

    The following is Part Twenty-one in a series of retrospectives on Cinerama, the legendary motion picture process that kicked off the widescreen revolution. The series focuses on providing a market-by-market, film-by-film, historical record of when and where Cinerama and its multi-panel clones were exhibited. The easy-to-reference articles also serve to provide nostalgia to those who experienced the Cinerama presentations when they were new and to highlight the movie palaces in which the memorable events took place.

    Part 1: New York
    Part 2: Chicago
    Part 3: San Francisco
    Part 4: Washington, D.C.
    Part 6: Los Angeles
    Part 7: Atlanta
    Part 8: San Diego
    Part 9: Dallas
    Part 10: Oklahoma City
    Part 11: Syracuse
    Part 12: Toronto
    Part 13: Columbus
    Part 14: Montreal
    Part 15: Northern New Jersey
    Part 16: Charlotte
    Part 17: Vancouver
    Part 18: Salt Lake City
    Part 19: Boston
    Part 20: Philadelphia

    And now…Part 21: Cinerama Presentations in Fresno, California!

    5 comments
  • Theaters

    Entertainment Agency offers fundraising help nationwide

    The Prestige Entertainment Series is a collection of entertainment performances to help old theaters and showhouses raise funds to rehabilitate and eventually assist the theaters in becoming fully self sustaining, at no cost to the theater.

    The program is a very simple process. Prestige Entertainment Corp., A Wisconsin Corporation, has access though its affiliate, The Images Agency to literally hundreds of performers and acts, that can be booked for very reasonable fees.

    We start out with small acts, and over a period of time, move on to larger shows and eventually headliners.

    1 comment
  • For Sale

    SF Silver Screen for sale

    SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The Roxie Cinema in San Francisco has a Silver Screen for sale. Not sure of the exact size, it was never used by the Roxie and has not yet been opened (it’s been in storage for years and years).

    But if you are interested, let me know and I’ll open it up and send you all the pertinent info.

    Thanks,
    Keith

    2 comments
  • February 18, 2009
    Fundraising

    Lebowsky Center owner trying to raise $350,000

    OWOSSO, MI — The Owosso Community Players, which owns the fire-gutted Lebowsky Center is trying to raise $350,000 by May 1 in order to qualify for a matching grant from the city of Owosso which it received as part of the Vibrant Small Cities Initiative.

    If the grant money is received, the $700,000 would be used to enclose the theater again and begin interior work. Completing the entire project is expected to cost $3.5 million.

    Additional info from the Argus-Press.

    If you are interested in donating to the OCP, contact Linda Keenan of the Owosso Community Players, P.O. Box 606, Owosso, MI 48867. Their phone number is (989) 723-1488.

    0 comments
  • Openings

    Capistrano moving toward reopening movie house

    SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA — Finally, movies may be coming back to a downtown theatre thanks to Regency.

    After a decade of darkness, it may be show time once again at Capistrano’s downtown movie theater.

    The owners of Franciscan Plaza, which evicted the previous theater operator in 2008 after years of missed promises to reopen the movie house, are nearing a deal with Regency Theatres. Family-owned Regency operates theaters throughout Southern California, along with screens in Las Vegas and Denver.

    Read more at the Capistrano Disptach.

    0 comments
  • Openings

    Oakland’s restored Fox Theater “worth the trip”

    OAKLAND, CA — Another positive account of the reopening of the Fox Theatre.

    But if I’m part of Oakland’s problem and have played my own small role in holding back a long overdue urban renaissance in Downtown Oakland, I’m ready to make amends. Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Grand Opening of the Fox Oakland Theater, and I gotta say, I was blown away. If Oakland too frequently comes up short in head-to-head comparisons with San Francisco, its time to recognize a fundamental fact: Somehow, a profound attack of cultural amnesia allowed San Francisco’s magnificent 1929 Fox Theatre to be demolished just months after its closure in 1963. The Fox Oakland could easily have met the same fate, but Oaklanders never completely gave up on their Fox Theater, which opened the year before the San Francisco Fox and closed thee years after the closure of its sibling across the bay.

    Read more at PreservationNation.

    1 comment
  • February 17, 2009
    Memories

    Before AMC & Kerasotes: What’s left of M&R, Plitt, & C-O in Chicagoland?

    I’ve been on CT for a few years now, and I need a little help here. As most Chicago CT'ers know, AMC and Kerasotes have become the dominant players in Chicagoland. I’d like to know what has become of their antecedants, especially those of AMC. I’d like to know which theatres of Cineplex-Odeon, M&R, & Plitt still function as movie houses (or are able to). Here’s what I came up with:

    M&R: Lansing (f.k.a. River Run), Norridge, Portage, & Webster Place.
    Plitt: LaGrange, Gateway.
    Cineplex-Odeon: 600 North Michigan, Quarry, North Riverside, Bloomingdale Court, Rivertree Court, Chicago Ridge, Gardens at Old Orchard.
    Essaness: Davis, Lake. (Golf-Glen is reportedly under renovation to re-open as Phoenix/Ad-labs).

    8 comments
  • Industry

    Redstone may dodge debt bullet

    An interesting turn in the continued troubles of National Amusements.

    In a conference call with analysts Thursday morning, Mr. Redstone announced that his privately held National Amusements Inc. was nearing an agreement to refinance $800 million in debt that was due this year. The company has a total of $1.6 billion in debt outstanding.

    Mr. Redstone has been struggling with the debt issue since October, when National dumped $233 million of its holdings in Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. after declines in the media companies' value tripped a covenant with lenders.

    Read more in Crain’s New York.

    2 comments