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The latest movie theater news and updates
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July 16, 2008
Former Harper Woods movie theater gets new life
HARPER WOODS, MI — The Wayne County Community College is renovating the Beacon East Cinemas for student use.
Workers are turning the former Beacon East Cinemas in Harper Woods into a center of learning.
The Detroit News reports Monday that Wayne County Community College is turning the shuttered 1970s movie theater into University Square. The facility will be shared with four-year schools that want to offer courses locally.
The full story is in the Associated Press.
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July 15, 2008
Remembering “Die Hard”
Twenty years ago today, the classic action flick “Die Hard” was released.
REMEMBERING DIE HARD
Compiled by Michael Coate
CAST:
John McClane … Bruce Willis
Holly Gennaro-McClane … Bonnie Bedelia
Sgt. Al Powell … Reginald Veljohnson
Dwayne T. Robinson … Paul Gleason
Argyle … De'voreaux White
Thornburg … William Atherton
Ellis … Hart Bochner
Hans Gruber … Alan Rickman
Karl … Alexander Godunov
Theo … Clarence Gilyard, Jr.DIRECTOR: John McTiernan
SCREENPLAY: Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza (screenplay), Roderick Thorp (novel)
RELEASE DATE: Friday, July 15, 1988 (70mm limited release); Wednesday, July 20, 1988 (general release)
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Circle Cinema turns 80
TULSA, OK — It has had its ups and downs but 80 years later, the Circle Cinema is still going strong.
Sitting on 12th and Lewis, Circle Cinema celebrates its 80th birthday today and the staff looks forward to renovating the theater for the future while also appreciating its history.
“We are the only remaining historic movie theater left in Tulsa – everything has become a parking lot,” said Stephanie LaFevers, executive director of Circle Cinema Foundation.
Circle Cinema opened its doors on July 15, 1928, and is in Tulsa’s first suburban shopping center, according to information compiled by Leigh Ann Zielger, executive director for the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture. The theater went through an evolution of showing serial films in the 1950s to even venturing into adult films in the late 1970s. But from the 1990s to early 2000s the theater sat nearly empty and vacant.Read the full story in the Journal Record.
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Sumner Redstone in talks to buy out daughter
More chatter regarding Sumner Redstone buying out his daughter’s shares of Viacom/National Amusements.
Sumner Redstone is negotiating to buy out his daughter Shari’s equity interest in Viacom Inc and CBS Corp, but the two sides have not reached a deal, his spokesperson said on Thursday.
The spokesperson also denied a CNBC online report that quoted the 85-year-old media mogul saying in an interview that his daughter was not qualified to succeed him.
For a long time, Shari Redstone had been expected to take the mantle from her father as chairman of Viacom and CBS, but their public dispute over corporate governance last year has left the issue of succession unclear.
Read the full story in Reuters.
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July 14, 2008
Owosso finally receives $1 million grant
OWOSSO, MI — After nearly a year of waiting, the city of Owosso finally received its $1 million grant from the Michigan State Housing Authority’s Vibrant Small Cities Initiative. Part of this grant will be used to rebuild the Lebowsky Center’s theater walls facing Main and Park Streets which had to be partially demolished after the fire which gutted the theater.
The Owosso Community Players still plan on having the theater completely enclosed again by the end of the year.
More details at The Argus-Press.
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All Brooklyn’s a Stage: Heights – Part 2
BROOKLYN, NY — The Brooklyn Eagle takes a further look into the theaters of its past included on Cinema Treasures.
Here are a few details of theaters catalogued on the web site, just so you know what those emporiums were like.
The RKO Albee — remember Albee Square? — had vaudeville as well as movies. Edward Albee, the original owner, donated paintings in the theater from his private collection. (He was a vaudevillian and either the adoptive father or grandfather of Edward Albee, the playwright.) The movie house existed off Fulton Street from 1925 until 1978. Now a new structure awaits us.
The Orpheum, another vaudeville house on Fulton Street, was owned by Percy Williams who also created the Bergen Beach Amusement Park. At 578 Fulton St., it was demolished in 1954.
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Downtown theater adjusts course
CONCORD, NH — The recently opened Red River Theatres is experiencing some growing pains as it figures out how to be successful in today’s marketplace.
Concord filmgoers want to see films that are edgy, local and touch on contemporary social issues. They are supportive of independent films but susceptible to market forces that keep independent films out of the spotlight in favor of commercial hits.
These are some of the lessons that the staff of Red River Theatres have learned since the nonprofit independent movie theater opened in October.
On Monday, the Concord City Council may consider a request by the theater for an $18,000 grant to cover the cost of its property taxes. But property taxes are one small portion of the expenses that the theater faces. In the eight months it has been open to the public, Interim Executive Director Connie Rosemont said, staff have been monitoring revenue and attendance, figuring out what expenses loom on the horizon, and working to adjust their business plan accordingly. The theater’s total annual operating budget is approximately $735,000.
Read the full story in the Concord Monitor.
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July 11, 2008
Heath Ledger film tribute at Terrace July 11-17
CHARLESTON, SC —
Heath Ledger Tribute
July 11-17
Monster’s Ball at 2:30, 9:45 p.m.
Brothers Grimm at 2:40 p.m.
Candy at 5:05 p.m.
Brokeback Mountain at 7:15 p.m.
Lords of Dogtown at 9:50 p.m.Six months after Heath Ledger’s death, the wound’s still fresh. Yes, that’s it. Let it out. We know, that’s the grief talking. No hard feelings. The circumstance itself is cruel. If Ledger on screen was anything, he was alive. He had just seemed to establish, and to have earned, his staying power when he died.
It says a lot about his talent, and about his moment in movie history that we can’t help but approach Ledger’s final full performance in “The Dark Knight” with the rueful certainty that his turn as the Joker will put Jack Nicholson’s to shame. Ledger looked like the kind of guy who wouldn’t gloat about that, so of course we want to pat him on the back for his decency, too. How confoundingly indecent of him to become permanently unavailable. On the other hand, given that his most emotionally stirring work always found a way to balance bravery with restraint, why not imagine this discontinuation of his career as also its ballsiest choice, an improvised masterstroke of Joker-approved gallows humor?
Ease into it with the Terrace Theatre’s Heath Ledger tribute, which begins Friday and screens each of its five selections; “Monster’s Ball”, “Lords of Dogtown”, “The Brothers Grimm”, “Brokeback Mountain” and “Candy” once daily through July 17.
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Metro Theatre status
NEW YORK, NY — In the New York Times, they discuss a possible sale of the Metro Theatre and where its ownership situation stands currently.
The Metro Theater, a landmark 1930s Art Deco movie theater on the Upper West Side, has been vacant for the last three years, a terra cotta question mark on Broadway between 99th and 100th Streets.
Three giant signs advertise that the building is for sale by Eastern Consolidated, but exactly what the future holds for the Metro is unclear. Like many other handsome structures in New York that have outlived their original purposes, the building awaits a new use.
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Inside the trade magazine boycott
Simon Owens' blog, Bloggasm, has taken a closer look at the recent boycott of trade magazines due to their stealing of scoops.
In the middle of May, Variety, the trade magazine for the entertainment industry, published an article stating that Juno director Jason Reitman would be directing a new movie based on Walter Kirn’s novel Up in the Air.
In the world of film fans this was huge news; with Juno’s almost-universal critical acclaim many were waiting anxiously to find out the next project Reitman would take on. Missing from that article, however, was any reference to the journalist’s source. Also nonexistent was a mention of the movie website, Latino Review, which actually broke the story earlier that day.
Read more including interviews with people closer to the issue at Bloggasm.