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The latest movie theater news and updates
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November 2, 2006
Saving vintage theaters
How’s everyone in the theater industry today? I’m in the market for purchasing vintage theaters. It can be tough to raise the money to save a historic landmark. A broker told me that his company has no regard for existing market values for a historic theater. The sales price on a given theater is all that mattered on a given purchase agreement. One would figure what’s the world coming to? What are people being taught these days? That’s what the late Jackie Gleason would ask. What ever happened to Hollywood?
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“Matinee at the Bijou” returns
MEDFORD, OR — The Chudwig Group, a production company and content aggregator, announced today that agreements with PBS to air in 2007 a 12-episode sequel series to the popular 1980’s hit: Matinee at the Bijou, will anchor the group’s sponsorship development effort.
During its initial five-year run in the 80’s, Matinee at the Bijou was one of America’s favorite entertainment programs — consistently rated in the top-ten national PBS programs.
Screen legend, Debbie Reynolds, will host the new HD series. Reynolds will open each, two-hour episode with a performance of the original theme song and then describe for the audience that episode’s cartoon, short subject, action-packed serial chapter and classic feature film.
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November 1, 2006
Theatre owner blames employee thefts for closing
RIVERSIDE, OH — According to this report from WHIO-TV, Joe Kinney, the owner of the Page Manor Cinema in Riverside, due to stealing by his employess that was “off the hook”, has shuttered the theater, which first opened in 1967.
Kinney said that over the last two years, he has had to fire over 30 employees due to theft of money and a pinball machine. Kinney has operated the Page Manor for the past two years.
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Films at the Sedgwick takes Baby Steps
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Sedgwick Theater, once the Sedgwick Cultural Center at 7137 Germantown Ave, is closed, except for the occational films.
I started showing films in the Sedgwick in July of 06. The Sedgwick was a beautiful building- Art Deco, built in 1928. It closed in the 60s and was bought up and divided, the theater space was cinderblocked off, and the remaining lobbies ignored. With the theater space able to seat over 1600 people, the former owners figured… hey, I could probably cut a good profit by stripping the theater down, and turning it into a storage facility.
And so it sat until the 1990s when it went back on the market and was bought by the current owners. They’re the ones who set up the Cultural Center, but as far as I can tell, the running cost of the building ran the non-profit into the ground.
So that brings me to Films at the Sedgwick. I started by showing some public domain films for free, trying to give the building a presence once again.
And now, I’ve come to a sort of crossroads. I need help. I can’t do this alone anymore all out of pocket. So with our sites set on the Sedgwick Theater, we’re thinking big and starting small. Next door I’m openning the Little Theater, the Sedgwick’s baby sister. And as of November, the Little Theater an intimate 25 seat theater will be a second-run theater, showing films every weekend.
What I need is Art Deco theater decor, A ticket booth, a sign/marquee, and I need to take this full time. In short, I need donations, investors, and lots of advice to start building the Sedgwick’s comeback.
Thank-you in advance for your help.
-David Titus
Director, Films at the Sedgwick
www.filmsatthesedgwick.com
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Theater seats for sale
I have two lots of seats available for purchase. One group is approximately 450 Irwin Marquis seats only 1 year old and in beautiful condition. The other group is a mix of stationary and rocker type American Desk seat with a thick back. Cupholders are attached to all.
I am an installer, upholsterer in the business for over 20 years. These seats are in Brooklyn,NY. If interested, please e-mail me at .
Lillian
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October 31, 2006
Happy Halloween!
The Chicago Theatre, as photographed by laffy4k. (via Flickr)
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Theaters experiment with discount passes
CHICAGO, IL — CBS News has a report about Chicago-area theaters that are experimenting with off-peak discounts on theater admission:
Theaters are already being creative. Chicago’s Kerasotes locations offer a Five Buck Club, where you can see any movie for $5 if you’re willing to wait two weeks.
“It works great,” Wilder said. “They send you an e-mail that tells you what movies are playing there that week and then what movies are good with the card.”
At Chicagoland AMC Theatres, depending on the location, you pay either $4 or $5 for a movie, as long you go on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays or holidays before noon.
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October 30, 2006
TIME’s list of top political films
Just in time for this week’s elections, TIME’s film critic Richard Corliss has put together a list of the seven top political films of all time.
Here’s the first film on the list:
CITIZEN KANE ORSON WELLES, 1941
Best film ever? Maybe. But beyond the epiphanies of film form and camera work, Kane offers an acute view of American politics that applies today as much as it did then. Like Silvio Berlusconi and Michael Bloomberg, Kane (Welles) is a media magnate who runs for office. Like Mark Foley, he is caught in a sexual scandal just before the election. The brilliant script by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles is about a powerful man’s need to be loved by the millions of people whose lives he dominates. And when they jilt him, he rationalizes the rejection by spinning tales of conspiracy. His newspaper runs the headline FRAUD AT POLLS.
Find out about the other films he picked and then comment with your favorites!
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‘Death of a President’ struggles to find exhibitor support
The new film “Death of a President”, which speculates what might happen if President Bush was assassinated, is having a difficult time finding theaters comfortable with the film’s subject matter:
Faux documentary Death of a President, which depicts the assassination of President George W. Bush, opened last Friday at less thatn 120 cinemas across the U.S. last week.
The nation’s two largest movie theatre operators deciding their viewers would not get the chance to see the film.
Regal Entertainment Group, the largest theatre operator in the U.S., led the way.
“We do not feel it is appropriate to portray the future assassination of a president,” said Regal’s Dick Westerling.
With AMC, the nation’s second-largest chain, and Cinemark, which owns Century Theatres, also lining up against Death of a President, the film has effectively been banned from at least 16,300 American movie screens.
The Adelaide Advertiser has the full report.
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October 27, 2006
Westwood / Hilliard Square Theatre in Lakewood, Ohio
A story in this week’s Cleveland Free Times describes how a city’s interest in the grand old Westwood Theatre and a performing arts center’s desire to build a new campus in Lakewood Ohio could return the theater to glory — if only everyone were on the same page.
Bob Dobush lives at the theater, and not in any metaphorical sense. The collector and restorer of antique radios keeps an apartment above the long-vacant Hilliard Square theater in Lakewood. He bought the landmark in 1998 to save it from the wrecking ball.
Behind the theater’s Hilliard Avenue door stands the decaying glory of a bygone era, an ornate lobby and staircase.
For more, visit the Cleveland Free Times.