Assembly Square Cinemas
35 Middlesex Avenue,
Somerville,
MA
02145
35 Middlesex Avenue,
Somerville,
MA
02145
4 people
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Showing 26 - 37 of 37 comments
The Somerville News reports that Planet Fitness gym will move into the cinema building, from its current location across the street. The paper isn’t the most reliable source of local news, so I don’t know how trustworthy this report is.
Somebody at the Globe or AMC goofed up. The theatre is definitely closed, but today’s Globe still has an ad listing showtimes.
The final day’s movies at Assembly Square, before it closed its doors forever:'
Freedom Writers
Code Name: The Cleaner
Happily N'ever Afer
Black Christmas
Night at the Museum
Rocky Balboa
Charlotte’s Web
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Holiday
Unaccompanied Minors (matinees only)
Blood Diamond
Happy Feet
Casino Royale (one show only)
The last showings started between 7:00 and 8:15, and the final show finished a little after 10 pm. By that time, workers were already taking down letters from the marquee and handing them out to whoever wanted one.
Judy, the manager, told me that she had worked here since 1983. She wore a Sack Theatres badge on her final day. According to her, the theatre’s 25-year lease expires on January 31, and they have to remove everything from the building by then.
I called again today. The manager told me the last day of operation will be Monday, January 15 (MLK holiday), and that it will be demolished after it closes.
I phoned this theatre and asked, “are you closing soon?” The lady who answered the phone said, “We have no lease beyond the end of January.”
On the Somerville Theatre page there is now speculation that Assembly Square will soon close. The place certainly isn’t up to AMC’s usual standards.
I went to this theatre last Friday night to see Wallace & Gromit, and the place did not seem at all bustling or busy. Will AMC modernize it, replace it, or close it?
I don’t believe that Assembly has a union booth. I am pretty sure the union would not tolerate it, but perhaps they don’t want to rock the already unsteady boat.
Why doesn’t the union complain about the poor working conditions? I would not want to work in any place where water and electricity coexisted.
I must say that it is worse – I was there recently on a rainy day to pick up a print and the lobby was full of bins for catching the many leaks in the ceiling. The projection booth was also a mess, with projectors running while covered in tarps to keep the water off of them – not something I’d feel safe working in. With the lack of a local ‘regional office’ in Boston now (after reorganization, Loews' regions were expanded as to minimize local office staffs) it is possible the people in the home office have no idea the theater is so bad. The thing is, they lease the space, so why not demand to the landlord it be fixed?
A dump of a theatre. When I last went there in ‘97, I remember a good number of the screens being stained in some way or another, old, unfortable seats, and the overall cleanliness of the building leaving something to be desired. I can’t imagine, given the lack of maintenance Loews generally appoints its properties, that the situation is much better now.
Assembly Square is the only former Sack theatre that Loews still operates today.