S.V.A. Theatre
333 W. 23rd Street,
New York,
NY
10011
333 W. 23rd Street,
New York,
NY
10011
12 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 101 comments
I agree Al. Clearview Cinemas is not really a going concern. Cablevision has a lot more pressing issues and businesses to take of and they are defintiely not “growing” this business. As a result, I believe that they will in fact continue to find a buyer for Clearview or slowly close individual theaters as opportunities arise. Again, my only concern is for The Ziegfeld. None of the other theaters will be missed.
That is worrisome.
It is possible that Clearview, failing to find a buyer for the chain, is willing to drop individual sites no matter how strategic. Although I never expect any new building to last 99 years (or many theatres to survive rent reviews under current prices), I did think Chelsea 9 had a few more profitable years left.
Howard, you’re absolutely right! I meant Cablevision which is run by the Dolts, er, I mean Dolans. All of the other comments remain the same. I have no beef with Comcast.
Louis, Clearview’s parent is Cablevision which owns Madison Square Garden, Radio City, etc. Comcast owns no theaters.
Yes, just because Clearview had a 99 year lease, it doesn’t mean that that lease can’t be bought out for the right price. It appears that they got that “right” price. Besides, as has been evident for a several, the theater business is not on an upward trend and Clearview (being owned by Comcast) is probably not well run. The only Clearview theater that I worry about is The Ziegfeld. None of the others really rate.
Al, it sure sounds like from the news (repeated below) posted on the Chelsea 9 page by Luis, that Clearview must have sold their interest, too:
Chelsea Cinema Shocker…….
According to this weeks issue of The Real Deal, the real estate industry’s bible, Chelsea Cinemas is in contract to be sold and will most likely be torn down for a hotel leaving Chelsea without a nabe theater.
The quote is as follows: “Chelsea Cinemas could close soon. A hotelier is in contract to buy the nine-screen cinema, according to Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of the retail leasing and sales division at Prudential Douglas Elliman, who is working with the hotelier.
Consolo would not reveal the identity of the developer or the asking price for the space, which is owned by Mutual Redevelopment Houses Inc. She said her client is interested in building a boutique hotel of up to 10 stories, hoping to capitalize on the gallery-going crowd.
Don’t be so sure, Luis. The Cineplex Odeon lease was for something like 99 years so the lot may sell but the cinema operation will probably stay as long as Clearview (or whoever eventually buys Clearview) finds it profitable.
Little by little its all over so sad :(
It looks like it will be R.I.P. for the Chelsea 9 cinemas as well. An article appeared in last week’s Real Deal (NY Real Estate industry trade paper) that the Chelsea Cinemas are in contract to be sold. The new owner will most likely demolish them and replace it with a hotel. That would leave Chelsea with NO neighborhood movie theaters showing current releases. The Chelsea West will live on as the in house cinema venue for the SVA and the old porno palace, The Elgin, will live on as the delightful dance space, The Joyce Theater.
A list of box office hits that were shown at the CHELSEA WEST from 2002 to 2007
5/3/02- Spider-Man ($403.7m)
11/22/02- Die Another Day ($160.9m)
TBA 2003- Chicago (170.6m)
5/2/03- X2: X-Men United ($214.9m)
7/2/03- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ($150.3m)
7/18/03- Bad Boys II ($138.6m)
10/24/03- Scary Movie 3 ($110m)
11/5/03- The Matrix Revolutions ($139.3m)
5/28/04- The Day After Tomorrow ($186.7m)
6/30/04- Spider-Man 2 ($373.5m)
10/1/04- Shark Tale ($160.8m)
6/15/05- Batman Begins ($205.3m)
11/18/05- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ($290m)
12/14/05- King Kong ($218m)
5/26/06- X-Men: The Last Stand ($234.3m)
6/28/06- Superman Returns ($200m)
11/17/06- Casino Royale ($167.4m)
12/22/06- Night at the Museum ($250.8m)
2/16/07- Ghost Rider ($115.8m)
3/2/07- Wild Hogs ($168.2m)
3/9/07- 300 ($210.6m)
5/4/07- Spider-Man 3 ($336.5m)
5/25/07- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($309.4m)
6/15/07- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ($131.9m)
6/29/07- Live Free or Die Hard ($134.5m)
8/17/07- Superbad ($121.4m)
12/14/07- I Am Legend ($255.2m)
R.I.P. CHELSEA WEST 1963-2008
In 1963 This Italian film followed the opening run of Orson Welles' The Trial.
The Visual Arts Theater will be a showcase and laboratory for the arts represented by the School including Film and the Moving Image. It will not be a commercial first-run theater in any regard. However, its full-time calendar of special events will include classic films and a whole universe of film-related events which will be open to the public.
Will the SVA operate the Chelsea West as a traditional cinema or as one more geared towards special events and programming?
The theater is closed for the moment. The School of Visual Arts has become the new operator. Renovations will take place for the next few months, although selected events will continue to occur in the space during the Spring and Summer. It will remain a twin, but will be upgraded technically and in the area of design. A formal opening will be announced.
does anyone know if the theatre closed, it off Clearview’s web site
The 19th Street East has no stadium seating and seemed abandoned even during the Loews days.
The Village even without stadium seating has a better chance for a future with specialty films as it is far superior to most surviving area theatres.
I have to wonder, Al, if AMC might cut the Village 7 and 19th Street East 6 loose at the first opportune moment. The quality of the bookings at those two theatres had been sliding since the Union Square Stadium 14 opened in November of 1998, but seemingly more so (especially at the Village 7) since the AMC-Loews merger. (The number of move-overs booked into the Village 7 have increased dramatically in recent time.)
The zones have fallen apart and except for 42nd street, product splitting is slowly disappearing.
Of course, now with the Regal Union Square Stadium 14 and AMC Loews 19th Street East 6 in the same zone, Chelsea gets most of the top product.
Once the nine-plex opened, this one woke up, although it was almost always given left overs. I remember exceptional grosses when they played the right film.
For example, Spike Lee had a fit over the limited seating at Chelsea for JUNGLE FEVER so MALCOLM X opened at triplex to exceptional numbers. I also recall a solid week of sell-outs for a four-wall rental of an African film called SANKOFA.
The product was also compromised by the decision to include Loews 19th Street into the same zone, effectively keeping many titles out of Chelsea.
The Chelse 9 did have some of the best numbers in the city but i have never seen a hugh gross from the twin.
For a while in the nineties the Chelsea Nine and the 23rd St West produced some of the highest grosses in the city presenting the Angelika and Lincoln Plaza a serious challenge for exclusives.
The Chelsea nine was the highest grossing Manhattan house for a short time until Lincoln Square came along.
Since distributors preferred the nine-plex to the triplex, it was redone to a twin and renamed Chelsea West so that it would have the largest and best auditorium in the area and become more interchangeable with its bigger brother.
I suspect that the short lifespan of new movies and an attendance drain from the West 34th street has lead to this latest eminent switch away from mainstream film.
This neighborhood and theatre are still pretty much better off now than ever in their history and the SVA is making a smart investment.
It is shocking this theater has lasted this long…always an under performing theater.
A complete list of movies that were shown at the CHELSEA WEST from 2002 to today.
3/15/02- Resident Evil
3/29/02- Death to Smoochy
4/12/02- Human Nature
4/19/02- Murder by Numbers
5/3/02- Spider-Man
5/14/02- Windtalkers
7/3/02- Like Mike
8/2/02- The Master of Disguise
8/7/02- Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
8/16/02- The Adventures of Pluto Nash
8/16/02- Blue Crush
8/30/02- FearDotCom
9/6/02- Swimfan
9/20/02- Trapped
10/11/02- The Transporter
11/15/02- Half Past Dead
11/22/02- Die Another Day
12/13/02- Drumline
12/20/02- Two Weeks Notice
1/17/03- A Guy Thing
1/17/03- The Hours
1/31/03- Biker Boyz
TBA 2003- Chicago
3/14/03- Agent Cody Banks
3/28/03- Head of State
4/18/03- Malibu’s Most Wanted
5/2/03- X2: X-Men United
5/30/03- Wrong Turn
6/20/03- From Justin to Kelly
7/2/03- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
7/18/03- Bad Boys II
9/5/03- The Order
9/19/03- Secondhand Lions
9/19/03- Underworld
10/17/03- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
10/24/03- Scary Movie 3
11/5/03- The Matrix Revolutions
11/21/03- Gothika
12/5/03- Honey
12/12/03- Stuck on You
12/25/03- Cold Mountain
2/25/04- The Passion of the Christ
3/19/04- Taking Lives
4/2/04- Hellboy
4/30/04- Envy
5/28/04- The Day After Tomorrow
6/18/04- Saved!
6/30/04- Spider-Man 2
7/30/04- Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
8/13/04- Alien vs Predator
8/27/04- Suspect Zero
9/3/04- Wicker Park
9/10/04- Resident Evil: Apocalypse
9/24/04- Shaun of the Dead
10/1/04- Shark Tale
11/5/04- Sideways
11/12/04- After the Sunset
12/22/04- The Phantom of the Opera
1/14/05- Elektra
1/14/05- Racing Stripes
3/24/05- Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
4/29/05- House of D
5/6/05- Kingdom of heaven
6/3/05- Lords of Dogtown
6/15/05- Batman Begins
7/8/05- Dark Water
7/22/05- The Devil’s Rejects
7/29/05- Stealth
8/12/05- Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
9/2/05- Underclassman
9/9/05- The Man
9/23/05- Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
10/7/05- Waiting…
10/21/05- Doom
10/28/05- Saw II
11/18/03- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
12/14/05- King Kong
1/6/06- Hostel
1/27/06- Big Momma’s House 2
2/3/06- When A Stranger Calls
2/17/06- Freedomland
2/24/06- Madea’s Family Reunion
3/17/06- V for Vendetta
4/14/06- Scary Movie 4
4/28/06- Akeelah and the Bee
4/28/06- RV
5/12/06- Just My Luck
5/26/06- X-Men: The Last Stand
6/16/06- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
6/28/06- Superman Returns
7/21/06- Monster House
7/28/06- Miami Vice
8/4/06- The Descent
8/18/06- The Illusionist
8/25/06- Invincible
9/29/06- The Guardian
10/13/06- Infamous
10/20/06- The Prestige
11/10/06- Babel
11/17/06- Casino Royale
12/22/06- Night at the Museum
1/5/07- Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
1/26/07- Smokin' Aces
2/16/07- Ghost Rider
3/2/07- Wild Hogs
3/9/07- 300
3/16/07- Premonition
4/13/07- Pathfinder
5/4/07- Spider-Man 3
5/25/07- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
6/15/07- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
6/29/07- Live Free or Die Hard
7/27/07- No Reservations
7/27/07- Rescue Dawn
8/17/07- The Last Legion
8/17/07- Superbad
8/24/07- Resurrecting the Champ
8/31/07- Halloween
9/21/07- Good Luck Chuck
11/2/07- Martian Child
11/16/07- Beowulf
11/16/07- Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
12/7/07- The Golden Compass
12/14/07- I Am Legend
1/11/08- The Bucket List
1/18/08- Mad Money
1/25/08- Untraceable
I had the same initial thought: Here come’s a luxury condo with big box retail at the base. Relieved to hear about SVA’s plans.