Cinema 1, 2 & 3 by Angelika

Hello-

to Al A. many thanks for you reply. indeed the exhibition business since the 62 St. & 1st Ave. first opened. the Cinema 1 was for years one of the leading “art houses” in the city. case in point. the World Premiere engagement of Ingmar Bergman’s Oscar winning Cries and Whispers was held at the Cinema 1 not in his native Sweden.

I am a native New Yorker and lifelong moviegoer and believe the Cinema ½/3 can weather any potential competition from the revamped 62 St.& 1st Ave. if it returned to its roots so to speak. what do you say?

bigjoe, the industry has changed a lot since then. Back then there were ten or twelve hits out at once for several months. The studios preferred long runs on third avenue and offered incentives for those long runs. Nowaways there are one or two hit for a few weeks and the studios want as many seats as possible for the first two weekends. If you don’t have the big hit of the weekend, your house is empty. Imagine what would show at Cinema 1,2,3 if “WONDER WOMAN”, “TRANSFORMERS” and “CARS 3” were showing elsewhere. This location could become mostly an art house once again or it could be further split for more screens, but as I stated before, the economics are tough and the landlord would probably not approve if they are looking to develop the property.

This theater is 55 years old.

I’ve seen Cinema 1 use proper masking for scope, flat, and even 2.20, and pretty sure the other screens have masking also. FWIW, AMC and Regal in Manhattan mostly use masking between flat and scope at least.

The most notable exception I’ve found is that AMC Kips Bay has abandoned masking, and its IMAX screen (which never had masking but played Riddick for example in pillarboxed 1.9) has just decided to use constant scope and always fill the screen. Which works great for most films that play there (may even be beneficial for the new Transformers where the constant AR switches even between shots in dialogue conversations has been criticized) but certainly leads to awkward framing in some films like Inferno and Secret Life of Pets.

I believe Reading owns the building and land – they have options on the table with a partner but it doesn’t appear as if they have tenants or actual plans for what a new build on the site would look like and include – just feasibility studies. I don’t think any plans have been presented to the city or community board so I’m going to guess Cinema 1,2,3 is safe for another year or two (they’ve been talking redevelopment for a while with no definite plan in sight). From the photos on Yelp it does appear it was in rough shape prior to the recliner reseat – it didn’t get a huge overhaul other than new paint, carpets, flat screen movie-posters both inside and out, and the new tiers in Cinema #1’s balcony. I don’t get here nearly enough but it’s a much nicer experience than AMC – clean, good presentation, good snacks – actually in that regard its the complete opposite of AMC Amazing.

Yes, the location is still a problem, but it an also offer blockbusters multiple screens and showtimes. That is how the Ziegfeld lost out to the 42nd street locations.

Each deal is different, but the landlord will rarely contribute anything unless they are trying to get a lease renewal. The opposite might be the case here.

Perhaps an upper floor multiplex can replace it as part of the deal. Three screens is tough economics these days in Manhattan in an area with an ageing population and newer competition even if it once was the prime movie-going block in the city.

bigjoe59, the building was being used as a storage facility. Cinemex is doing a complete remodel and will be in putting in digital projectors, recliners and food service to seats. With five or six more screens in the area, the Cinema 1,2,3 and the Beekman’s total five screens will now have to share product in the zone with a newer and better facility. The last time Cineplex Odeon opened there it was just another out of the way multiplex in an over-screened zone. (The plan to close the Baronet/Cornet & Beekman was delayed for years.) Now the Cinema 1,2,3 will have to pay 2017 rent with less product and inferior older facilities.

Once Cinemex re-opens at Clearview’s First & 62nd we may see some movement here. Right now they can get their pick of the top films without much competition.

Hello-

is there any info at all about how eminent this theater’s closing might be? remember the eminent closing of the Ziegfeld took yearssssssss to actually happen.

The only update I can see as for a possible timetable for a closing is in the 2016 financial reports from Reading International (the parent company) published in March 2017.

They mention redevelopment of the Cinemas 1,2,3 property (along with a few other properties) as part of their “Three Year Business Strategy”, though no target date for when in those three years the redevelopment will be completed or specific details about closing the theater.

Go back to Nov 30, 2016 post to read re eventual loss of this theater. Nobody has posted yet any timetable or closing date. Often people do post in this site as to NYC theater closures before they happen which is helpful so people can visit a last time as I did with the Ziegfeld, Astor Plaza, Beekman, and Tower East, among my favorites. As to the Sunshine, please post on that theater’s page.