The Norwood Theatre will re-open on September 1 with a live musical performance by the Hal McIntyre Orchestra. On September 2, there will be two free screenings of the film “Mary Poppins.”
The Newport International Film Festival appears to have folded. The web site and phone numbers are no longer valid, and the organization has not renewed its corporation status with the Secretary of State’s office. Too bad.
(I and many others are still owed money for services provided at last year’s festival.)
The screening room (unofficially?) opened on Monday with a 35mm screening of “Precious” for Emerson students. The venue is supposed to open officially later this spring.
The Norwood Theatre (no relation to me!) has recently been sold. I believe that the plan is to renovate and upgrade the building and then re-open to host various types of events, primarily live stage productions.
Oh, and for peole who complain about the technology changes, I’ll offer this: lenses and screens have never been better than they are today. The quality of the average theatre sound system in 1960 does not even compare to the quality of the average theatre sound system today. Modern theatre seats (even the high-back variety, of which I am not a fan) are significantly more comfortable than anything that has been commonly available in the past. The very best theatres of the past were probably better than the very best today, but I have no doubt that the “average” experience has improved significantly.
It is sad that the major chains are ruining things with on-screen advertising and poor management, but that is not an issue with the technology.
People like to get out of the house (which explains why restaurants are still in business). Even in this age of the $10 movie ticket, the cinema still provides the least-expensive form of out-of-home entertainment. Compared with the price of attending, say, professional sporting events, movies are still a bargain.
Honestly, I think that some competition (from television or somewhere else) would be good for this industry. It might encourage theatres to provide their customers with something more than seats and a screen, and actually try to make the moviegoing experience special again.
It is sad that so many people here seem to go to crappy theatres. There are (still!) some very good theatres and theatre owners, and we should all seek out and patronize those venues.
Eleven years here, mostly occasional work for festivals and special events (my full-time job is in the software industry). I started when I was in college and worked at the local theatre (a 1930s single-screener, which has since been renovated and upgraded) in the late 1990s. Since then, I’ve run 35mm, 16mm, 70mm, and video in something like twenty different venues. Carbon arc through modern, automated systems.
It’s mostly been fun, and I’ve had the chance to meet some great people and show some great films. No one really appreciates how much work this job requires or how difficult it can be at times to keep the show on the screen, so most of the satisfaction comes from putting on the best possible show with the equipment available, and knowing that the audience had the chance to experience the film as closely as possible to how the director saw it in his screening room. I’m a film fan, first and foremost, and there is nothing that can ruin a feature so quickly as a projectionist screwup.
It’s sad that this industry seems to be dominated by operators who either don’t know how or don’t care to put on a top-quality show. There are some very good operators and theatre owners, however, and I encourage everyone to seek them out and patronize their theatres.
I visited the building yesterday. Renovations are progressing, with hopes of opening in 2007. Asbestos removal is in progress. The seats have been stripped, and the auditorium and stage will be restored. Except for the stage (now gone), most of the building appears to be intact and in generally good condition.
The building is currently owned by the Worcester Center for Performing Arts, a nonprofit organization which will be responsible for the restoration. They are aiming to have about 2200 seats in the restored theatre (floor+balcony).
I’m told that the Century JJ in cinema 1 came from the “old” Framingham cinema and was removed from there when it closed (before the current Framingham 16 was built). It’s one of the first JJs made, which would date it to the early 1960s. It replaced a Norelco AA-II at some point in the 1990s (I don’t know why).
I’m glad that you enjoyed those shows. Black Pirate was a recently struck 35mm print and in excellent shape. Buddy was shown on video tape (Digi-Beta) using a projector on loan from Sony Corporation.
I’m glad that you made it out to the Foxboro theatre; you should have stopped by the booth! A former projectionist who had worked at the Orpheum years ago was visiting that night and enjoyed seeing the venue in its present form.
(I should point out here that the cause of Friday’s brief show interruption—a clogged fan which tripped a thermal sensor in the lamphouse power supply—was corrected on Saturday afternoon.)
Almost certainly. They employed two projectionists at the time and it would have been trivially easy to carry the reels up and down the ladder from the main booth to the Studio Cinema booth.
I believe that AMC owns the rights to the GCC logos and trademarks, which means that there is almost no chance that anyone else will be able to use them in the forseeable future.
Interesting news. I suspect that a 5-screen house (even a successful one doesn’t fit into AMC’s business model of 16-30-plexes. I wonder what was actually “sold”; the building is owned by SR Weiner & Associates, I believe.
I, too, would be interested in any dates and additional details.
BCG apparently owns a number of theatres in various markets. The Tri-Boro Cinema in Attleboro, MA. is one of their houses.
For what it’s worth, we will be playing “Wings of Desire” at the Columbus on March 20 at 3pm. It will be 35mm, though it remains to be seen if we will get one of the new prints from two years ago (which is what we requested).
Cinemas 5 and 6 are the largest houses and are (or were) THX certified. The Burlington cinema is very similar in design to the Braintree cinema. Burlington does not have 70mm capability, however (Braintree does—or did—have a V8 in cinema 5).
I don’t know, but I doubt it. Probably DVD or maybe Beta. We usually try to run 35mm in the main house whenever possible. Video actually looks OK in the balcony, however. For the festival, we run all formats (Beta SP, Digi-Beta, DVD, 16mm, and 35mm) in both houses. We have run HD video in the big house as well. For some reason, the programmers seem to love to mix multiple formats in one show, which gets “interesting.”
The former balcony auditorium was great—nice big screen and good seats. The two auditoria on the main floor were less-than-great—sort of the standard Showcase “shoebox” setup with corrugated metal “soundproof” wall between them.
Nice, funky theatre that shouldn’t have been closed and torn down.
“Gloriously restored” isn’t the phrase that I would use for this theatre. The seats and stage are serviceable, a new fly system was installed in the 1970s, and they have fairly current stage lighting facilities. The general condition of the building, however, is fair at best and much of the plaster work needs to be redone. They also do not currently have film projection capability (a pair of very rusted and completely unusable Simplex E-7s with Peerless lamps and mag penthouses remains in the booth).
The one and only time when I visited this venue was in 2002. The building is in poor condition and I’m almost surprised that they hadn’t lost their public occupancy permit. The ceiling was disintegrating badly and sections of seats were roped off as a result. The interior is “nice,” but nothing special. No huge chandelier, no ornate plaster work. The staff were somewhat rude and the presentation was fair (for example, house lights were switched off and not dimmed). I was somewhat disappointed. At the time, they were still running carbon arc—as far as I know, they were the only theatre in the Boston area that hadn’t converted to xenon. Unfortunately, I did not get a look at the booth.
It’s the sort of venue that probably has “potential” to be successful, but the building is likely so far gone that it would be tremendously expensive to salvage it and, thus, probably not worthwhile. Very sad.
The Norwood Theatre will re-open on September 1 with a live musical performance by the Hal McIntyre Orchestra. On September 2, there will be two free screenings of the film “Mary Poppins.”
81009!
The Newport International Film Festival appears to have folded. The web site and phone numbers are no longer valid, and the organization has not renewed its corporation status with the Secretary of State’s office. Too bad.
(I and many others are still owed money for services provided at last year’s festival.)
The screening room (unofficially?) opened on Monday with a 35mm screening of “Precious” for Emerson students. The venue is supposed to open officially later this spring.
The Norwood Theatre (no relation to me!) has recently been sold. I believe that the plan is to renovate and upgrade the building and then re-open to host various types of events, primarily live stage productions.
article here: View link
Oh, and for peole who complain about the technology changes, I’ll offer this: lenses and screens have never been better than they are today. The quality of the average theatre sound system in 1960 does not even compare to the quality of the average theatre sound system today. Modern theatre seats (even the high-back variety, of which I am not a fan) are significantly more comfortable than anything that has been commonly available in the past. The very best theatres of the past were probably better than the very best today, but I have no doubt that the “average” experience has improved significantly.
It is sad that the major chains are ruining things with on-screen advertising and poor management, but that is not an issue with the technology.
What Ian said (hi, Ian!).
People like to get out of the house (which explains why restaurants are still in business). Even in this age of the $10 movie ticket, the cinema still provides the least-expensive form of out-of-home entertainment. Compared with the price of attending, say, professional sporting events, movies are still a bargain.
Honestly, I think that some competition (from television or somewhere else) would be good for this industry. It might encourage theatres to provide their customers with something more than seats and a screen, and actually try to make the moviegoing experience special again.
It is sad that so many people here seem to go to crappy theatres. There are (still!) some very good theatres and theatre owners, and we should all seek out and patronize those venues.
It’s a shallow-curve screen (or was when I was last in Baltimore, in 2006 or so). You don’t really notice the curve, except in the first few rows.
Eleven years here, mostly occasional work for festivals and special events (my full-time job is in the software industry). I started when I was in college and worked at the local theatre (a 1930s single-screener, which has since been renovated and upgraded) in the late 1990s. Since then, I’ve run 35mm, 16mm, 70mm, and video in something like twenty different venues. Carbon arc through modern, automated systems.
It’s mostly been fun, and I’ve had the chance to meet some great people and show some great films. No one really appreciates how much work this job requires or how difficult it can be at times to keep the show on the screen, so most of the satisfaction comes from putting on the best possible show with the equipment available, and knowing that the audience had the chance to experience the film as closely as possible to how the director saw it in his screening room. I’m a film fan, first and foremost, and there is nothing that can ruin a feature so quickly as a projectionist screwup.
It’s sad that this industry seems to be dominated by operators who either don’t know how or don’t care to put on a top-quality show. There are some very good operators and theatre owners, however, and I encourage everyone to seek them out and patronize their theatres.
I visited the building yesterday. Renovations are progressing, with hopes of opening in 2007. Asbestos removal is in progress. The seats have been stripped, and the auditorium and stage will be restored. Except for the stage (now gone), most of the building appears to be intact and in generally good condition.
The building is currently owned by the Worcester Center for Performing Arts, a nonprofit organization which will be responsible for the restoration. They are aiming to have about 2200 seats in the restored theatre (floor+balcony).
I’m told that the Century JJ in cinema 1 came from the “old” Framingham cinema and was removed from there when it closed (before the current Framingham 16 was built). It’s one of the first JJs made, which would date it to the early 1960s. It replaced a Norelco AA-II at some point in the 1990s (I don’t know why).
I’m glad that you enjoyed those shows. Black Pirate was a recently struck 35mm print and in excellent shape. Buddy was shown on video tape (Digi-Beta) using a projector on loan from Sony Corporation.
I’m glad that you made it out to the Foxboro theatre; you should have stopped by the booth! A former projectionist who had worked at the Orpheum years ago was visiting that night and enjoyed seeing the venue in its present form.
(I should point out here that the cause of Friday’s brief show interruption—a clogged fan which tripped a thermal sensor in the lamphouse power supply—was corrected on Saturday afternoon.)
Almost certainly. They employed two projectionists at the time and it would have been trivially easy to carry the reels up and down the ladder from the main booth to the Studio Cinema booth.
I believe that AMC owns the rights to the GCC logos and trademarks, which means that there is almost no chance that anyone else will be able to use them in the forseeable future.
Interesting news. I suspect that a 5-screen house (even a successful one doesn’t fit into AMC’s business model of 16-30-plexes. I wonder what was actually “sold”; the building is owned by SR Weiner & Associates, I believe.
I, too, would be interested in any dates and additional details.
BCG apparently owns a number of theatres in various markets. The Tri-Boro Cinema in Attleboro, MA. is one of their houses.
For what it’s worth, we will be playing “Wings of Desire” at the Columbus on March 20 at 3pm. It will be 35mm, though it remains to be seen if we will get one of the new prints from two years ago (which is what we requested).
Cinemas 5 and 6 are the largest houses and are (or were) THX certified. The Burlington cinema is very similar in design to the Braintree cinema. Burlington does not have 70mm capability, however (Braintree does—or did—have a V8 in cinema 5).
Rumor has it that this theatre will be closing “soon.”
As far as I know, they’re still doing it.
The theatre is open seasonally and caters to summer tourists.
I don’t know, but I doubt it. Probably DVD or maybe Beta. We usually try to run 35mm in the main house whenever possible. Video actually looks OK in the balcony, however. For the festival, we run all formats (Beta SP, Digi-Beta, DVD, 16mm, and 35mm) in both houses. We have run HD video in the big house as well. For some reason, the programmers seem to love to mix multiple formats in one show, which gets “interesting.”
The former balcony auditorium was great—nice big screen and good seats. The two auditoria on the main floor were less-than-great—sort of the standard Showcase “shoebox” setup with corrugated metal “soundproof” wall between them.
Nice, funky theatre that shouldn’t have been closed and torn down.
“Gloriously restored” isn’t the phrase that I would use for this theatre. The seats and stage are serviceable, a new fly system was installed in the 1970s, and they have fairly current stage lighting facilities. The general condition of the building, however, is fair at best and much of the plaster work needs to be redone. They also do not currently have film projection capability (a pair of very rusted and completely unusable Simplex E-7s with Peerless lamps and mag penthouses remains in the booth).
The one and only time when I visited this venue was in 2002. The building is in poor condition and I’m almost surprised that they hadn’t lost their public occupancy permit. The ceiling was disintegrating badly and sections of seats were roped off as a result. The interior is “nice,” but nothing special. No huge chandelier, no ornate plaster work. The staff were somewhat rude and the presentation was fair (for example, house lights were switched off and not dimmed). I was somewhat disappointed. At the time, they were still running carbon arc—as far as I know, they were the only theatre in the Boston area that hadn’t converted to xenon. Unfortunately, I did not get a look at the booth.
It’s the sort of venue that probably has “potential” to be successful, but the building is likely so far gone that it would be tremendously expensive to salvage it and, thus, probably not worthwhile. Very sad.