TCL Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
159 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Chinese Theatres (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Fox West Coast Theatres, Grauman, Mann Theatres, United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.
Architects: Phillip W. Holler, Raymond M. Kennedy, Mendel Meyer
Firms: BB Architects, Behr Browers Architects, Meyer & Holler
Functions: Movies (Film Festivals), Movies (First Run)
Styles: Oriental
Previous Names: Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Mann's Chinese Theatre
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
323.461.3331
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Sep 18, 2013 — TCL Chinese renovation unveiled
- Jul 31, 2013 — Pantages shops naming rights
- Apr 12, 2013 — IMAX coming to the TCL Chinese
- Feb 9, 2013 — Renovations loom for the TCL Chinese Theatre
- Jan 12, 2013 — China firm buys naming rights to Grauman's Chinese Theatre
- May 23, 2012 — Celebrating the Original STAR WARS on its 35th Anniversary
- Dec 29, 2011 — Movie star prints' futures not set in cement
- Oct 18, 2011 — Happy 50th, "West Side Story"
- Jun 12, 2011 — New Photo Page!
- Jun 1, 2011 — We've added over 1,500 movie theater photos
- Apr 29, 2011 — Grauman's Chinese Theatre sold
- Aug 26, 2010 — "Windjammer" screening at Cinerama Dome
- Aug 12, 2009 — Grauman's Chinese for sale
- Jan 23, 2009 — D-BOX scores deal to bring rumbling chairs to Mann Theatres
- Dec 5, 2008 — Mann's Chinese gets "3-D sound" system
- Dec 4, 2008 — 3D sports could be next big thing
- Oct 10, 2008 — Remembering Cinerama (Part VI)
- Sep 5, 2007 — Hollywood's Famous Grauman's Chinese Theater sold
- Jul 9, 2007 — TRON...Happy 25th!
- May 25, 2007 — Happy 30th, Star Wars!
- Nov 17, 2006 — Five L.A. area showcase theaters go NEC Digital
- Apr 5, 2005 — Cinema Treasures Adds Google Maps
- Sep 2, 2004 — The Movie Palace Series: Gallery (Part Two)
- Mar 22, 2004 — Barbie Loves Cinema Treasures?
- Jan 9, 2004 — Sid Grauman and the Courtyard Theatres Event at the Egyptian
- Nov 25, 2003 — Southern California Cameos
The Chinese Theatre is arguably the most famous movie theatre in the world. It opened as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 18, 1927 with Cecil B. DeMille’s “The King of Kings” starring H.B. Warner and a stage prologue “Glories of the Scripture” which had a cast of 200. Seating was provided for 2,200, all on a single sloping floor (apart from a private box located at the rear, to the left of the projection box overhanging the rear orchestra seating). The theatre was equipped with a Wurlitzer 3 manual 17 ranks theatre organ which was opened by organist Frederick Burr Scholl, and accompanied the 65-piece symphony orchestra conducted by Constantine Bakaleinikoff. The Chinese Theatre has been the site of thousands of movie premieres and the destination of millions of tourists. Scores of celebrities have left their footprints, hand prints and hoof prints on the walkways near and on the theatre’s courtyard.
In 1973, Mann Theatres bought the Chinese Theatre. Two auditoriums, each seating 750, were added next to the Chinese Theatre, turning the theatre into a triplex operation from April 12, 1979. In 2000, the two added auditoriums were razed to make way for the construction of the Kodak Theatre – the new site of the annual Oscar presentations.
In 2001, the original 1927 built Chinese Theatre underwent a renovation to return its exterior to its original design and Mann Theatres, in late-2001, also added an adjoining 6-screen multiplex theatre, designed by the architectural firm Behr Browers Architects of Westlake, CA. Seating capacities in the six new screens are: 459, 177, 177, 177, 177, 279.
Still opulent in red tonality and Asiatic influences, the main original auditorium of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre remains the ultimate movie palace experience, and now seats 1,162.
In August 2009, Mann Theatres announced they were planning to put the Chinese Theatre up ‘For Sale’, and it was sold to an independent operator in April 2011. In January 2013, the naming rights were sold to television manufacturer Television China Ltd., and it was renamed TCL Chinese Theatre.
The main original auditorium was closed at the end of April 2013. Renovations by the architectural firm Blair Ballard Architects to turn the historic auditorium into a 986-seat IMAX theatre, with a 46 foot tall x 94 foot wide screen were completed on September 15, 2013 when the world premiere of the updated 1939 classic movie “The Wizard of Oz-3D” was screened on the giant IMAX screen.
On November 2, 2021 a vote was passed at a Planning and Management Land Use Committee (PLUM) meeting of the city council to re-zone the TCL Chinese Theatre for high to medium residential use.
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Recent comments (view all 1,683 comments)
About a month ago several media outlets prematurely and erroneously reported OPPENHEIMER had become the Chinese’s top-grossing movie. At the time OPPENHEIMER’s accomplishment was simply that it had become the venue’s top-grossing movie for the TCL/IMAX period of the past decade or so, but it got mis-reported as being the record for the venue’s near-100-year history. It probably is #1 by now.
OPPENHEIMER being #1 for the venue’s near-100-year history is a dubious accomplishment, though, when you consider the decades of inflation and the IMAX surcharge. In terms of tickets sold, OPPENHEIMER can’t be anywhere near being the venue’s record.
Anyway, what was the Chinese’s final box-office gross for OPPENHEIMER? For it to be the venue’s #1-grossing booking I believe it needed to exceed $2,414,972, which is what STAR WARS earned there during 1977-78.
I wonder if West Side Story (1961) holds the record for number of admissions. It played at the Chinese for an entire year.
Star Wars had a record run at the Chinese. It ran around the clock for months. West Side Story did not run shows at two in the morning. Adjusted for inflation Star Wars holds the record for most money. It also holds the record for number of tickets sold for a single movie. It also started a fight between the Chinese and Fox when they had to move it to another theater for six weeks.
For me what is wonderful is that the historic Chinese Theatre has been selling out a science movie for months. It was a brilliant presentation, I was there for the projector load in and watched it twice with a full house. Yes, they have had 24 hour screenings of other movies, but they were all franchise sequels, not a one-off movie about a real life scientist.
Lots of people are claiming lots of firsts, it is all PR spin. I doubt that a 2 month run could ever sell more tickets than a year long run, different capacity, different ticket prices. The record I heard and believe is that this was the highest grossing single screen for THIS movie. That makes sense. The fact is that a science movie was filling the seats at the most historic of theatres, that people were going back multiple times for the experience, and everyone I have spoken to was glad they saw it at the Chinese!
Exactly Escott. My point wasn’t that more people had watched Oppenheimer than any other movie at The Chinese before, obviously, inflation plays a part in that. The point was that over a decade ago, there was a real concern about whether the theater could even stay afloat amid competition from the Arclight and terrible bookings. There was a real and justified concern that The Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the most famous theater in the world, could become a nightclub or live events venue. The IMAX conversion, which opened a decade ago yesterday, ended up being just what the theater needed to finally consistently book good shows and attract audience attraction. Star Wars probably sold more tickets, fine, but it’s still great that in the year of our Lord 2023, a digital era where IP drives the market and the industry is recovering from a global pandemic, The Chinese is still able to sell out a beautiful 70mm print of a new prestige drama from the most high profile director in the world right now. They sold out a special engagement for RRR almost a year ago. The cinema is getting the newest and hottest studio releases consistently and gets good business from them. The Chinese is a far cry from the state it was in 11 years ago, and I think that’s worth celebrating.
CHINATOWN opened here fifty years ago today.
Guess they got it a day late, or the wikipedia page needs an update.
“Chinatown was released in the United States on June 20, 1974, to acclaim from critics. ”
I’d trust my friend Kurt’s site over Wikipedia any day. He shows every movie ever played at the Chinese. Here is the page on 1974: http://graumanschinese.org/1974.html. It shows Chinatown opening on Friday June 21, 1974. As I remember , opening days were usually Friday, until they started doing midnight shows on Thursday and sneaking earlier to make the opening weekend BO numbers look better.
Just because it was released on the 20th doesn’t mean it played at the Chinese on that date. I agree that it probably would have started on Friday the 21st that’s how things worked in those days. It could have run somewhere else on Thursday the 20th but new movies usually opened on Friday.
It cracks me up this m00se1111 person hiding behind a screen name thinks Wikipedia is a more credible resource than the guy who has written 1,000+ articles on the subject of motion picture distribution and exhibition. Anyway, you guys are forgetting/overlooking the fact CHINATOWN was released before nationwide saturation releases were common. Here’s an overview/breakdown of CHINATOWN’s release in the top North American markets and initial weeks of its release:
June 20th … New York City
June 21st … Los Angeles
June 26th … Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Des Moines, Detroit, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Louisville, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Rochester, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Toledo, Washington DC
June 27th … Dallas
June 28th … Albuquerque, Charlotte, Houston, Indianapolis, Memphis, Montreal, New Orleans, Toronto
July 3rd … Austin, Sacramento, San Antonio
July 10th … Omaha, Salt Lake City
July 12th … Chicago, Miami, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Vancouver
July 19th … Denver
August 21st … Honolulu
And on and on and on….