TCL Chinese Theatre

The foreground was blocked off today, The entrance had a mock up of the Roman coliseum in front, complete with statues.

Above the entry way was “Enter the Arena in IMAX”

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.

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. ”

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.

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.

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.

True, but a record’s a record, and I just thought it was fitting that this technically record run for the Chinese was ending so close to the 10th Anniversary of the renovation. Still, even with a lack of numbers on attendance, Oppenheimer’s 70mm run here was definitely popular and in demand, see the round the clock screenings during the first week to keep up with demand for the film.

Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the reopening of the theater after the IMAX renovation. In a few days, it will also mark the end of the highest-grossing run in this theater’s history, as Oppenheimer in the splendor of 70mm comes to an end at the Chinese after 2 months. Quite the recovery for the theater. It’s incredible reading about the state of the struggling theater 10+ years ago, and see how far it’s come.

mOOse1111 the media doesn’t seem to care anymore about getting it right

That gets one to wonder, did Roger contact KTLA, KNX, KABC, etc with this issue if it is ruffling his feathers so. If you’ve not been paying attention, the media gets ALOT wrong of late, and do not give a tinker’s cuss about it.

Capacity here doesn’t match details. TCL Chinese (1-)6 Theatres originally seated 1,446 at its November 9, 2001 launch as Mann Chinese 6. Adding auditorium “7” - the original screen - seating 932 in its IMAX conversion in Sept. 2013 would take capacity at that time to 2,378 (if I’m understanding the entry above)..

In TCL’s $2-million refresh of Auditorium 2 to MX4D motion effect seating in December 2017, the capacity of auditorium 2 was reduced to 102. This would take TCL Chinese Theatres 1-6 to - at most - a capacity of 1,371 and with IMAX auditorium 7 (the original screen) at 932 taking capacity of the so-called seven-plex to 2,303.

In terms of naming, Mann operated the new six-plex theatre separately at its 2001 launch as Mann’s Chinese 6 at 6801 H'wood Blvd. and retained the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre moniker for the venerable 6925 H-Blvd venue . So wouldn’t this facility be also known as something like Grauman’s Chinese Theatre | Mann’s Chinese 6 or Mann’s Chinese 6 & Grauman’s Chinese theaters - or some such - for its 12 years of operating the then separate houses?

Finally, shouldn’t the address of the so-called seven-plex be altered to 6801 & 6925 Hollywood Boulevard? The venues are in multiple buildings and the current address misses the preponderance of auditoriums and overall capacity (possibly 1,371 of the 2,303 seats if the details are correct).

Will the Chinese Theatre be participating in “National Cinema Day” on Saturday, September 3rd, with tickets priced at just $3? More details of the industry event reported here

Here’s one way it’s relevant. When the Academy first proposed their new theatre they presented it to the community as a place for small revival screenings, no new movie premieres. This is important because movie premieres is a major source of revenue for the Chinese Theatre. If the Academy goes against what they promised it will hurt the Chinese, and piss off the immediate neighbors. I personally don’t care how “state of the Art” the Academy is, it will never have the prestige of a grand opening in the Chinese Forecourt!