Dream Cinema

Seodaemun,
Seoul

Unfavorite 1 person favorited this theater

Showing 4 comments

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on July 31, 2012 at 3:01 pm

Thanks for confrming my guess, academy133. Name should be changed to Seo Dae Mun (or Seodaemun) Art Hall; description and status should be changed to closed.

academy133
academy133 on July 31, 2012 at 12:49 pm

Here’s a summary of the theater’s history. (Translated from an article on www.khan.co.kr)

Hwa Yang Theater (화양극장) opened in 1964 as a single-screen theater with 650 seats. It was a popular venue for Hong Kong films during the 1980s and brought both Leslie Cheung and Joey Wang for the premiere of the 1987 film A CHINESE GHOST STORY (천녀유혼 倩女幽魂). In 1998, the theater was renamed as Dream Cinema (드림시네마). In 2007, the theater nearly faced demolition but was saved as redevelopment plans got canceled. The name then changed to Seo Dae Mun Art Hall (서대문아트홀). In 2010, theater became a popular venue for senior citizens. Ticket price was less than $2 for each person and the theater brought in nearly 300-500 people each day. In 2011, the City of Seoul approved development plans to build a hotel in the place of the theater. On July 11, 2012, the theater ended it’s 48 years as the last remaining single-screen theater in Seoul with its final program — a free screening of THE BICYCLE THIEF.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on July 11, 2012 at 9:49 pm

I am wondering if this report of the closing of what is apparently the last single screen theater in Seoul, South Korea actually refers to this theater; though the article says the name of the theater is the Seodaemun Art Hall, it also indicates that the theater was opened in 1964 and showed primarily classic older films, as the headnote also states.

imaxman
imaxman on November 20, 2011 at 1:16 am

I have a number of photos to post showing this and other theaters in South Korea. There is an article about this theater in Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Cinema

And an additional Wikipedia linked story about the projectionist here.

http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=83475&code=Ne6&category=7