A Few Words About A few words about...™ The loss of the neighborhood movie theater (1 Viewer)

[Charles Smith]

Damn, have to miss "Woman in the Window"!! I should be good for most of the others.

 

[dargo]

We lost all neighborhood movie theaters back in the 90's only thing left is Rave Cinemas mass market theater, with high prices and bad sound and picture, i should know i was a manager/projectionist in my youth.

 

[Italo]

I'm sure it will seem rude to say but I long since stopped caring about movie theaters. The first time they started showing commercials instead of trailers I knew it was over. Theater owners have no one to blame but themselves, they got greedy and reduced experience and piled on costs.
Most towns never had the beautiful show cases like posted above and today's boxes are a shell filled with rude patrons who don't care about movies as an experience.

So true, I've just been to see the re-released Titanic 3D and the 2 girls sitting next to us obviously hadn't been fed in a week because they proceeded to eat for the full 3 hours plus of the movie. First it was BBQed chicken (no kidding) , then popcorn and chips, then MacDonalds, god knows where they put it or maybe they were bulimic... as a side note the 2K 3D Titanic was good but not a patch on the original 70mm viewing.

 

[NY2LA]

To those for whom their neighborhood theatres happen to include Grauman's Chinese in Hollywood...
They are going to show SOME LIKE IT HOT at Grauman's Chinese on Friday night June 1st. Tickets are $10, a bargain considering this theatre and the adjacent plex routinely charge considerably more. On display in the lobby at the Main (Grauman's) Chinese Theatre is...
The "Hollywood Legends Collection"
The exhibit showcases iconic film costumes worn by Hollywood's biggest star's including:
Marilyn Monroe's gold lame pleated halter gown from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"
Judy Garland's blue and white pinafore and blouse she wore as Dorothy in "Wizard of Oz"
Vivien Leigh's green velvet drapery gown from "Gone with the Wind"
Rita Hayworth's black satin gown from "Gilda"
Arnold Schwarzenegger's iconic black leather outfit from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day"
Props on display include the Ten Commandment tablets used by Charlton Heston as Moses in the film, "The Ten Commandments", and jewelry and headpieces that worn by Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra".
Interestingly enough, the first costume you encounter as you walk in the door is from Julie Andrews in "STAR!" An impressive Donald Brooks design worn by an impressive star in an arguably better than reputed to be movie, but kind of incongruous in this particular company... Makes you wonder if there is a special fan in this theatre's owners or management.
The Ten Commandments are sitting unassumingly next to the butter and condiments station.
However beware before buying a festival pass to the Chinese Theatres' Marilyn Monroe Festival. All the other features for the rest of the week will be shown on the microscreens in the multiplex, a far more conventional experience that does NOT bring you anywhere near the original theatre or the exhibit. Those screenings are priced at $5 each. Unless they are on the plex's Screens One or Six I'd say skip them and watch the DVD at home.

 

[Charles Smith]

For several years, my neighborhood theaters DID happen to include the Chinese. I knew not what I had. Okay, I did, yes. But now I know what I didn't really appreciate.

 

[Kevin EK]

Just a couple of weeks ago, I went to an event screening at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood.

The theater can hold what looks like 400-500 people. Only 25 or so people were there - we were watching a movie from 1939 after all...

Afterwards I went to have a drink at a pizza place by the Village and the Bruin, which look about the same to me as they always did, even though they no longer fly the Mann flag.

On the way in and out of Westwood, I went by the Whole Foods Market where the Mann Westwood multiplex used to stand, the CVS Pharmacy where the UA Theater south of Wilshire used to be, the bank/office building where the UA Egyptian Westwood used to be, and finally, the desolate, fenced-off lot of weeds that was once the Mann National. The last nearly broke my heart.

I'm told that the Avco Cinema Center will be reopening at some point soon under new management, but that sign has been up for months with no sign of any activity...

 

[Charles Smith]

Stop! Yer killing me!

 

[Charles Smith]

(I know, I've heard about all of that, and it is still absolutely unbelievable.)

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Jack Theakston /t/318779/a-few-words-about-the-loss-of-the-neighborhood-movie-theater/90#post_3910288

While we're at it, I should plug my own theater, the Capitol in Rome, NY. If you are in the Central New York area, please come visit us!

[SIZE= 16px]1928 movie palace, complete with 1939 Art Moderne remodeling:[/SIZE]

, now celebrating our Tenth festival. A $55 pass gets you three days of all-35mm silents and early talkies that aren't available ANYWHERE. All silents will be accompanied on the theater organ by Avery Tunningley, Bernie Anderson, Jr., and Dr. Philip C. Carli.

More information is available on our website: www.romecapitol.com

What a great looking theater and an impressive lineup Jack. Thanks for sharing. Please relocate you and the theater to the Northwest

 

[NY2LA]

Just a couple of weeks ago, I went to an event screening at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood.
The theater can hold what looks like 400-500 people.  Only 25 or so people were there - we were watching a movie from 1939 after all...
Afterwards I went to have a drink at a pizza place by the Village and the Bruin, which look about the same to me as they always did, even though they no longer fly the Mann flag.
On the way in and out of Westwood, I went by the Whole Foods Market where the Mann Westwood multiplex used to stand, the CVS Pharmacy where the UA Theater south of Wilshire used to be, the bank/office building where the UA Egyptian Westwood used to be, and finally, the desolate, fenced-off lot of weeds that was once the Mann National.   The last nearly broke my heart.
I'm told that the Avco Cinema Center will be reopening at some point soon under new management, but that sign has been up for months with no sign of any activity...

For a modern cinema, the Billy Wilder looks like a really nice place to see a movie. And that Hot Pink curtain, well it works, doesn't it? My favorite pizza place in Westwood is the one with NY subway signs all over it. You forgot to mention the shuttered Majestic Crest. Honestly, the Mann and UA plexes were just flat boxes in spaces not designed to be theatres. I liked the Plaza though, with it's cool curved marquee and it was a real theatre. The Festival had real charm. The National is a cautionary tale - a well deserved nightmare for the greedy owner who refused an offer to sell the theatre as it was and now has nothing. Have you seen the writeup on LA Curbed about all the notes from sad patrons that have been left on the fence?
As for the Avco, the buzz is it's to be the LA debut of Alamo Drafthouse. Not particularly theatrical but they have a good rep nonetheless.

 

[EricSchulz]

I'm really surprised no one has posted this link...

I found it quite by accident while looking up info on the old Granada Theater which was located three blocks from where I live now. Also found some omissions on the site that I will try to fill in!


Cinema Treasures

Can't find any info as to whether it is linked to the book of the same name...

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I'm really surprised no one has posted this link...
I found it quite by accident while looking up info on the old Granada Theater which was located three blocks from where I live now.  Also found some omissions on the site that I will try to fill in!
Cinema Treasures
Can't find any info as to whether it is linked to the book of the same name...

Yes. The book is authored by one of CT's owners.

 

[Charles Smith]

An essential site! For me it's been a godsend. That and HTF and just one or two others are core of my online sphere. Yes, of course I go to thousands of others, but I'm talking CORE here. The ones that truly matter.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Another favorite website on cinemas from around the world is CinemaTour.

 

[Richard V]

As for the Avco, the buzz is it's to be the LA debut of Alamo Drafthouse. Not particularly theatrical but they have a good rep nonetheless.

We have 3 Alamo Drafthouse theaters here in San Antonio, although I think it originated in Austin. I can vouch for their excellent reputation. They have cinema festivals and theme tributes several times a year in addition to first run features, and comfort food menus (burgers, fries, sandwhiches, pizza, beer, etc) served by waitresses and waiters just prior to the start of the movies. First run, nostalgic, cult movies and more.

 

[Charles Smith]

Haven't yet been near one, but they sound great to me.

 

[NY2LA]

Another favorite website on cinemas from around the world is CinemaTour.

I wouldn't say it's a favorite. It's rather dull and sloppy, a lot of incorrect or missing details, like an an old abandoned warehouse with a few squatters and scattered debris left behind. Cinema Treasures is not ideal, but at least they make an ongoing effort to keep it relatively clean, fresh and attractive.

 

[NY2LA]

We have 3 Alamo Drafthouse theaters here in San Antonio, although I think it originated in Austin. I can vouch for their excellent reputation. They have cinema festivals and theme tributes several times a year in addition to first run features, and comfort food menus (burgers, fries, sandwhiches, pizza, beer, etc) served by waitresses and waiters just prior to the start of the movies. First run, nostalgic, cult movies and more.

Sounds nice, if not exactly theatrical in the classic sense. I'm sure they don't use curtains, but they don't have commercials either, right? What do they have on the screen before the feature starts? How are the food and admission prices? Do they run cartoons and shorts?

 

[zoetmb]

I'm sure it will seem rude to say but I long since stopped caring about movie theaters. The first time they started showing commercials instead of trailers I knew it was over. Theater owners have no one to blame but themselves, they got greedy and reduced experience and piled on costs.
Most towns never had the beautiful show cases like posted above and today's boxes are a shell filled with rude patrons who don't care about movies as an experience.

The fact is that theatrical movie presentation is a terrible business from a financial standpoint. Movie theaters are concession stands that happen to show movies, not the other way around. In the opening weeks of a film (and today, there are only opening weeks, as the small theatrical windows are absurd), theaters generally get only 5-10% of the take. Would you open a movie theater for 5%? (Traditionally, in New York and Los Angeles, the studios guaranteed the theatre's "nut", but I don't know if that's the case any longer.) So IMO, it's not the theatre owners who are greedy, it's the studios. The theaters should have forced a bigger share of revenues from the studios and they should have simply refused to play movies that were quickly going to home video. Movies have become unimportant because they're treated as being unimportant. Theatrical distribution is simply a marketing exercise for the home video.
I agree that the experience of theatrical movie-going has declined terribly in recent years and I do go to the movies far less often than I used to. Like many of us, I long for the days of reserved-seat roadshow presentations in which the PQ and AQ were incredible, the theaters were beautiful, there was no advertising and usually not even any trailers, there was showmanship and in some cases, there weren't even any concession stands. And I don't find the digital experience anywhere near as great as the days of quality 70mm 6-track Dolby presentations, even if the 70mm prints were from 35mm origination. But I'm enough of a realist to understand that a movie theater cannot survive without screen advertising and while it destroys any notion of a classy presentation, it's not the worst thing in the world, especially since I usually time my arrival to coincide with the trailers, not the ads.
What I've found most recently is that even in New York, which generally used to have superior presentation (but not as good as Los Angeles or some theaters in San Francisco), there are presentation problems more often than not. I've been to several AMC theaters lately in Manhattan where the center channel was wired to the left front speaker. At other theaters using the Sony 4K digital projector, they don't remove the 3D filter when projecting 2D movies. And I agree that audiences have gotten ruder and more obnoxious. I used to think that New York audiences were a bit more sophisticated, but if that was ever the case, it's certainly not the case now. Even the elderly can't seem to "shut the fk up".
Having said that, I do want theaters to survive. But I think that's not really going to be the case. I think every city will have a few multiplexes with smaller cities and suburbs maybe having one. The declines will be similar to those of legitimate theatre. I think that's unfortunate because the elimination of theatrical revenues will kill the budgets of future movies (not that big budgets guarantee a decent movie.) I think the theater chains need to get their act together. I think they're completely naive if they think that being able to say "3D" is going to save them rather than concentrating on the entire movie-going experience and making sure that sound, picture and environment are top-notch. I'm so tired of having to complain to the managers at almost every movie I see. They all think I'm nuts anyway. They give me the free passes, but who cares - if they don't fix whatever was wrong, I don't want to go back to that theater anyway.

 

[zoetmb]

sorry, duplicate post