Have a news tip for us?
Just email . Ideas for stories, links to interesting articles, and press releases are welcome.
Warner Theatre in Morgantown to Close
posted by
Nessa
on
September 7, 2010 at 7:52 am
MORGANTOWN, WV — The Warner Theatre in Morgantown, WV has closed as of Sept. 5, 2010.
“The theater was actually opened June 12th 1931 and it cost $400,000. And originally built by the Warner Brothers, her in Morgantown. And the first show that was shown, I believe, was the Millionaire. And the lines were out the door and around the block. This was the center of activity in Morgantown, for a long time,” said Ron Davis, Warner Theater General Manager.
But keeping up an old theater is very costly.
Recently, the air conditioning system went out and this is what finally made the decision to close the doors, but faithful patrons are having trouble saying good bye.
Read more at WDTV.
Comments (9)
CT reports over the past two days that two theaters are closing partially because their a/c systems conked out. This Warner Theatre and the Houston Angelika. I guess that new a/c systems are so expensive that the cost of installation makes shutting down the better financial option for a struggling theater. What a shame.
That may provide a glimpse into how tight these razor thin budgets really are … a shame indeed.
The Angelika situation may have been more complicated than the cost of the A/C repair. There were quite a few follow-up reports in both the regular Houston papers and the online entertainment blogs that new leasing negotiations had been going on for months and that the Angelika had been on a month-to-month basis for some time. It would not be surprising though if the A/C problems were the straw that broke the camel’s back if they could not agree whose responsibility it was to fix it.
Summer is almost over. Who needs AC? It can’t get that cold in theaters during the fall months. I’ve actually been inside the theater and you’d think with the proximity to the university, an ice cream/sandwich shop inside and arcade games, you’d have some hope.
At 700 seats this was one of the smallest in the Warner Bros chain of theatres.
At 700 seats this was one of the smallest in the Warner Bros chain of theatres.
Originally, the theater had 1,100 seats. It was divided into a 3 screen multiplex in the 70’s. 3-D movies closed this place.
Photos of this theater can be seen by visiting this Facebook Album:
View link
Please ignore the above post if you don’t use Facebook. The public can see photos of this theater by visiting this page: View link