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The latest movie theater news and updates
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November 12, 2002
Former UA Smithtown Theatre Reopens
SMITHTOWN, NY — The former Smithtown Theatre reopened two weeks ago and is now playing to nearly full houses as a for-profit performing arts center. Last operated by United Artists, the Smithtown underwent a three year, $1 million restoration effort before reopening on October 26th.
According to Newsday, the Smithtown originally opened as a movie house in 1932 and was designed by the same architects who worked on the Empire State Building and Radio City Music Hall.
The article also cites a trend on Long Island, and in particular Suffolk County, of restoring old movie theaters with recent efforts in Patchogue and Westhampton Beach. However, the Art Deco Suffolk Theatre, located in nearby Riverhead, is still facing an uncertain future.
Other Suffolk County Cinema Treasures include the Sag Harbor Cinema and the UA Southampton.
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November 11, 2002
Today’s Newsreel
Once again we are faced with the problem of too many stories and not enough space! Please follow the links below for these stories:
Purchase of Merced Theatre Nearly Complete > Merced Sun-Star
Ohio Theatergoers Spared From Storm > Associated Press/The Telegraph
Buy A Brick Campaign For Theater Entrance Kicks Off > Courier Times
Warner [Theatre] Has Rich History > Register-Citizen
It’s Showtime Once Again at Winslow Theatre > Winslow Mail-News
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November 8, 2002
3,000+ Theaters, 1,500+ Photos!!!
After posting almost fifty new theater entries today, Cinema Treasures is proud to announce a new milestone: we’ve just reached the 3,000-theater mark … and counting! We’ve also just recently added our 1500th photo to the site.
It goes without saying that we couldn’t have done this without you.
We wish we had the space to thank all of you individually, but with such an enormous community of theater lovers out there, the list would read like a phone book! However, we would like to thank, as always, our dedicated volunteer staff, our original group of users who’ve been with us since the beginning, and all of you who’ve added 1 theater or 100.
Every single addition helps keep these theaters alive — either by publicizing their triumphs or tribulations, or by preserving the memory of those already lost.
Cinema Treasures will be branching out into new territory in the future, but our dedication to you, our users, will never change.
Thank you again for your continued support!
Ross Melnick & Patrick Crowley
Co-Founders, Cinema Treasures -
November 7, 2002
Today’s Newsreel
SANDWELL, ENGLAND — Paul Jurvis has closed the only movie house left in town, the twin Kings Cinema, citing nearby construction and the loss of parking spaces as the cause of the failing business. According to the Evening Mail, these issues have forced his patrons to attend the new Showcase Cinema in Dudley.
Jurvis' family has been in the cinema business for 47-years and previously owned the Kings, Queens, and Imperial movie houses. The newer Kings Cinema was built later, in 1975. Jurvis is already entertaining offers to take over the lease, but none of them to operate the Kings as a cinema.
BETHPAGE, NY — Cablevision has reported increasing losses in its Clearview Cinemas unit, according to a new report by Reuters/iWon.com. Clearview Cinemas, which operates such Cinema Treasures as the Ziegfeld and the Beekman, is still up for sale.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The San Francisco Weekly is reporting that Landmark Theatres' Lumiere may close for seismic retrofitting and other renovations as early as Thursday, November 14th. The triplex will need to close during the lucrative Fall art house season.
According to the SF Weekly, “As it has for the last two months, Landmark’s Opera Plaza Cinemas will continue to host the calendar of one-week bookings initiated at the Lumiere a few years ago.”
SEATTLE, WA — The rescued and restored facade of the former Music Hall Theatre will be auctioned off on November 16th, piece by piece, according to the Seattle Times.
The Music Hall, one of Seattle’s grandest movie palaces, was torn down in 1991 to make way for an office building. Originally opened in 1929 as the Fox, its name was changed to the Seventh Avenue and later to the Music Hall. In the 70’s, it became the Emerald Place dinner theater which lasted until 1991.
The auction will consist of “ornate urns, columns, crests, arches and other relics” and will be held at 10 a.m. at 4815 15th Ave. S.W. in Seattle. For more information, visit www.tradermick.com or call auctioneer Mike Odell at (206) 542-4460.
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November 6, 2002
Today’s Newsreel
There have been so many news stories lately that we haven’t been able to cover that we decided to post as many as we can today in an abbreviated format. Enjoy!
See you tomorrow!
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November 5, 2002
Today’s Newsreel
SANTA BARBARA, CA — Metropolitan Theatres' briefly reopened the downstairs, main auditorium of the Granada Theater this past weekend for a three-day engagement of “The Santa Clause 2”. Santa Barbara’s oldest movie house, which was previously converted into a triplex, is currently being renovated and restored.
BRIDGEPORT, CT — The city of Bridgeport hastily began removing the Palace and Majestic theaters' marquees because of fears that they might crash to the ground. The marquees will be stripped and stored in the hopes of rebuilding them if and when the city can restore and reopen the shuttered, adjacent movie palaces.
According to the Connecticut Post, “City officials hope that construction of a state courthouse at the corner of Congress and Main streets will spark a revitalization of northern downtown, including rehabilitating the now run-down theaters.”
View images of the Palace and Majestic marquees
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The Pantages Theatre will reopen this Friday after an extensive renovation effort. According to the Skyway News, the Minneapolis Community Development Agency, which bought the theater in 1999, has replicated the style in which the theater was originally built and upgraded and modernized its capabilites.
The Pantages opens with a three-day engagement by pianist Jim Brickman and will continue to offer “off-broadway performances and concerts.”
The Pantages was built as a vaudeville theater in 1916 and switched to movies in the 1920s. RKO remodeled the theater in 1946 renaming it the RKO Pan. It was bought by Ted Mann in 1960 and remodeled into a 70mm roadshow house, opening in March 1961 with “Spartacus.”
The former Mann theater closed in 1984 and has sat vacant ever since.
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November 4, 2002
Today’s Newsreel
SEATTLE, WA — Redevelopment of portions of the Northgate Mall in Seattle may, once again, impact the historic Northgate Theatre. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a redevelopment proposal would “likely include the mall’s northwest corner” which is where the former Loews Cineplex movie house is located, along with adjacent office space.
The Northgate Theater, which is cited as the first shopping center theater ever built, has recently been converted into a concert venue, the Northgate Music Theater. The operators currently have a one year lease.
The Northgate opened in 1950 and once seated 1,500 patrons during its heyday. As the Northgate Music Theater, most of the seats have been removed and the venue can now fit 2,400 patrons with only 375 seats on the floor.
Northgate Music Theater website
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The opening of the new 15-screen Crown Theatre in downtown Minneapolis is great news for moviegoers, but will add hardships to the single screen Parkway Theater.
According to the Star Tribune, Parkway owner Bill Irvine has seen his property tax bill nearly double this year due to a “reassessment” of the value of the building. That value is partially based on the development of and around the new Crown Theatre.
Irvine says he will now need to sell an additional 10,000 tickets this year to make up for the increased taxes at a theater that seats only 400 and charges $6 per ticket, 25 cents for a small popcorn, and a dollar for soda.
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Vienna Helps Save Two Historic Art Houses
VIENNA, AUSTRIA — According to ScreenDaily.com, “The city of Vienna has agreed to subsidise the operation of two historic art house cinemas that were threatened with closure after they ran into financial difficulties.”
The Vienna International Film Festival will take over the 736-seat Gartenbau cinema, while the Austrian Film Archive will operate the “historic and architecturally important” Metro Cinema.
The city will also help finance the future of these two movie houses which were put in jeopardy after the opening of nearby multiplexes.
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November 1, 2002
Riviera Theatre Up For Sale
CHICAGO, IL — According to an email sent by the Friends of the Uptown, the historic Riviera Theatre went up for sale on Wednesday for $4.5 million — a figure which includes the attached commericial space. G.B. Property Management is handling the sale of the 1918 former Balaban & Katz movie house.
According to the Friends, the 2,500-seat Riviera was the second B&K “presentation house”, after the Central Park, and was built by Rapp & Rapp, who would continue a long and fruitful relationship with Balaban and Katz.
After closing in the early 1980s, it first became a nightclub, and by the end of the decade, transformed into one of Chicago’s most popular concert venues. It continued to host concerts into 2002.
(Thanks to the Friends of the Uptown for the news.)
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Wagner Installs New Michigan Theater Marquee
ANN ARBOR, MI — The Wagner Electric Sign Company has just installed a new vertical sign on the Michigan Theater.
According to Gary Flinn, the Michigan removed the original and much larger vertical sign in 1956. Flinn also reports that the lighting of the new sign is scheduled for tonight.
For more information or to see another terrific job from Wagner, visit their Michigan Theater project page.
(Thanks to Paul Drury for the update!)