Regency Village Theatre
961 Broxton Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90024
961 Broxton Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90024
86 people
favorited this theater
Showing 326 - 350 of 484 comments
I really get the impression that L.A. County has no interest in Westwood these days. Downtown L.A. is really blossoming, Hollywood and the Fairfax are have turned around for the better. I’m thinking that Westwood will remain dormant for a long while, unless someone takes a chance. I’d really be interested if there are any talks with the owners of the Bruin and Village with anyone.
Not technical, but I wonder how much that affects what happens in Westwood. Is the city neglecting Westwood in favor of other, larger commercial prospects elsewhere?
Well, if you want to be technical. :–)
Brad, Westwood isn’t a city. It’s a district of LA.
You really cannot blame Mann; they had many opportunities to bail over the years, but decided to keep these theatres and the National longer than they probably than they really wanted to. William is right in the fact that there are so many theatre options now compared to 20 years ago when these theatres thrived. Recent example: DARK KNIGHT opened at the Village, Landmark 12, AMC 15 Century City, Pacific Culver City, Criterion 6, and a theatre in Marina Del Rey on its release date. That is alot of options for the Westside residents to choose. If it were 1989 it would have opened at the Village and (maybe) the UA Marina. They would have had no choice nut to venture into Westwood to see it.
The only way they can work is to ‘plex’ them like William said. That option pretty much saved the Cinerama Dome and would keep the turnover of films quite rapid. Right now after a week or so when the film opens and dies down it is pretty empty. Harry Potter begins its 5th week the Friday and will just be coasting until they get a new film on the 21st. Mann ‘probably’ would consider extending the leases if they recieved a ‘break’ in the rents. But at this point they really just want out of film exhibition all together.
I do think eventually Westwood could have a comeback. Hollywood did, Santa Monica did. But it would take foresight by a chain to look towards that future and build those additional screens. They would have to accept the fact that they would take a loss for a while before it turns into green.
In the near future I think the Village and Bruin could go dark for a while. I’m not too sure they would turn retail since there are so many empty spaces in Westwood already. With the thought of that corner going completely dark, you have to wonder if someone will step in. The Village theatre is the heart of Westwood and will really be a glaring loss. As far as movie theatres in Westwood Village itself, it will just be the Regent and who knows how long Landmark will carry that lease. I bet they will drop it once the lease expires.
Westwood as a city needs to step up and do thier part also. In the past 20 years they have not done anything about the parking situation. They need to decide if they want it just to slowly turn into a sleepy college town or if they want revenue again. It is going to be interesting to see what happens.
The leases for these two houses Village and Bruin are pretty high since the last renewal. At that time Westwood was still performing good numbers to keep them open. Back in the 80’s there was plans drawn up on how to plex the Village. Back in it’s day Mann Theatres had a 5 mile clearance on Westwood and Hollywood houses. But with today’s booking patterns of playing everywhere on the break to get the most money on opening weeking. The profit pie is now cut to thin on these large single screens. The only way to keep these two classic houses performing well is to build that plex behind the two of them. So you can open a big picture in Bruin or Village and keep moring it down into the plex till it finishes it’s run. It keeps the Village and Bruin running as normal. And the extra screens can handle the over flow crowds on premieres.
I can’t believe that the industry would let such high profile venue’s as the Village and the Bruin close.Both these theatres prospered when they exclusive venues before the industry changed for the worse.There is very little showmanship left in the film industry in regard to film theatres. The exceptions are the El Capitan fun by Disney and the Cinerama Dome in the Arc Light complex. The Chinese is the most famous theatre and will be around for a long time but has been booked poorly.I blame the current landlord Warner Bros and Paramount for being such lazy landlords. There are so few venues left in the Mann theatre circuit it could only be a small blip on those companies bottom line. I can’t undrstand why they just don’t retain the Village and Chinese as flagship theatres for both Paramount and Warner Bros since the industry uses both these theatres for many premiere’s. brucec
They would have to fix the parking problem. Years ago I parked behind the Federal Building for free, but I think they ended that. Last time I had dinner in the village, about two years ago, I got gouged for parking. No thanks.
Don’t always believe everything you read in the newspaper or online.
When does the lease run out? I thought they had another year? Sad to think that the Village and Bruin will cease to exist. The actual buildings are landmarks but it does not mean there will be films shown. Retail does not seem likely either since there are so many vacancies alreay in Westwood.
The only way they could be saved is if they did get “archlighted”. But then you have to get people back int Westwood. WW is not much fun these days. It is pretty gloomy, gone are the days of walking around, looking in shops, eating etc. Westwood needs to be jump started. Everything does have a comeback, but until then they will have problems getting people in.
Another route for the Village would be live theatre (ala Pantages). Geffen already has Theatre in Westwood and it could be a new theatre district. With the Schubert gone in Century City, the Westside has been lacking BIG theatre.
The Bruin could serve as an anchor for a Arclight situation.
Whatever the case may be, the shells of the buildings will remain. prhaps EMPTY for a long while. Westwood has to be tended to first.
Mann will not renew its leases for the Village and Bruin.
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Gone are the days of long engagements at the Village. I think they have to turn over the films more quickly in order to keep steady audiences. The most a film will stay lately seems to be 4 weeks at average. With so many blockbusters coming out and both Landmark 12 and AMC CENTURY 15 close by and getting the same films it makes sense. Something like Terminator which had a 62% drop in its second weekend should move to a smaller theatre. When I worked there the Village had films like Altered States for 3 months. it would have been great to have this kind of turnover.
But Terminator moved to Mann’s Festival. Star Trek moved to AMC’s Avco. Probably Mann would have preferred to keep Star Trek had they not been most likely obligated to hold Dance Flick over for a second week at the Festival.
The Hangover opens here this friday. Like Star Trek, Terminator Salvation only had a two week run here.
I wonder if Transformers 2 will play here. As I recall, Transformers 1 played here for only one week before making way for Harry Potter 5.
Well this year Transformers 2 and Harry Potter 6 open three weeks apart.
Star Trek sure had a quick run here and then moved to the Avco.
I was probably working both 1981 and 1982 days when those daytime pics were taken. That was the period I worked at the Village.
Yeah, Segask, there’s still a coffee joint in there.
what is that? A men’s wear store? I haven’t been to Westwood in a while. Is there still Starbucks there, or is it something else now?
Here is a late 1930s view from the USC archive:
http://tinyurl.com/c6ww9w
Mike Shaw was the projectionist for all the premiers at the Village Theater for about 20 years. Mike worked closely with Warner Bros and Paramount executives.
Ran a few movies there. I think I met Mike Shaw.
anyone remember Mike Shaw? The projectionist at the Village/Bruin Theater for over 20 years (1973 to 1996)…any thoughts?
Thanks,
Cliff
Here is May 1949 photo from Life Magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/5as826
Finally found the larger version of that photo:
View link
Glad you liked. :–)