AMC Empire 25

Brilliant way (not!) to encourage audiences back to the movie-going experience.

In 1935, when this theatre was known as the Eltinge Theatre and was used for burlesque, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello first met and performed here on the stage together.

In 1998, as part of the renewal of 42nd Street led by the New 42nd Street coalition and real estate developer Bruce Ratner, the entire theatre was lifted off its foundation and moved westward approximately 170 feet (52 m) to its present location.

In the newer location, the shell of the theatre auditorium was converted into a lobby and lounge for the AMC Empire 25, AMC’s first theatre in New York City. Escalators pass through the former proscenium arch of the stage to the newly built auditoriums above. The theater opened at an estimated cost of $70 million, making it one of the most expensive movie theatres ever built.

This theatre opened on April 21, 2000, with the movies: U-571 (4 screens), Gossip (2 screens), Mission to Mars, Ready to Rumble, Pitch Black, Being John Malkovich, Beyond the Mat, Boiler Room, Drowning Mona, Family Tree, Ghost Dog, Price of Glory, Three Strikes, The Tigger Movie, Trois and 9th Gate in the regular screens. It also had some small screens at the top called “Top of the Empire.” Its opening movies include Cotton Mary, Me Myself & I, All About My Mother, Casablanca, The Ten Commandments, 42nd Street and Topsy Turvy.

Dalian Wanda has cashed out its stock investment in AMC Theaters, so they’re no longer the majority shareholder and no longer in charge. That could be either good or bad news. AMC almost always lost money in recent history, but they ended 2020 with a $2.4 billion net loss and in the first quarter of 2021, they lost almost another $295 million. The last times they were profitable were 2018, 2016 and 2015.

There are real questions about their future, although I think the NYC theaters would survive no matter what. Not that Regal is in much better shape.

In addition to Lincoln Square, this theater will also be showing Tenet in IMAX beginning on March 12

Empire will stay open no matter what. Given its size and its location, even if AMC ceased operations nationally or just this location, another company would step in. I could see E-Walk closing because it’s so close to Empire. But that’s the main reason. While I think movie theaters will never go away, soon there will be be a lot less than it was just before the pandemic. In a smaller maket Enpire would be the one more likely to close, but in Manhattan, there’s still enough demand for 25 screens, but 38 might soon be too many.

Theatre rivalries are a bit common for America. Why is AMC keeping this massive 25 screen megaplex when it’s across from the smaller Regal E-Walk 13? After the pandemic eventually ends, which do you guys think would permanently close?

The CEO of AMC Entertainment discussed the grim future of movie theatres in a recent New York Times article viewable here

Come March it will be one year since this theater and many others in NYC and other affected areas of New York State were closed and still are due to the pandemic if the vaccine helps stop the spread of the virus and make it go away. AMC is in dire straits and is raising money to help starve off bankruptcy. 10 years ago AMC survived the recession that occured from that year until late 2002 and was taken private for the first time two years later by JPMorgan and Apollo until Wanda took over in 2012 and made AMC public again in 2015; since then its stock has trended downward.

Mike (saps), if you want to to italicize something, check this out:

https://www.wikihow.com/Italicize-Text-in-HTML

Steps 3-5 are all you need on CT to make it happen.

The seat reduction is due to the digital Imax as well as the prime and dolby screens.

This theater may not reopen by the middle of july due to the governor not allowing theaters and gyms to open during the next phase of recovery. Not only that but a few movies have been delayed due to what’s going on. On a lighter note, does anyone remember the Mars cafe? It was a sci-fi restaurant that was a bit like Planet Hollywood.