The same web site lists several other Chinatown movie theatres of the past, including the Sun Sing (formerly located under the Manhattan Bridge and long since torn down – sometime in the mid-‘90s, if I remember correctly); the since-demolished Pagoda at 11 E. Broadway; the Essex, which closed in the early '90s (around '93-'94, or thereabouts) and was replaced by a health clinic; and the Jade (at Canal and Mulberry – I know this building was either cleared or gutted and replaced by another business; it may also be an empty lot, but I tend to doubt it and will try to make a point of walking over and finding out), the Wah Dor (the only info being provided that it was on Canal), and the Canal (which, unless there were two Canal Theatres on Canal Street, is the former Canal Theatre at 31 Canal and, contrary to what’s posted on the site, has NOT been torn down).
A remembrance of the Rosemary Theatre, from a web site dedicated to the many theatres which once populated Chinatown (http://members.aol.com/hkfilms/):
‘The Rosemary Theatre closed down in 1996 and is now a Buddhist Shrine! It was great having the Music Palace (which is still standing, shuttered and covered with graffiti, on the southeast corner of Bowery & Hester – I pass by it on my way to work every morning – br91975) & Rosemary right around the corner from each other. Easy access to four new movies every Friday night! The Rosemary always seemed to show a lot of Category III sex films. When you would call the box office to try to find out what was playing,
the woman wouldn’t even attempt the English title, she would just say
“sex movie….sex movie only!”’
Thanks for answering my questions; I’d long wondered about those booking and advertising policies and it’s great to finally have some clearance. Again, thank you…
The former Republic Theatre on 42nd Street in Times Square, as was the Gaiety in Boston, was also renamed the Victory post-WWII, a name it retains to this day, albeit in present time as the New Victory Theatre, a slight revision inspired by not only its own rebirth as a renovated venue for family-geared theatrical productions, but the new, overall reconsideration of the block it resides on as well.
There are two other film booking questions I have, Robert, that perhaps you (or someone else in the know) can answer for me:
1) Is there a standard length of engagement agreement between the major studios for all their releases and the exhibitors or is it negotiated on a per-film basis?
2) Prior to a film’s release, can an exhibition agreement be broken? I’ve noticed the theatres a film is scheduled to open in vary sometimes from what’s listed within advance-release print ads and the theatres in which it actually opens. One recent example involves ‘Coach Carter’ and ‘Racing Stripes’, both of which were scheduled to open at the New York Twin; ‘Racing Stripes’, though, opened at the 64th & 2nd/Gemini instead…
3) Sunday newspaper print ads, specifically those which run in the NY Times, Post, and Daily News, don’t always list every Manhattan theatre in which the film opens – commonly, the Nova was left off and the New Coliseum continues to be with regularity. Any idea why this tends to be so?
The correct address of the Main Street Cinemas is 72-66 Main Street. All Queens street address numbers are hyphenated, the first number representing the block within that street the building resides within (i.e., the 72nd block of Main Street), the second number representing its address within that block (think of each block as its own street). Hope that helps…
A long-standing personal mystery solved; thanks for that bit of info, Robert. I’m surprised none of the distributors have caught on; it’s probably safe to say they pay more concern to the venues their films show in on, say, the UWS of Manhattan than they do of the ones in Washington Heights or Corona.
According to CinemaDayton’s posting of this past January 7th, the Plaza is to eventually become a quad. I wonder if that’s still the case and what’s causing the delay in opening the other screen(s).
Newspaper display ads and general movie clocks for Creative Entertainment-booked theatres (as was true with the Nova) often provide inaccurate information, listing more showtimes than a given theatre can support (i.e., four full showtime runs for a three-screen venue) or a showtime schedule on one or more screens which doesn’t jibe with running times.
Thanks for the info, MovieMatty. I did some research and found that the Foxy Lady was located behind the former Sack/Sony/Loews/Entertainment Cinemas multiplex. If the theatre site was demolished, I’m guessing the former property currently serves as additional parking for club patrons, employees, and performers.
Brockton-based filmgoers are mostly, according to the message board at View link now patronizing multiplexes in towns such as Braintree and Randolph – a choice some had made prior, due to the state the Westgate Cinema Centre was in towards the end.
The Harvard Square Theatre became a fiveplex, either in late ‘85 or sometime in '86, creating two additional auditoriums out of seemingly former backstage and/or dressing room areas. (Out of curiosity, where exactly was the former Massachusetts Avenue entrance? I’ve tried to place its location, but to no avail.)
…and another Boston Herald article about the closing of the Copley, from the day before (with a brief 4-1-1 to the journalist who wrote the article and her editor – it was Sacks Theatres, not ‘Saks’ and ‘Loews Copley’, not ‘Copley Loews’)…
Curtains: Art era’s over: Barneys makes cinemas rubble
By Mary Jo Palumbo
Friday, January 28, 2005
The local art film scene will look a lot bleaker Sunday when Loews Copley Place shuts its doors after 21 years screening films.
The 11-screen theater is expected to be replaced by the upscale Manhattan retailer Barneys New York.
“The last show on Sunday night will be the last picture show at Copley,” Loews spokeswoman Jane Lanouette said.
The move is a blow to foreign and independent movie buffs and to kids who flocked to the movie house to see family films.
“A cinema is always a vital thing to have in a neighborhood,” said longtime Boston film booker George Mansour. “This is the loss of a dedicated arthouse within the boundaries of Boston.”
The cinema opened in 1984 as a Saks theater with a brief run as an arthouse.
Bought by Loews in the early 1990s, the theater showed first-run commercial films with an emphasis on family fare for most of its 21-year existence.
When Loews Boston Common opened in 2001, the company decided to program alternative, independent films at the Copley so the two theaters wouldn’t compete.
“It became an independent film house by default,” Mansour said. “The Copley began and ended with art films. It came full circle.”
The Loews Copley Place was one of the last small-screen multiplex theaters built before the revival of stadium theater seating, in which cinema complexes equipped theaters with improved sound and projection technology.
But that didn’t stop people from attending the Copley Loews, which often had long lines and sold-out shows.
The theater was the last venue for nonmainstream fare in a city that once boasted a vibrant art film scene.
The Exeter Street Theater, once a popular venue for independent films, shut its doors in 1984. The Nickelodeon Cinema at Boston University, another favorite art film spot, closed in 2001.
Now Boston film buffs will have to cross the river to the Brattle or the Landmark Kendall Square cinemas in Cambridge or visit the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline.
“(Loews Copley) was a convenient place for people to go,” Mansour said. “As always, the movies make the house, and they had some wonderful movies there. It’s too bad the theater is closing.”
An article from this past Saturday’s Boston Herald, discussing the closing of the Loews Copley Place Cinemas:
Loews closing leaves art-film fans in the dark
By Mary Jo Palumbo
Saturday, January 29, 2005
The closing of Loews Copley Place tomorrow leaves Boston with just two downtown movie houses – both showcasing mainstream Hollywood films – and far fewer screens than many cities, according to industry experts.
“For specialty films, Boston is going to be severely underscreened,” said David Kleiler, former director of the Coolidge Corner Theatre. “There’s a good chance that films with limited distributions won’t get screened at all in Boston because of this.”
The 11-screen Loews theater, located in Copley Place for 21 years, will be replaced with upscale Manhattan retailer Barneys New York.
To be blunt, Loews Copley Place wasn’t anyone’s favorite movie house. The theaters were tiny and cramped. The screens were small, and the seats weren’t raked. The theater never had a clear identity, showing a combination of family fare, second-run movies and independent films.
“It was one of the least-loved theaters in the Boston area,” said Kleiler. “But it was the only game in town. That’s the shame. People in the Back Bay and the South End are very film savvy, and there’s nothing to replace it.”
Loews Boston Common, which opened in 2001 with 19 theaters, and the AMC Fenway 13 feature stadium seating, digital sound, big screens, much better sightlines and fancy concession stands. But those screens are devoted to box-office hits, and neither theater appears to be considering a programming change in the wake of the Copley’s closing.
Loews management would say little about whether programming at the Boston Common venue will change as a result.
“It was not a matter of Loews deciding to close the theater,” said Loews spokesman John McCauley. ``Our lease was up and the landlord rented the space to Barneys.
“We have another great theater downtown – the Loews Boston Common – that gives people bigger opportunities to see movies.”
AMC Fenway also aims to continue its mainstream Hollywood fare.
“We strive to provide a variety of films that appeal to a diverse audience and that will continue,” said AMC spokeswoman Pam Blase. “We will continue to operate with that same goal in mind.”
Not long ago, Boston cinema buffs could choose from several downtown movie houses showing a range of fare, including the Charles, the Cheri, the Paris, the Nickelodeon and the Exeter Street theaters.
But that’s changed in the past decade.
“Boston has long been underscreened,” Loews Cineplex Entertainment President Travis Reid told the Herald when Loews opened its Boston Common theaters in 2001.
Boston’s 32 downtown screens compare with about 63 in downtown Washington, D.C., a city comparable in size to Boston.
What the city needs, according to longtime Boston film booker George Mansour, is a new facility for non-mainstream films. “It would be great to have a state-of-the-art complex for art films in the heart of the South End,” said Mansour.
“It would be a tremendous plus for people in the city.”
You’re thinking of the Chelsea Cinemas (the nineplex on the southeast corner of 8th and 23rd), Divinity, not the Chelsea West, the twin almost diagonally across 23rd.
In reference to Myron’s last post – wouldn’t a general forum be best for comments not related to particular theatres? I’ve often found it frustrating when I see comments posted completely unrelated to any particular theatre or not on the pages of those particular theatres. That, quite frankly, prompted me to discontinue the notification service for several pages on which I’ve posted comments; life’s too short…
There were two film venues at the Liberty Tree Mall prior to the opening of the Loews 20-screen megaplex in the late-‘90s – a six-screener (presently home to the seven-auditorium Hollywood Hits Theatre) and the eventual twin Brian focused on in his initial post.
Corporate re-branding is a hit-or-miss proposition. Here in New York, most people I know of would refer to the Hilton Theatre (formerly the Ford Center for the Performing Arts) on 42nd Street as “that theatre in Times Square where ‘42nd Street’ played”, as opposed to its big-brand moniker; same for Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey – it’s far more commonly known as “the Meadowlands” or “that arena over at the Meadowlands”, than whatever name the building has formally been reappointed with. I think the same holds true for other similar buildings, arenas, theatres, and performance art spaces around the country – people in general know of them for their function or geographical location far more than by a corporatized name. For me, as with CConnolly, the Waverly will always BE the Waverly; I’ll never consider it anything but.
Build in 1963 in the shell of a turn of the century fire station, Cinema Village is the oldest continuously operated cinema in Greenwich Village and one of the oldest continuously operated art cinemas in the city.
Through most of it’s first three decades of life Cinema Village was one of Manhattan’s several repertory cinemas. Showcasing a canon of vintage classics, cult and contemporary critical favorites on double bills that would usually change three times a week, this once essential programming format has now largely died out in commercial cinemas in the city and around the country. Before the video revolution, short of a private film collection, going to a repertory cinema was virtually the only way to see many films after their initial theatrical run. Rep houses like Cinema Village, the recently re-opened Thalia and the now long closed Bleeker Street, Carnegie Hall, 8th Street Playhouse and Regency were the autodidacts' film school and favorite haunts of cineastes for decades.
Undermined by home video, buy outs by major circuits and real estate development, commercial repertory cinema virtually disappeared in the city by the late 1980’s. Cinema Village only escaped closing and survived with a switch to limited engagements of highly alternative first run programming.
This resulted in an eclectic mix of slip through-the-cracks American indie sleepers (Red Rock West), the occasional revival (In the Realm of the Senses, Two Lane Blacktop, The Leopard), documentaries (Theremin, Waco: Rules of Engagement, Kurt & Courtney), festivals, animation compilations, Japanese cult cinema (Tokyo Decadence, Angel Dust, Ghost in the Shell) and heavy doses of Hong Kong cinema.
In the early nineties before Jackie Chan, John Woo, Michele Yeoh and their stunt coordinators went Hollywood, Cinema Village became known, through its annual festivals and other bookings, as the place to see the amazing Hong Kong films of what would soon to acknowledged as a filmmaking golden age. For filmgoers who never ventured to Chinatown or had only seen blurry bootleg videos, these films were a revelation and they would soon have a profound influence on international filmmaking styles. During this period we also had the privilege of playing host to personal appearances by talents such as Michele Yeoh, Chow Yun Fat, Wong Kar Wai and Peter Chan.
In 2000 our patron’s support was rewarded with a long deferred renovation and expansion of screens. When we reopened, we had transformed ourselves into a thoroughly modern three screen facility with state of the presentation. Our additional screens allow an even more diverse programming mix and permit us to extend runs of special films to extraordinary lengths (Mulholland Drive: 18 weeks; Yi Yi: 21 weeks; The Piano Teacher: 28 weeks).
In 2001 we quietly introduced digital video projection capabilities to accommodate the increasing reliance on digital video by independent productions. This now gives us the potential to play deserving features without the burden to distributors or filmmakers of an expensive conversion to celluloid.
Nearing its fourth decade, Cinema Village is proud of its longevity and thankful to have survived the pitfalls that have taken down so many other independent cinemas. Notwithstanding our resourcefulness, our ability to survive is testimony entirely to the New York City audience. We could probably only exist where we are: in the midst of most diverse, cosmopolitan and cine-aware of cities.
Auditoriums
Screen #1
capacity: 170 seats
projection: 35 mm, 16 mm, digital video
sound: Dolby Digital CP500
Screen #2
capacity: 67 seats
projection: 35 mm, 16 mm, digital video
sound: Dolby Surround CP45
The same web site lists several other Chinatown movie theatres of the past, including the Sun Sing (formerly located under the Manhattan Bridge and long since torn down – sometime in the mid-‘90s, if I remember correctly); the since-demolished Pagoda at 11 E. Broadway; the Essex, which closed in the early '90s (around '93-'94, or thereabouts) and was replaced by a health clinic; and the Jade (at Canal and Mulberry – I know this building was either cleared or gutted and replaced by another business; it may also be an empty lot, but I tend to doubt it and will try to make a point of walking over and finding out), the Wah Dor (the only info being provided that it was on Canal), and the Canal (which, unless there were two Canal Theatres on Canal Street, is the former Canal Theatre at 31 Canal and, contrary to what’s posted on the site, has NOT been torn down).
A remembrance of the Rosemary Theatre, from a web site dedicated to the many theatres which once populated Chinatown (http://members.aol.com/hkfilms/):
‘The Rosemary Theatre closed down in 1996 and is now a Buddhist Shrine! It was great having the Music Palace (which is still standing, shuttered and covered with graffiti, on the southeast corner of Bowery & Hester – I pass by it on my way to work every morning – br91975) & Rosemary right around the corner from each other. Easy access to four new movies every Friday night! The Rosemary always seemed to show a lot of Category III sex films. When you would call the box office to try to find out what was playing,
the woman wouldn’t even attempt the English title, she would just say
“sex movie….sex movie only!”’
Thanks for answering my questions; I’d long wondered about those booking and advertising policies and it’s great to finally have some clearance. Again, thank you…
The former Republic Theatre on 42nd Street in Times Square, as was the Gaiety in Boston, was also renamed the Victory post-WWII, a name it retains to this day, albeit in present time as the New Victory Theatre, a slight revision inspired by not only its own rebirth as a renovated venue for family-geared theatrical productions, but the new, overall reconsideration of the block it resides on as well.
Actually, sorry, that was THREE questions; thanks in advance for your answers (or those of someone else of equal reliability)…
There are two other film booking questions I have, Robert, that perhaps you (or someone else in the know) can answer for me:
1) Is there a standard length of engagement agreement between the major studios for all their releases and the exhibitors or is it negotiated on a per-film basis?
2) Prior to a film’s release, can an exhibition agreement be broken? I’ve noticed the theatres a film is scheduled to open in vary sometimes from what’s listed within advance-release print ads and the theatres in which it actually opens. One recent example involves ‘Coach Carter’ and ‘Racing Stripes’, both of which were scheduled to open at the New York Twin; ‘Racing Stripes’, though, opened at the 64th & 2nd/Gemini instead…
3) Sunday newspaper print ads, specifically those which run in the NY Times, Post, and Daily News, don’t always list every Manhattan theatre in which the film opens – commonly, the Nova was left off and the New Coliseum continues to be with regularity. Any idea why this tends to be so?
It does; on occasion – I suspect during fallow periods – City Cinemas only books six out of the Village East’s seven screens.
The correct address of the Main Street Cinemas is 72-66 Main Street. All Queens street address numbers are hyphenated, the first number representing the block within that street the building resides within (i.e., the 72nd block of Main Street), the second number representing its address within that block (think of each block as its own street). Hope that helps…
A long-standing personal mystery solved; thanks for that bit of info, Robert. I’m surprised none of the distributors have caught on; it’s probably safe to say they pay more concern to the venues their films show in on, say, the UWS of Manhattan than they do of the ones in Washington Heights or Corona.
Interesting… I trust if there’s a Cinema Treasures member who can confirm that, it would be William…
According to CinemaDayton’s posting of this past January 7th, the Plaza is to eventually become a quad. I wonder if that’s still the case and what’s causing the delay in opening the other screen(s).
Newspaper display ads and general movie clocks for Creative Entertainment-booked theatres (as was true with the Nova) often provide inaccurate information, listing more showtimes than a given theatre can support (i.e., four full showtime runs for a three-screen venue) or a showtime schedule on one or more screens which doesn’t jibe with running times.
The Nova was converted into a three-screen venue in the early to mid-‘90s and closed as such.
Thanks for the info, MovieMatty. I did some research and found that the Foxy Lady was located behind the former Sack/Sony/Loews/Entertainment Cinemas multiplex. If the theatre site was demolished, I’m guessing the former property currently serves as additional parking for club patrons, employees, and performers.
Brockton-based filmgoers are mostly, according to the message board at View link now patronizing multiplexes in towns such as Braintree and Randolph – a choice some had made prior, due to the state the Westgate Cinema Centre was in towards the end.
The Harvard Square Theatre became a fiveplex, either in late ‘85 or sometime in '86, creating two additional auditoriums out of seemingly former backstage and/or dressing room areas. (Out of curiosity, where exactly was the former Massachusetts Avenue entrance? I’ve tried to place its location, but to no avail.)
…and another Boston Herald article about the closing of the Copley, from the day before (with a brief 4-1-1 to the journalist who wrote the article and her editor – it was Sacks Theatres, not ‘Saks’ and ‘Loews Copley’, not ‘Copley Loews’)…
Curtains: Art era’s over: Barneys makes cinemas rubble
By Mary Jo Palumbo
Friday, January 28, 2005
The local art film scene will look a lot bleaker Sunday when Loews Copley Place shuts its doors after 21 years screening films.
The 11-screen theater is expected to be replaced by the upscale Manhattan retailer Barneys New York.
“The last show on Sunday night will be the last picture show at Copley,” Loews spokeswoman Jane Lanouette said.
The move is a blow to foreign and independent movie buffs and to kids who flocked to the movie house to see family films.
“A cinema is always a vital thing to have in a neighborhood,” said longtime Boston film booker George Mansour. “This is the loss of a dedicated arthouse within the boundaries of Boston.”
The cinema opened in 1984 as a Saks theater with a brief run as an arthouse.
Bought by Loews in the early 1990s, the theater showed first-run commercial films with an emphasis on family fare for most of its 21-year existence.
When Loews Boston Common opened in 2001, the company decided to program alternative, independent films at the Copley so the two theaters wouldn’t compete.
“It became an independent film house by default,” Mansour said. “The Copley began and ended with art films. It came full circle.”
The Loews Copley Place was one of the last small-screen multiplex theaters built before the revival of stadium theater seating, in which cinema complexes equipped theaters with improved sound and projection technology.
But that didn’t stop people from attending the Copley Loews, which often had long lines and sold-out shows.
The theater was the last venue for nonmainstream fare in a city that once boasted a vibrant art film scene.
The Exeter Street Theater, once a popular venue for independent films, shut its doors in 1984. The Nickelodeon Cinema at Boston University, another favorite art film spot, closed in 2001.
Now Boston film buffs will have to cross the river to the Brattle or the Landmark Kendall Square cinemas in Cambridge or visit the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline.
“(Loews Copley) was a convenient place for people to go,” Mansour said. “As always, the movies make the house, and they had some wonderful movies there. It’s too bad the theater is closing.”
An article from this past Saturday’s Boston Herald, discussing the closing of the Loews Copley Place Cinemas:
Loews closing leaves art-film fans in the dark
By Mary Jo Palumbo
Saturday, January 29, 2005
The closing of Loews Copley Place tomorrow leaves Boston with just two downtown movie houses – both showcasing mainstream Hollywood films – and far fewer screens than many cities, according to industry experts.
“For specialty films, Boston is going to be severely underscreened,” said David Kleiler, former director of the Coolidge Corner Theatre. “There’s a good chance that films with limited distributions won’t get screened at all in Boston because of this.”
The 11-screen Loews theater, located in Copley Place for 21 years, will be replaced with upscale Manhattan retailer Barneys New York.
To be blunt, Loews Copley Place wasn’t anyone’s favorite movie house. The theaters were tiny and cramped. The screens were small, and the seats weren’t raked. The theater never had a clear identity, showing a combination of family fare, second-run movies and independent films.
“It was one of the least-loved theaters in the Boston area,” said Kleiler. “But it was the only game in town. That’s the shame. People in the Back Bay and the South End are very film savvy, and there’s nothing to replace it.”
Loews Boston Common, which opened in 2001 with 19 theaters, and the AMC Fenway 13 feature stadium seating, digital sound, big screens, much better sightlines and fancy concession stands. But those screens are devoted to box-office hits, and neither theater appears to be considering a programming change in the wake of the Copley’s closing.
Loews management would say little about whether programming at the Boston Common venue will change as a result.
“It was not a matter of Loews deciding to close the theater,” said Loews spokesman John McCauley. ``Our lease was up and the landlord rented the space to Barneys.
“We have another great theater downtown – the Loews Boston Common – that gives people bigger opportunities to see movies.”
AMC Fenway also aims to continue its mainstream Hollywood fare.
“We strive to provide a variety of films that appeal to a diverse audience and that will continue,” said AMC spokeswoman Pam Blase. “We will continue to operate with that same goal in mind.”
Not long ago, Boston cinema buffs could choose from several downtown movie houses showing a range of fare, including the Charles, the Cheri, the Paris, the Nickelodeon and the Exeter Street theaters.
But that’s changed in the past decade.
“Boston has long been underscreened,” Loews Cineplex Entertainment President Travis Reid told the Herald when Loews opened its Boston Common theaters in 2001.
Boston’s 32 downtown screens compare with about 63 in downtown Washington, D.C., a city comparable in size to Boston.
What the city needs, according to longtime Boston film booker George Mansour, is a new facility for non-mainstream films. “It would be great to have a state-of-the-art complex for art films in the heart of the South End,” said Mansour.
“It would be a tremendous plus for people in the city.”
Did the World have a balcony? When the theatre was a twin, what was the split?
You’re thinking of the Chelsea Cinemas (the nineplex on the southeast corner of 8th and 23rd), Divinity, not the Chelsea West, the twin almost diagonally across 23rd.
In reference to Myron’s last post – wouldn’t a general forum be best for comments not related to particular theatres? I’ve often found it frustrating when I see comments posted completely unrelated to any particular theatre or not on the pages of those particular theatres. That, quite frankly, prompted me to discontinue the notification service for several pages on which I’ve posted comments; life’s too short…
There were two film venues at the Liberty Tree Mall prior to the opening of the Loews 20-screen megaplex in the late-‘90s – a six-screener (presently home to the seven-auditorium Hollywood Hits Theatre) and the eventual twin Brian focused on in his initial post.
Corporate re-branding is a hit-or-miss proposition. Here in New York, most people I know of would refer to the Hilton Theatre (formerly the Ford Center for the Performing Arts) on 42nd Street as “that theatre in Times Square where ‘42nd Street’ played”, as opposed to its big-brand moniker; same for Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey – it’s far more commonly known as “the Meadowlands” or “that arena over at the Meadowlands”, than whatever name the building has formally been reappointed with. I think the same holds true for other similar buildings, arenas, theatres, and performance art spaces around the country – people in general know of them for their function or geographical location far more than by a corporatized name. For me, as with CConnolly, the Waverly will always BE the Waverly; I’ll never consider it anything but.
Hate to say it, but… condominiums, anyone? Seems like, within the context of the neighborhood, a logical fit.
From the Cinema Village web site:
Build in 1963 in the shell of a turn of the century fire station, Cinema Village is the oldest continuously operated cinema in Greenwich Village and one of the oldest continuously operated art cinemas in the city.
Through most of it’s first three decades of life Cinema Village was one of Manhattan’s several repertory cinemas. Showcasing a canon of vintage classics, cult and contemporary critical favorites on double bills that would usually change three times a week, this once essential programming format has now largely died out in commercial cinemas in the city and around the country. Before the video revolution, short of a private film collection, going to a repertory cinema was virtually the only way to see many films after their initial theatrical run. Rep houses like Cinema Village, the recently re-opened Thalia and the now long closed Bleeker Street, Carnegie Hall, 8th Street Playhouse and Regency were the autodidacts' film school and favorite haunts of cineastes for decades.
Undermined by home video, buy outs by major circuits and real estate development, commercial repertory cinema virtually disappeared in the city by the late 1980’s. Cinema Village only escaped closing and survived with a switch to limited engagements of highly alternative first run programming.
This resulted in an eclectic mix of slip through-the-cracks American indie sleepers (Red Rock West), the occasional revival (In the Realm of the Senses, Two Lane Blacktop, The Leopard), documentaries (Theremin, Waco: Rules of Engagement, Kurt & Courtney), festivals, animation compilations, Japanese cult cinema (Tokyo Decadence, Angel Dust, Ghost in the Shell) and heavy doses of Hong Kong cinema.
In the early nineties before Jackie Chan, John Woo, Michele Yeoh and their stunt coordinators went Hollywood, Cinema Village became known, through its annual festivals and other bookings, as the place to see the amazing Hong Kong films of what would soon to acknowledged as a filmmaking golden age. For filmgoers who never ventured to Chinatown or had only seen blurry bootleg videos, these films were a revelation and they would soon have a profound influence on international filmmaking styles. During this period we also had the privilege of playing host to personal appearances by talents such as Michele Yeoh, Chow Yun Fat, Wong Kar Wai and Peter Chan.
In 2000 our patron’s support was rewarded with a long deferred renovation and expansion of screens. When we reopened, we had transformed ourselves into a thoroughly modern three screen facility with state of the presentation. Our additional screens allow an even more diverse programming mix and permit us to extend runs of special films to extraordinary lengths (Mulholland Drive: 18 weeks; Yi Yi: 21 weeks; The Piano Teacher: 28 weeks).
In 2001 we quietly introduced digital video projection capabilities to accommodate the increasing reliance on digital video by independent productions. This now gives us the potential to play deserving features without the burden to distributors or filmmakers of an expensive conversion to celluloid.
Nearing its fourth decade, Cinema Village is proud of its longevity and thankful to have survived the pitfalls that have taken down so many other independent cinemas. Notwithstanding our resourcefulness, our ability to survive is testimony entirely to the New York City audience. We could probably only exist where we are: in the midst of most diverse, cosmopolitan and cine-aware of cities.
Auditoriums
Screen #1
capacity: 170 seats
projection: 35 mm, 16 mm, digital video
sound: Dolby Digital CP500
Screen #2
capacity: 67 seats
projection: 35 mm, 16 mm, digital video
sound: Dolby Surround CP45
Screen #3
capacity: 73 seats
projection: 35 mm
sound: Dolby Surround CP45
The exterior of the Studio Cinemas/Cinema Studio can be briefly glimpsed in Woody Allen’s ‘Manhattan’.