Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
131 people
favorited this theater
Showing 626 - 650 of 4,511 comments
Property values are a curious thing.
I love the Ziegfeld. It was my office for many years and the best screen in Manhattan. It is the best theatre in Manhattan for people who love big movies. That does not take away from reality.
The Ziegfeld is still there ONLY because nobody wants that location.
Yet.
But it is NOT a choice location to open a major movie. And it never was.
Not really a matter of finding it but rather finding a better located place to see the same movie.
No one has a problem finding the theatre, it’s main problem is the shifting movie patterns in the city . I have worked there when we have done $60,000 a day
I have stated before, audiences DID have a problem finding it, hence the Coronet day and date openings in the eighties and nineties. A 100 seat screen on 42nd street can still outgross it.
Hello to All-
I thank all of my fellow posters who commented on my question as to how “off the beaten track” the Ziegfeld is. the reason the Ziegfeld rarely has anything amounting to a decent sized audience is because any “big” film which opens there also opens at a dozen other theaters in Manhattan. my point being said lack of a decent sized audience has nothing to do with it “being off the beaten path” in the strict sense of the term. after all people had no trouble
finding it in the 70s and 80s when it still played exclusive 1st runs.
I went to two Ziegfeld morning shows this summer (around 10-10:30 AM): Jersey Boys and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. But there were no pre-12 noon discounts. There were also just a handful of people at both shows.
The only bargain priced tickets on 42nd and Manhattan theaters are shows before 12 noon. Bowtie offers these prices at the Chelsea. I can’t remember the last time there was a morning show at the Ziegfeld. “Guardians of the Galaxy” is back at the Ziegfeld in 2D. Definitely worth checking out again.
Back then, Disney didn’t want “WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT” on 42nd street. Universal didn’t want “THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST” on 42nd street. Major screens like the the National and the Astor simply could not deliver the audience. The Ziegfeld could.
That is no longer the case.
The Ziegfeld didn’t usually play day-and-date with the Broadway houses, so even on a national run, they were still “exclusive” in Times Square.
Plus, since they rarely have an exclusive nowadays, most of the pictures they play are readily available in your own neighborhood, or at one of the 39 screens on 42nd Street. (And often with a bargain matinee offered, which unfortunately the Ziegfeld does not.)
The big difference is that back when the Ziegfeld was showing exclusives of major films, the Times Square theatres were thriving on exploitation films that did even better than big budget Hollywood films and the Ziegfeld was a better choice for the “GANDHI” and “BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY” crowd. This is no longer the case as in the new Times Square theatres on 42nd street even art films do well and exploitation films are few and far between. “GANDHI” today would do better on multiple screens at the Empire.
to CConnolly1-
you certainly make a valid point about the foot traffic around the Ziegfeld once the workday is over. but and there’s always a butt.
though Marooned was the theater’s one reserved seat engagement studios continued to use the theater for exclusive 1st runs even after the reserved seat policy was discontinued. these exclusive engagements were for both new films and restored classics(My Fair Lady, Vertigo etc..). so if people were able to easily find the Ziegfeld when studios still used it for exclusive 1st runs I don’t see why people should have trouble finding it now. plus I bet the foot traffic after the work day was over was no different then than it is now.
In reply to bigjoe59’s reply to my comment on July 28, 2014: I should have further defined my use of the term “off the beaten” path when referring to the Ziegfeld’s location. What I mean is that it is off the beaten path for people seeking a movie or some kind of night life. In NYC, neighborhoods change sometimes within mere blocks of one another. Example: on weekends, Times Square (7th Ave and 47th Street) is jammed but just one block over on 6th, it’s much, much less crowded (and that’s why I always walk over to 6th to get around the crowds). I don’t know what the neighborhood was like when the original Ziegfeld was opened but I would guess it was different than what it is now (likely it was more mixed use: residential, small businesses, nightclubs). Today, it’s pretty much all office space/corporate area and after 5PM or so, it’s kind of quiet (I should know. I worked right around the block from The Ziegfeld for years). Yes, there’s some foot traffic at night but nothing compared to Times Square (not even close) and most of the foot traffic involves people going through the area to other locations. Additionally, there’s really not a lot of residential areas nearby like you see down on 23rd Street which would help a theater like The Ziegfeld to thrive because it would be part of a neighborhood’s identity.
Others are correct that there would be a huge protest if The Ziegfeld were to be closed and demolished.
Hello-
this question is for devotees of the good olde reserved seat policy or to use the trade term roadshow policy. of course the only roadshow engagement this theater hosted was its initial film “Marooned”. so for the Oct. 1955 to Dec. 1972 prime roadshow period did anyone attend or know of a reserved seat run that did not have a souvenir program?
I found my tickets.
Confirmed in Michael Coate’s excellent article posted above.
One extra thing that helped make “Apocalypse Now” a special event: there were no on-screen credits. None except for a tiny copyright notice at the bottom of the screen at the very end (C Omni Zoetrope 1979). But I still have my free program book, with all credits listed, that every patron at the Ziegfeld got. I believe none of the 70mm prints had on-screen credits.
Congratulations to the Ziegfeld for being the first theater on Cinema Treasures to reach 4,000 comments. An honor well-deserved.
My dad went to see Apocalypse Now at this theater during that engagement and enjoyed the 5.1 analog surround sound and the movie too. Having watched the movie on DVD I can say that this movie holds up even today.
Thirty-five years ago today, the Ziegfeld was among three North American theaters to open Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” in a reserved-performance, guaranteed-seat exclusive engagement. A 35th anniversary retrospective article was posted today at The Digital Bits.
While some don’t count it, the 2 week exclusive presentation of Dreamgirls a few years back was a huge success. To this day, it is the greatest movie theater experience I have ever had. The theater was sold out at $25 a pop. I had 10 other friends with me in assigned seats. There were 3 standing ovations DURING the movie when the big musical numbers played. Curtains? Absolutely! Previews or Commericals? NONE! I will never forget it.
The last one I can think of without looking it up was “MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON” in 1990.
Close Encounters and The Rose were exclusives. I recall being surprised when Barry Lyndon played the Baronet the same time as the Ziegfeld in 1975. Of course I went to the Ziegfeld to see it.
to Al A.–
as always thanks for your reply. while I am happy this theater is still alive and well as stated in my last e-mail as hard as I have tried I can’t remember the last time this theater hosted an exclusive engagement. so i suppose it had to be before the opening in 2,000 to 3,000 theaters on the same day trend started. for instance were Close Encounters of the Third Kind(Nov. 1977) and The Rose(Nov. 1979)exclusive runs?
to Al A.–
as always thanks for your reply. while I am happy this theater is still alive and well as stated in my last e-mail as hard as I have tried I can’t remember the last time this theater hosted an exclusive engagement. so i suppose it had to be before the opening in 2,000 to 3,000 theaters on the same day trend started. for instance were Close Encounters of the Third Kind(Nov. 1977) and The Rose(Nov. 1979)exclusive runs?
Bigjoe59, it may go back as far as “MAROONED” (1969), unless you count the aborted attempts to revive the policy around 2001 by Cineplex Odeon. People refused to sit in their assigned seats then.
What gives? Both Seth and BigJoe have triple entries? How did that happen guys? You can remove the duplicates at your end.