Though the auditoriums are small, the screens are decently sized and have excellent sound. Because the screens are oversize relative to the auditorium size, I recommend sitting as far back as possible. And allow lots of time for going down multiple flights of escalators with the theatres one level below the lobby, which is itself three levels below street level.
The renovations removed a grand interior staircase between the two levels. The cafe is where the box office once was, and now there is just one staffed station in the corner. The screens of the two main screens are in the same place the screens always were, and the renovations extend the balconies down with full stadium seating, which is why the former ”downstairs” screens are so small. They occupy only the bits of space beneath the original balconies. The large screens were always relatively small compared to the large screens at other big Manhattan multiplexes, so if these have all the same large screen and PLF movies as all the other multiplexes, there is no compelling reason to come here from outside the neighborhood. In auditorium 12 now and the seat has lots of leg room and is comfy enough but has no recline to speak of. The AMCs to the north and south have better seats and screens that are as good or better as any here, so there’s barely a reason to come here from inside the neighborhood. This was shinier and newer when it opened, but the AMC upgrades improved dowdy sloped floor multiplexes while this one, with its stadium seating only in the back rows with lots of flat screens…
One thing to note, unlike almost every other multiplex there is hardly any variation in the capacity amd screen size of the auditoriums. If you want to see a movie late in the run, this unheralded uptown theare may well provide the biggest screen on which to see it. Around 260 seats, I believe, in every one of the 12 auditoriums.
So much improved after the renovations that took place around a year ago. I used to avoid, but it’s improved in pretty much every regard. The one negative on a recent visit to see a movie on the top floor, with two screens, was having a lot of bass coming from the adjacent auditorium, worse than hearing the subway trains rumbling past in the subterranean Angelika. But on the whole, just night and day better going to see movies here now than for the first two decades of the theate’s existence. Like most of the AMCs in NYC, the Loews name is entirely removed, The auditorium I was in had a seating capacity in the 55-60 range.
I saw the 70mm presentation of Fantastic Beasts in its 2nd weekend; this one of only a handful of theatres in US to show in that format. Print was still in good shape, and seeing on film definitely warmer than in digital. On the other hand, seeing a film print of Die Hard at Moving Image the same weekend with its wear and tear at the changeovers especially was a good reminder that film has its drawbacks.
I walked in the door of the ice cream parlor and could tell as I walked in that the movie had once been a theatre. There’s a lot of ornamentation/molding still intact on the walls and ceiling, and the projection booth windows are still visible. The ice cream parlor has been outfitted with a variety of wood pieces salvaged from other theatres etc. The employees are fairly well aware of the history, that they are working on a false floor over the original sloping floor. Surprised there isn’t more here on this building, which is a lot more intact than many gyms, pharmacies, etc. conversions, and strongly encourage theatre lovers to stop in, have some ice cream, and look over the site in person.
worth noting re David R’s comment that AMC has rolled out in-lobby ticketing machines in most of their NYC theatres which give the screen #s. They had this at the Empire for a while, more recently now at the Kips Bay and Lincoln Square etc. Still not ideal because you have to be at the theatre to look on the machine, and can’t check on the internet. But it is an improvement over when the only way to find out was to call or to wait on line and ask at the box office.
I first attended the Midway in the late 1980s, and I hated going to the long tunnel-like main floor theatres that ended in little tiny screens with sometimes tinny sound. The balcony theatres were nicer as others have pointed out above because of the stadium-type raking and the larger screens. But as in so many of the conversions of this type, the geography of balcony seats facing toward the wall in the middle of the theater while the projection booth threw an image out from the center toward a screen curved toward the middle required a head tilt during the entire movie. I don’t get out there all that often now since the part of Queens I’m in now is more convenient to Manhattan than to Forest Hills, but every time I do (and I saw two films there yesterday) I am reminded of how good a job they did when they rebuilt the theatre in the late 1997. The auditoriums aren’t particularly big, but they’re more pleasant than 11 of the screens at the Kips Bay or any of the screens at the Kaufman Astoria and many other newer theatres. Comfy seats, nice sound, decent size screens even in the small auditoriums. And still with a grand staircase in the lobby and the nice people watching from the balcony level.
Just for the record, after the theatre became a 4-plex, it became a 7-plex with the extension added on the front of the building with 3 screens that kind of ruined the lobby. I believe this may have opened in 1984 because I think that area was still new when I saw Passage to India on one of those screens. And then I am pretty sure it became an 8-plex with the twinning of the upstairs balcony theatre, and the breaking up of the main screen by building 2 small auditoriums in one end of it was the final and most tragic act that turned it into a 10-plex but also reduced the size of the wonderful main downstairs screen. But definitely screens #5/6/7 in the new building pre-dated the additional subdividing of the original.
I saw Frost/Nixon there over New Year’s weekend, in no small part because it was playing at the Uptown. Decent crowd for a Sunday matinee, around 40 people with me in the balcony. But maybe they’re still waiting for that new bulb? The image seemed a little dim to me.
And I can confirm the “Closed” notation in the above lists for September 1996. Loews did do a remodel then; I remember how thrilled I was with the new sound system when I saw Ghost in teh Darkness after it reopened.
I’ve long thought it might be a nice idea to add a list of my Astor Plaza movies to the obituary I had done for the theatre (see May 25 2005 post for link thereto) so I totally appreciate the list of movies to have played the theatre. It just bums me that I couldn’t start attending regularly until 1986; how I’d have loved seeing some of the movies that played the joint in its earlier years. And getting back to the May 25 2005 comment on my obituary, I may be wrong on the block the RKO National was on, but the Roxy Deli at 47/B'Way still stands right beneath the grandfathered marquees for the entrance passage to the Movieland, and I’m near certain of that.
Though the auditoriums are small, the screens are decently sized and have excellent sound. Because the screens are oversize relative to the auditorium size, I recommend sitting as far back as possible. And allow lots of time for going down multiple flights of escalators with the theatres one level below the lobby, which is itself three levels below street level.
The renovations removed a grand interior staircase between the two levels. The cafe is where the box office once was, and now there is just one staffed station in the corner. The screens of the two main screens are in the same place the screens always were, and the renovations extend the balconies down with full stadium seating, which is why the former ”downstairs” screens are so small. They occupy only the bits of space beneath the original balconies. The large screens were always relatively small compared to the large screens at other big Manhattan multiplexes, so if these have all the same large screen and PLF movies as all the other multiplexes, there is no compelling reason to come here from outside the neighborhood. In auditorium 12 now and the seat has lots of leg room and is comfy enough but has no recline to speak of. The AMCs to the north and south have better seats and screens that are as good or better as any here, so there’s barely a reason to come here from inside the neighborhood. This was shinier and newer when it opened, but the AMC upgrades improved dowdy sloped floor multiplexes while this one, with its stadium seating only in the back rows with lots of flat screens…
https://www.broadwayworld.com/new-jersey/article/Cinema-Lab-Will-Reopen-at-The-Village-Cinemas-at-SOPAC-This-Month-20210707
this article says that the Maplewood will reopen in 2022 under same group as has just reopened the South Orange theatre.
One thing to note, unlike almost every other multiplex there is hardly any variation in the capacity amd screen size of the auditoriums. If you want to see a movie late in the run, this unheralded uptown theare may well provide the biggest screen on which to see it. Around 260 seats, I believe, in every one of the 12 auditoriums.
So much improved after the renovations that took place around a year ago. I used to avoid, but it’s improved in pretty much every regard. The one negative on a recent visit to see a movie on the top floor, with two screens, was having a lot of bass coming from the adjacent auditorium, worse than hearing the subway trains rumbling past in the subterranean Angelika. But on the whole, just night and day better going to see movies here now than for the first two decades of the theate’s existence. Like most of the AMCs in NYC, the Loews name is entirely removed, The auditorium I was in had a seating capacity in the 55-60 range.
I saw the 70mm presentation of Fantastic Beasts in its 2nd weekend; this one of only a handful of theatres in US to show in that format. Print was still in good shape, and seeing on film definitely warmer than in digital. On the other hand, seeing a film print of Die Hard at Moving Image the same weekend with its wear and tear at the changeovers especially was a good reminder that film has its drawbacks.
Over 100 people for a Sunday matinee of Florence Foster Jenkins.
I walked in the door of the ice cream parlor and could tell as I walked in that the movie had once been a theatre. There’s a lot of ornamentation/molding still intact on the walls and ceiling, and the projection booth windows are still visible. The ice cream parlor has been outfitted with a variety of wood pieces salvaged from other theatres etc. The employees are fairly well aware of the history, that they are working on a false floor over the original sloping floor. Surprised there isn’t more here on this building, which is a lot more intact than many gyms, pharmacies, etc. conversions, and strongly encourage theatre lovers to stop in, have some ice cream, and look over the site in person.
worth noting re David R’s comment that AMC has rolled out in-lobby ticketing machines in most of their NYC theatres which give the screen #s. They had this at the Empire for a while, more recently now at the Kips Bay and Lincoln Square etc. Still not ideal because you have to be at the theatre to look on the machine, and can’t check on the internet. But it is an improvement over when the only way to find out was to call or to wait on line and ask at the box office.
I first attended the Midway in the late 1980s, and I hated going to the long tunnel-like main floor theatres that ended in little tiny screens with sometimes tinny sound. The balcony theatres were nicer as others have pointed out above because of the stadium-type raking and the larger screens. But as in so many of the conversions of this type, the geography of balcony seats facing toward the wall in the middle of the theater while the projection booth threw an image out from the center toward a screen curved toward the middle required a head tilt during the entire movie. I don’t get out there all that often now since the part of Queens I’m in now is more convenient to Manhattan than to Forest Hills, but every time I do (and I saw two films there yesterday) I am reminded of how good a job they did when they rebuilt the theatre in the late 1997. The auditoriums aren’t particularly big, but they’re more pleasant than 11 of the screens at the Kips Bay or any of the screens at the Kaufman Astoria and many other newer theatres. Comfy seats, nice sound, decent size screens even in the small auditoriums. And still with a grand staircase in the lobby and the nice people watching from the balcony level.
Just for the record, after the theatre became a 4-plex, it became a 7-plex with the extension added on the front of the building with 3 screens that kind of ruined the lobby. I believe this may have opened in 1984 because I think that area was still new when I saw Passage to India on one of those screens. And then I am pretty sure it became an 8-plex with the twinning of the upstairs balcony theatre, and the breaking up of the main screen by building 2 small auditoriums in one end of it was the final and most tragic act that turned it into a 10-plex but also reduced the size of the wonderful main downstairs screen. But definitely screens #5/6/7 in the new building pre-dated the additional subdividing of the original.
I saw Frost/Nixon there over New Year’s weekend, in no small part because it was playing at the Uptown. Decent crowd for a Sunday matinee, around 40 people with me in the balcony. But maybe they’re still waiting for that new bulb? The image seemed a little dim to me.
And I can confirm the “Closed” notation in the above lists for September 1996. Loews did do a remodel then; I remember how thrilled I was with the new sound system when I saw Ghost in teh Darkness after it reopened.
May 17, 2005 post; sorry.
I’ve long thought it might be a nice idea to add a list of my Astor Plaza movies to the obituary I had done for the theatre (see May 25 2005 post for link thereto) so I totally appreciate the list of movies to have played the theatre. It just bums me that I couldn’t start attending regularly until 1986; how I’d have loved seeing some of the movies that played the joint in its earlier years. And getting back to the May 25 2005 comment on my obituary, I may be wrong on the block the RKO National was on, but the Roxy Deli at 47/B'Way still stands right beneath the grandfathered marquees for the entrance passage to the Movieland, and I’m near certain of that.