TCL Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
160 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1,226 - 1,250 of 1,675 comments
Thanx, Roger, for your info on the remodeling. I toured the backstage area of the Chinese 25 years ago—-there was no stage left after the Cinemiracle renovations. It had been gutted right to the rear stage wall. I wanted to be sure the 32' diaphone pipes housed
above the stage, had been removed. They had. The organ went to St. Finbar’s church in Burbank. Console then went to David Packard where it now controls the Stanford Theatre Wurlitzer in Palo Alto, CA. Organ was installed in the Chinese dome—-looks like a steel beam
goes thru that area now. From the outside, you can look up on the roof and I’m guessing that boxed area housed the organ. I suppose owners had to earthquake-proof in that the theatre is brick. That beam thru the roof housing must have been added for bracing.
In answer to jloew’s question about a Wurlitzer console in the pit at the Chinese. The Chinese underwent an extensive remodel in the late 1950’s for the installation of Cinemiracle. The projection booth was moved to the orchestra level at the back of the theater. The front of the stage and the proscenium arch was ripped out along with two of the stone columns to the left and right of the stage and a 120' screen holder was installed where the stage once was. I believe the organ was removed at this time as part of the remodel. The pipes for the organ were above the stage and were ducted so that the sound came from the main chandelier.
The Chinese can be seen on news broadcasts all over the world tonight. Michael Jackson’s star on the Walk of Fame is right in front of the forecourt. Fans are leaving behind flowers, tributes, etc.
Harry Potter tickets are on sale now for July 15. But yeah, Arclight is pretty much getting everything; next week Public Enemies and Ice Age, and probably Bruno the week after. I wonder how many people are showing up for Imagine That? How sad the theatre will be pretty much showing empty performances until the 15th. How great would Public Enemies have been in the Main Theatre for the 2 weeks before Potter? Something is wrong here.
And after its brief return to showing hit titles (Fast and Furious, Obsessed, Wolverine, Terminator Salvation), the Chinese is back to running flops again. Right now, they have Imagine That in Week 3.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in D-Box
Our completely new D-BOX Motion Codeâ„¢ system, conceived for use within commercial theatres, adds a new dimension to your experience. It allows moviegoers to Live the Action onscreen with an unmatched realism. In other terms, the D-BOX Motion Codeâ„¢ system creates movements: pitch, roll, heave, and intelligent vibrations â€" perfectly synchronized with the onscreen action.
Opens July 15 at the Chinese 6
Wasn’t the last part of “Singin' in the Rain” filmed on the Chinese
stage..? And it looks like a lit-up Wurlitzer console is in the pit.
Or it this my fading eyesight and wishful thinking?
So is Harry Potter pretty much the only blockbuster the Chinese is getting this Summer?
View link
does anyone have any technical specs of the projection/sound equipment? They have detailed specs on the page for the Empire Leicester Square in London.
/theaters/912/
Andy Summers reminds us in every one of his posts on that page that that famous theatre has a 56Kw THX sound system, LOL.
Another forum member, LJ Claydon posted detailed specs for the Empire theatre in London:
5x Crown CTs2000 amplifiers feed HF and Upper Mid sections of 5x JBL 4-way Custom ScreenArray stage loudspeakers
5x Crown CTs3000 amplifiers feed LF and Lower Mid sections of 5x JBL 4-way Custom ScreenArray stage loudspeakers
8x Crown CTs3000 amplifiers feed 16x JBL 4645C SVG Subwoofers
6x Crown CTs8200 8-channel amplifiers feed 42x JBL 8340A surround loudspeakers arranged as 22 (left/right side) delayed in four banks, 8 (left/right lower rear, concealed), 12 (left/right long-throw upper rear) delayed to match position and curvature of lower bank.
For the watt-counters,
Stage Channels (each) 5,000w (25,000w total)
Sub Bass Channels (total) 24,000w
Surround Channels (total) 10,500w
Total system power, 59,500w
Anyone here have any specs like this for Graumans?
Segask, I was at the same show. Keep in mind that “barely half-full” still amounts to 600-700 patrons at the show. Hardly anything to sneeze at.
I do agree…THX/Dolby Digital was extra crispy that night. Reminded me of the “good old days” of the 90’s when even cheeseball junk like “Independence Day” & Ahnuld’s “Eraser” sprung to life on that sound system.
I wonder what NEC projectors the regular Arclight theaters have. Look pretty good as far as 2k goes.
“…I think the Dome has the same NEC 2k projector as Grauman’s and the Village…” — Kram Sacul
I found this press release:
http://www.dcinematoday.com/dc/PR.aspx?newsID=656
its the NEC STARUS NC2500S. I’ve read elsewhere that the Sony 4k projectors aren’t as bright as the best 2k projectors.
“went to the saturday 8:00PM show of Terminator Salvation in Graumans. It was barely half full. Maybe the Laker NBA Finals game going on at the same time diluted the audience, or maybe people were going to the D-Box show instead, or maybe more people were going to Arclight.”
I would say half full in a 1200 seat auditorium is pretty good, considering it was on 2 more screens at the Chinese 6 and 3 more at Arclight, not to mention several more theatres with in a 5 mile radius. I don’t think D-Box would suck too many patrons away form Graumans as there are only a handful of those seats installed at the Chinese 6.
“As long as Grauman’s shows some movies worth going to I’m happy. Has their presentation quality gone downhill though? The sound has been iffy in the past like with the Village in Westwood. They really need to crank it.” — posted by Kram Sacul
the Saturday 8:00PM show was cranked up loud. Awesome subwoofer effects from the mushrooms during the THX Amazing Life trailer.
http://www.thx.com/cinema/trailers.html
went to the saturday 8:00PM show of Terminator Salvation in Graumans. It was barely half full. Maybe the Laker NBA Finals game going on at the same time diluted the audience, or maybe people were going to the D-Box show instead, or maybe more people were going to Arclight.
The trailers I remember were HP6, District 9, and Sherlock Holmes.
D-Box is a system for moving seats in sync with a movie, game, etc.
Thanks for the “Auntie Mame” ad, Ken. I’d read a description of it in one of the Oscar reference books, but had never actually seen it.
What’s a D-Box?
I think so also. It may go that direction if this Terminator booking is succesful.
I think Mann and Arclight should sort out some agreement – Films that open at the Chinese don’t play the Dome but can be at Arclight screens, films that Open at the Dome can’t play Chinese but can play Chinese 6. Win-win for the Studios – great exposure for a film to be on Hollywood Blvd. at the Graumann’s Chinese and Chinese 6 which will overflow with tourists on foot who might not make it to the Arclight. Great for the locals and industry people who would rather go to the Arclight and not deal with tourists.
That and I think Mann should install a few more D-Box seats in different auditoriums including the Grauman’s, that way as a film winds down they can still offer D-Box in a smaller auditorium.
If the numbers are decent for both Chinese and Arclight this weekend for Terminator, I am sure there will be consideration of bookings at the same time in the future. They are probably going to study the figures over the next couple of weeks. I still think Warner will let Harry Potter be booked at Arclight also. What is the next D BOX movie?
Here is a January 1959 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/p7lxy2
Maybe its like you pointed out earlier. Maybe it’s only because the Chinese 6 has D-Box and Arclight doesn’t.
I’m wondering if this may be a new booking patern (at least for blockbuster titles) to have Chinese and Arclight bookings at the same opening day. HARRY POTTER perhaps next?