TCL Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
160 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1,351 - 1,375 of 1,676 comments
Superman was playing on Christmas day, according to the LA Times.
Well “Superman: The Movie” opened on Dec. 14th. 1978 in the main house.
Does anybody remember what movie was playing here on christmas of 1978?
The Chinese theatre complex is underutilized, since it doesn’t have enough seating capacity to show a major blockbuster like ‘The Dark Knight’ on at least 3 screens.
Click on the link below to see a 7 min video from The Michael Caine hand- and Foot-print ceremony on July 11, 2008 at the Graumans Forecourt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7L8AVLtYmA
this was already posted here last fall:
From “Los Angeles Business Journal” August 6, 2007:
Final bids were submitted for the purchase of the property beneath Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The theater itself isn’t part of the package until 2023, after the theater’s 99-year ground lease expires. Then the historic landmark will pass to the owner of the land. In the meantime, the winner of the bid will be able to collect rent from the Mann Theatres chain, which now owns the theater … . .
From “los Angeles Times,” September 3, 2007
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a Hollywood landmark that attracts millions of tourists each year to its outdoor courtyard where generations of movie stars left their hand and footprints, has been purchased by Hollywood’s largest commercial landlord … . .
… . . Mann Theatres has a long-term lease on the legendary venue for movie premieres and will continue to operate it as a film house. It was sold to CIM by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Center of New York and Barlow Respiratory Hospital of Los Angeles … .
so CIM owns the land and Mann still owns the building? (until 2023?)
INDIANA JONES moves over to Chinese 6 on Wednesday from Arclight.
It would be worse if Mann still had the twins next door to the main theatre, and was competing with Arclight. The problem with booking at Chinese 6 is that there are only 2 larger screens, I think because the Arclight has overall larger (and more) auditoriums it gets more bookings. The Chinese 6 really is designed for move-overs and is used alot for small film festivals, special screeings and rentals.
It used to be that Grauman’s would get the big Fox, Warner, and Paramount films while the Dome/Arclight would get Universal, Sony, Miramax, New Line, etc. Now it’s all screwed up. Is it Mann or the studios that are leaving Grauman’s with nothing big to show?
At the end of the day, Mann’s decision to build a 6 screen theatre to accompany the crown jewel of movie theatres worldwide was not a smart one. I still think that the complex’s lack of screenage makes it a less-attractive option for booking a nice array of titles.
On paper, SPEED RACER was a can’t miss and unfortunately flopped. GET SMART is considered a success and THE STRANGERS was a surprise hit. NARNIA like WALL-E are El Capitan and is a given. Granted Arclight has secured more films, everything you mentioned is virtually everything that Hollywood was offering. There is not alot being released currently. With Chinese’s 7, and Arclight’s 15 there is definately an over saturation of screens, and both screens almost always play films of more than one screen. August through December there are much more films being released.
I beg to differ, Brad. Arclight/The Dome’s 15 screens is a definite advantage. If you open a blockbuster at Grauman’s and on 2-3 other screens at Chinese 6, that means that the whole theatre is practically booked. On the other hand, that same blockbuster can open at The Dome and 2-3 other screens at Arclight and you’ve still got 12 screens available for product.
Let’s look at the last 4 films to play at Grauman’s Chinese: “Harold & Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay”, “Speed Racer”, “The Strangers” and “Get Smart”. Also opening during that same time period – but not at Grauman’s: “Iron Man”, “What Happens In Vegas”, “Narnia-Prince Caspian”, “Indy 4”, “Sex and the City”, “Kung Fu Panda”, “The Incredible Hulk”, “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan”, “The Love Guru”, “Wanted” and “Wall-E”…with “Hancock” coming up this week.
Every film on that list would need to run on 2-3 screens minimum on opening weekend. As I said, you execute that plan at Grauman’s/Chinese 6 and there’s no other room to fit anything else on the schedule. That’s not the studios' fault or even Arclight’s fault for that matter. That blame goes on Mann’s ownership who was obviously stuck in a 1980’s mindset when they foolishly thought that 6 screens was enough to support Grauman’s.
Grauman’s Chinese will not be tossed aside; it still has tremendous historical significance to Hollywood and Southern California.
The problem remains is unavailability of Studio Product. Over the past decade or so between May â€" July there is less Hollywood Product available. If you look at the release schedules during that time period each weekend seems to have ‘one’ major blockbuster and one or two counter programming titles; in short there is not a lot of films being released even though it seems so. Come August through the end of the year the releases increase. The only thing that could be done is to break the zoning rules and book at both Chinese and Arclight; recently Mann and Pacific have done that with Glendale, not sure how long this will last but it seems to be what was decided on. They could impose a rule that a film cannot play at the Dome or main Chinese simultaneously, other than that option it will remain like this.
“What exactly is Mann doing?”
From my vantage point, looks like Mann is preparing to exit from the game altogether. They just ain’t got the mojo anymore. Hate to say it, but the facts are obvious. Wasn’t the smartest move in the world building only 6 screens to operate alongside Grauman’s vs. the 14 that Pacific/Arclight built alongside Arclight Hollywood. And, later on, taking on the Bevely Center 13 to run 2nd runs at 1st run prices?
Mann is officially a shell of their former selves. Cross your fingers and hope that AMC picks them up – cause if Regal does, Grauman’s is gonna get carved up like a cheap Tombstone pizza!
Mark, the house was roughly 50%-60% full on a Saturday night.
We took about 11 members of my 600 member film club to see it. My assistant event organizer – not knowing that Grauman’s seats 1400 – erroneously told the folks to get their tickets online when they actually could have walked up to the ticket booth, bought them on the spot and saved themselves a buck.
Dark Knight is going to the Dome. So from the list of movies I gave above, only Get Smart and Hellboy 2 are going to find themselves at the Chinese. What exactly is Mann doing?
Chris, how was the crowd?
Saw “Get Smart” here on 6/21/08. Curtains did indeed close after the (STUPID!) Screenvision pre-show and open before the the trailers.
does anyone know what kind of, and how many subwoofers it has? The ‘vibrating air’ effect doesn’t seem as awesome as it used to be before they upgraded the sound system a few years ago.
Good News!!!I was at the Chinese a few weeks ago and the curtains closed and opened!!! Now lets get them to put some blue/red and green lights up hi when the film is running. The stereo Dolby Digital® JBL system for Speed Racer was the best bass I have ever heard. Not super loud but very deep. I felt the air move thru my hair. Now that is a super THX sound system at the main Chinese Theatre.
Just to clear up a few misconceptions I have seen on this site:
The celebrity impersonators outside the Grauman’s Chinese theatre have no affiliation with the theatre itself. They are not allowed on to the forecourt and must stay on the sidewalk at all times. People who want to complain about those impersonators needs to contact the Hollywood City of Commerce since Mann has nothing to do with them.
Management does not run the projection booth at Grauman’s or Chinese 6-plex. The theatre has a dedicated projection staff that are trained and certified. Union projectionists run all premieres, festivals, and other special screenings.
Grauman’s had a problem with dimmers in the auditorium this past winter/spring. It caused the Screenvision pre-show to run with the red stage lights on, on several shows. The theatre is now equipped with a new state of the art lighting system, that is still getting tweaked to this date. In addition to this, the staff is now getting trained in doing a curtain call between the pre-show and the trailers.
As far as digital projection: Grauman’s has a N.E.C. 2K digital projector and a Doremi server installed. Same equipment is in theatre 1, 2, 3. Screen #6 has a Christie 2K projector with a Dolby server with RealD 3D capabilities.
Segask.. you asked about the “new construction” just west of the Chinese Theater. It’s literally right next door and it’s a huge multi-million dollar project. It will be the brand new “Madame Tussauds” Wax Museum. It is being buit from scratch and a large crane is hauling large I-beams up around the site. I saw the artist conception of the building and it’s not much higher than the theater and doesn’t appear that it will overtake the height of it, but it will be quite grand and, of course, very modern in design. This museum will probably overtake the very dated “Hollywood Wax Museum” a couple of blocks away. It appears the frame of the building is in place, but they have a way to go as far as wall construction goes. Will be keeping an eye on this.
well six hours later I now see Arclight Hollywood preselling Wanted, Love Guru, Happening, and Hancock. Disney has been preselling WALL*E at the El Capitan for some time now.
I think the next film in Graumans auditorium will be Get Smart. Then, three weeks later maybe Hellboy II. Those were the two movie posters that were up in the Forecourt of the Stars, listed as their Next Attraction, when I was there a week ago.
Arclight is pre-sale tickets for The Happening, Love Guru, Get Smart, Wanted and Hancock for Sherman Oaks and not Hollywood. So perhaps the Chinese is going to start getting bookings. Yesterday they had pre-sale for The Happening at Arclight Hollywood, now that is gone. The only upcoming film pre-sale for Hollywood is The Incredible Hulk.
Boys & Girls … Could we please use this site to discuss the Chinese Theater, NOT your life history working at McDonald’s ???
As for movie discusssions, try IMDB we don’t need your critique
on movies here either…….
This site is for the theaters – Thank You