Loews State 4
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
17 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 177 comments
With the merger of AMC Theatres and Loews
New Yorkers will face more closings.
The State was already set to close this August before the merger with AMC.
The problem with AMC is they have a “goal†or a “plan” to operate ONLY multiplex cinemas.
AMC believes strongly that the day of smaller theatre less than 10 and a minimum of 8 screens is a thing of the past.
When AMC takes control look for the 72nd Street East Cinema to be one of the first to close.
AMC will likely not sell any theatres as they rather have them gutted so no one can use them, unless they want to basically rebuild them as AMC usually leaves just the shell.
AMC could sale any location they don’t want, however AMC is not big on selling locations to another company that could make that location a rival to AMC.
Typical Loews State, Don. There was one week about six months ago where all four screens were booked with Bollywood films.
Strange bookings…3 films from India and the animated film, Madagascar.
Kind of a weird booking at the State this weekened. They are the only Manhattan Theatre screening “Death of a Dynasty,” which opened today. It is playing in the boroughs and outside of NYC, but the State is the only the place where you can “DOAD” in Manhattan.
Hell, now that I look at it all the bookings this weekend are weird. The other two films are “Kaal” and “Waqt,” which I assume are Bollywood fare. They are still plugging away at the State booking those Indian films. I wonder how they are faring?
This doesn’t appear to be a chain-wide policy, since today’s (Friday) Boston Globe lists shows starting at 10:50 am at Loews Boston Common (the rough equivalent of your E-Walk), 10:55 am at Loews Fresh Pond in Cambridge, 11 am at Loews Assembly Square in Somerville, 10:20 am at Loews Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, and 10:55 am at Loews “The Loop” in Methuen.
Since Boston isn’t a 24-hour town, we’ve never had regularly scheduled post-11pm shows Sundays through Thursdays.
With summer coming this is an odd time to drop matinees?
Loews is altering, effective today, its showtime policy throughout its Manhattan theatres (and maybe with its sites across the country – that I cannot attest to). In Manhattan, the Loews State will offer matinees only on weekends (can’t imagine those 12:15 Tuesday afternoon showings of ‘Guess Who’ were attracting all that many stragglers), while at most of its other theatres, pre-12 noon and/or pre-1 pm shows are being dropped Monday through Friday, along with post-11 pm shows Sundays through Thursdays – most likely a bean counter-driven move in sum, and one which might be temporary or long-term; time will tell, I suppose…
Sic transit gloria theatrorum.
Uh, oh! Moviefone.com is now listing only evening showings, no matinees. That can’t be good.
It’s hard to believe, but when this basement theatre closes, that’s it! No more movie theatres on 7th Ave and B'way in Times Square!
When I was a kid, there were (not counting porn hoses)…
Rivoli
Trans-Lux West
Cinerama
Penthouse
Orleans
Forum 47th St.
Victoria
Astor
Criterion
Loew’s State
New Embassy 46th St.
DeMille
All gone, now.
The Times Square theatres which closed for business within 2-4 years prior to and after the Loews 42nd Street E-Walk Theatre and AMC Empire 25 arrived on the scene in November 1999 and April 2000, respectively:
Movieplex 42 – March 1996
Embassy 1 – late 1997
National Twin – early 1998
Embassy 2-3-4 (renamed Embassy 1-2-3 after the shuttering of the original Embassy 1) – December 1998
Criterion Center – April 2000
Loews Astor Plaza – August 2004
I think the State did booming business when it first opened and they wished they had even more screens. When the State/Virgin store opened the “new” Times Square was still in its infancy. I know Virgin exceeded its expectations.
What happened to the State is that the E-Walk opened and its 13 screens and there was also the 25-screen AMC ‘plex. I remember talking to a friend and wondering how they would fill 38 new screens with movies, in addition to existing cinemas in Times Square, the two Embassys, the Astor Plaza, the Criterion and The National, which I think was the first of these to close.
Loew’s cannibalized itself. It is no wonder that all the exhibitors ended up in Chapter 11. Loew’s had only been open for a few years before it was marginalized. No way will Loew’s get its money back.
I agree. Regal opened a stadium theater in Tampa the Hollywood 20 that lasted less than a year.
Nowhere near the record, Theatrefan. The since-demolished Movieplex 42 on 42nd between 7th and 8th stayed in business for 21 months, from June of 1994 through March of ‘96 while, in the Pittsburgh suburb of North Versailles, Pennsylvania, a 20-screen, all-stadium seating Loews theatre lasted 16 months, closing in February of '01 as part of Loews Cineplex’ bankruptcy reorganization, and having seen most of its business siphoned away by a nearby megaplex operated by rival chain Destinta.
I spoke with a former Loew’s State employee who now works at the Lincoln Square, she said the State will definitely be closing this summer, that is part of the reason she was transferred over to the Lincoln Square.
Times Square only remaing Loews Theatre will be the Ewalk on 42nd Street, which is one of their cash cows. When the State closes this summer it will only have been open to show movies for nine years, is that some sort of record for the shortest time a theatre was in operation?
The State’s opening was trumpeted at the time in several newspaper ads, all carrying the slogan ‘There’s a new State in Times Square’.
This was the Sony State when it first opened in May of ‘96. The marquee wasn’t added, if memory serves, until not long before the theatre opened.
The address of the Loew’s State Theatre 4 is: 1540 Broadway, New York, NY. 10036
Sad to say but I think the hadwriting is on the wall for this theatre too.
I have been to the State many times, and most recently (Oct. 2004) to see the Grudge, for which I paid a full price ticket of $10.25. So much for the discount house… I saw King Arthur there for half price in the summer. I have never seen any signage for the theatre—it’s impossible to see it if it exists! I just know it’s there, but I don’t know how anyone else would ever find it.
I have been to the State many times, and most recently (Oct. 2004) to see the Grudge, for which I paid a full price ticket of $10.25. So much for the discount house… I saw King Arthur there for half price in the summer. I have never seen any signage for the theatre—it’s impossible to see it if it exists! I just know it’s there, but I don’t know how anyone else would ever find it.
Speaking of the LED marquees, I walked by Chelsea East today and theirs was totally screwed up, you could barely make out some of the titles. This is Clearviews top money making house in Manhattan, you think they would pay more attention to it.
Loews really should have put in the same type of marquee that the Ewalk, and 84th Street have to let patrons know what’s playing downstairs in the four cinemas. The State used to have a small type LED rolling one, but it was very hard to read and make out and often incorrect at times.
I agree Robert about the marquee. When they took the neon one I was hoping that’s what they were doing.
Someone mentioned earlier that they may just be playing things that they were going to day and date with the Astor Plaza and E-walk. They need to get a more conventional marquee up there, even a flat one against the building.
Thanks theater fan. I am hoping this change in policy back to a first run house puts the State back in action.