Nitehawk Cinema - Prospect Park

Please update, during the 2000 renovation when it was the Pavillion, it added 2 screens on the 3rd floor, the back balcony auditorium was undivided and they added a tiny screen on the main floor. According to the Dept of Buildings records and pictures I saw on Google and Yelp. The the seating capacity was Screen 1 255 (2nd Floor front balcony), Theatre 2 96, Theatre 3 82, Theatre 4 56 seats (addition to the building), Theatre 5 202 (Balcony screen where the wall was removed), Theatre 6 122, Theatre 7 90 (3rd Floor), Theatre 8 93 (3rd Floor) and Theatre 9 112 seats.

The seat count as the Nitehawk Park Slope: Main Floor Theatre 3 70 Theatre 5 56 Theatre 7 56

2nd Floor
Theatre 1 194
Theatre 2 166

3rd Floor
Theatre 4 60
Theatre 6 48

Theater 2 is a nice size. The rest are tiny.

Please update, it open on April 5, 1996 with 3 screens. Late in 1996, the other 3 screens open. By 1997, their were 4 screens downstairs and 3 screens upstairs. Note, theatre 3 had seats downstairs and upstairs. In late 1997, the Pavilion went to 7 screens, 4 downstairs and 3 upstairs. Sometime in 2000, it went to 9 screens with 1 built adjoining to the theatre and the other one on the top above the mezzanine screens. Don’t know exactly when it happen.

I visited the theatre twice in 1997 and haven’t been back until Nitehawk took control.

When it reopen as the nitehawk, 3 screens on the main floor, 2 on the 2nd floor (former balcony of the pavilion and the other 2 on the third floor.

Went once – what a waste of time. Theaters are so small, it’s like watching your large screen TV at home. – Well – back to the Loew’s Jersey 3200 seat Palace for some classic films on that huge screen! (wish the King’s in Brooklyn would show films from time to time)

Is there any original or recreated architectural detail in any of the auditoriums?

Theater just opened doors, lots of people in attendance. Theater 2 has great stadium seating, other theaters don’t but very large leg room everywhere. Masking in all auditoriums, seats are comfortable. They also put an old and dusty film projector on display in auditorium 2.

I agree with both of you that its a good thing its still a cinema showing movies. The other thing Im really not a fan of is the whole dine-in thing. Went to an AMC one once and that was it. AS I said Im old school, having been a projectionist now for 42 years. Im glad at least Im still called on to run 70MM once in a while.

Those 48, 56 and 70 seat auditoriums here are more like standard 96, 112 and 140 theaters because the seats here have extra space in between them for the tables and servers.

See this image for instance of a new auditorium here: http://www.rereleasenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/image4-1-300x200.jpg

BTW, four of the seven theaters here (1, 2, 4 and 6) are supposed to be have 35mm capability.

I don’t think we’ll see many new theaters with 600, 700 seat screens opening, as nice as those auditoriums are. Recliner seats and dine-in tables are taking over movie theaters. Possibly IMAX would be the only place for those kind of seat counts as they use non-reclining leather chairs for their new Laser locations.

Screen size however doesn’t necessarily suffer from lower seat count. When a 700 seat auditorium with old chairs gets converted to a 350 auditorium with recliners or dine-in tables, the screen still remains the same.

Also: this theater will be showing Mary Poppins Returns, Aquaman and Vice. Movies that Nitehawk in Williamsburg is not likely to get.

General Admission (Subject to Change) 7 theaters, totalling 650 seats Theater 1: 194 seats Theater 2: 166 seats Theater 3: 70 seats (lower level) Theater 4: 60 seats Theater 5: 56 (lower level) Theater 6: 48 Theater 7: 56 (lower level)

Text:

After a year-long delay of its original opening date, Nitehawk is finally ready to debut its new location inside Park Slope’s restored Pavilion Theater, across from Prospect Park.

A Facebook post on Nitehawk’s page revealed that the theater will hosts its grand opening on Wednesday, December 19, a date that PR reps for the company confirmed with Curbed. The official opening will be preceded by an invitation-only press preview on Tuesday, December 18.

Last November, Nitehawk founder Matthew Viragh told Curbed during a construction tour that various historic elements of the original theater had been discovered during the renovation phase. These included marble stairs underneath the carpeting, an exposed balcony, and ceiling panels.

Nighthawk wanted to preserve as many of these elements as possible and went back to the drawing board to incorporate them into the new multiplex, resulting in delays to its 2017, and later, its early 2018 anticipated opening dates.

Brooklyn’s second and larger Nitehawk will be opening here soon, according to the current issue of New York Magazine. There will be seven screens and a total of 650 seats, up from three screens and 186 at the first; a 2,500-square-foot kitchen, up from 750-sf. Also, a dedicated upstairs bar; a dumbwaiter to deliver food to the top floor for theater service; “Film Feasts,” wherein courses come out during the scene that inspired the food; more frequent live-music pre-cinema shows with local bands.

1954 photo as the Sanders added via Raymond Storey.

This was seen in today’s New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/nyregion/nitehawk-cinema-park-slope-brooklyn-pavilion.html