Directors Village

Located in Westwood Village, a purpose-built retail, leisure and residential development which was constructed in 1929. The Fox Village Theatre opened on August 14, 1931 with Marie Dressler in “Politics”. It is designed in a Spanish Mission style decoration (similar to the Carthay Circle Theatre, Fox Arlington Theatre, Fox Florence Theatre). It was built for the Janns Corporation and was later taken over by Fox West Coast Theatres chain. A feature of the building is the huge ‘wedding cake’ tower which is still virtually unchanged today, and still sports its original neon lighting. Seating in the auditorium was provided for 1,489 in orchestra and balcony levels. The backstage areas, including dressing rooms and storage areas were bricked off in the 1940’s after ‘damage’ although what kind of damage is not stated in any current sources.

The Village Theatre was remodeled and reopened on October 18, 1951, increasing the seating capacity to 1,535, and given a ‘Skouras’ look when plaster gold swirls were added to the side-walls near the stage area, along with upgrades for the exits, lobby and new seats and carpet were also added. Also at this time the California Gold Rush artwork in the lobby was added. (You can see the same artwork in a few other Fox houses in Southern California like El Portal Theatre (North Hollywood), California Theatre (Huntington Park).) The artwork near the restrooms, was also added during the renovations. Before that remodel there was a small patio outside, but this was bricked over and the artwork covers this area now. The Village Theatre stayed the same until the late-1970’s (except for the new CinemaScope equipment in the 1950’s).

For “The Deer Hunter” engagement, the Village Theatre got new 70mm projection equipment, a new larger screen, and a new main title waterfall curtain. The old screen was half as tall as it is today. The theatre also got a new, less flattering carpet in the early-1980’s.

Fortunately, the “Fox” tower sign was refurbished in the late-1980’s.

The last remodel was around 1998-99, when the Village Theatre got new seats and carpet, and now seats 1,341 people.

After more than 70 years as a first run movie palace, the Village Theatre is still one of the sites for Hollywood’s biggest movie premieres.

Regency Theatres replaced Mann Theatres as the movie operator on April 1, 2010. On July 21, 2024 it was announced that the Regency Village Theatre would close on July 25, 2024, together with the Regency Bruin Theatre across the road.

It was announced on November 20, 2025 that the theatre would undergo a restoration and plans to reopened in 2027, operated by American Cinematheque. It came back to life on July 11, 2026 when the theatre became known as the Directors Village taking part in the Ultra Cinematheque 70mm Festival 2026 (together with their Aero Theatre). “Dunkirk in 70mm” was the first movie screened in the Directors Village, others to follow were “Lawrence of Arabia” in 70mm, “Interstellar” in 70mm, “2001: A Space Odyssey” in 70mm. To be followed by a 3-weeks engagement from July 17, 2026 screening Matt Damon in “The Odyssey” in 70mm.

Recent comments (view all 491 comments)

m00se1111 on February 12, 2024 at 4:17 am

Article about Reitman’s involvement from the SF Chronicle

https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/whats-going-on-with-fox-village-theatre-westwood-18644666.php

Larry Wilson on February 21, 2024 at 10:03 pm

Reitman’s group got it. At least a dozen other directors threw in with him too. I saw Christopher Nolan, J. J. Abrams, Chloe Zhao, Rian Johnson, Spielberg, and James Gunn. Guess Quentin Tarantino isn’t the only director to own a theatre or two…

Trolleyguy on February 22, 2024 at 7:27 am

Here’s the Reitman story

c on February 27, 2024 at 8:23 am

Mike Shaw was the projectionist at the Village Theater from 1973 to 1996. Mike was the projectionist for the premiere of JFK. Oliver Stone hid out in the projection booth to escape the press in the theater lobby. The last hard ticket movie was “The Deer Hunter”. Mike was the projectionist for many world premieres. Mike was the projectionist for Streisand’s “A Star is Born”. Streisand came to the theater after hours to test the sound quality before the premiere on 12/18/76. Move forward to 1983.Once again Streisand came to the theater before the premiere of “Yentel”, Streisand remembered Mike from “A Star is Born”. The idiot who became Mikes boss was in charge of the AC equipment, etc for Mann Theaters. Idiots kid brother in law wanted Mikes Job. The kid was in his 20’s, too immature for the job. Mike was fired. Mike sued for age discrimination, Mike won the case, AC idiot was fired a day after Mike won his lawsuit. All this was related by Ned Fairburn, the projectionist at the Bruin theater. The kid did not last long as the projectionist at the Village. Mike Shaw passed away in Nov 2000. Mike died from the stress of being fired by the AC idiot. The kids sister divorced the AC idiot. Now that the Theater has been sold, a better class of people will be managing the theater. The Skouras family owns the land that the Village theater sits on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyros_Skouras

BigScreen_com on July 22, 2024 at 11:50 am

The Village and the Bruin are closing July 25, 2024:

Westwood, CA: Regency Bruin and Westwood Village Theaters Closing Thursday [Jul 22, 2024]

rivest266 on December 21, 2024 at 3:39 pm

Closing article from LA Times:

Bruin and Village theatres closings in Westwood. 23 Jul 2024, Tue The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com

Mikeoaklandpark on December 22, 2024 at 1:18 pm

I was hoping another chain would take them over

spectrum on May 29, 2025 at 11:31 am

Link to a guide to Westwood’s historic theatres, including the Village:

https://westsidelosangeles.com/visitor-guide-westwood-historic-cinemas.php

m00se1111 on November 20, 2025 at 11:40 am

Westwood slated for a 2027 re-opening and will be programmed by American Cinematheque

https://www.recorderonline.com/features/entertainment_news/westwoods-village-theater-to-be-run-by-american-cinematheque-upon-2027-reopening/article_2a23d5db-ff87-5457-a8f9-45b9c877d90b.html

Ken Roe on June 24, 2026 at 2:48 pm

Reopening as the Directors Village on July 11, 2026 with the Ultra Cinematheque 70mm Festival 2026. See the introduction for more details.