What's the latest theatre to close or open you have heard about?

[Leo Enticknap]

The Filmhouse cinema, one of the leading independent cinemas in Scotland and the only independent arthouse in the capital, Edinburgh, closed earlier this month (6th October). The closure was due to the bankruptcy of the parent charity, the Centre for the Moving Image, which also runs another cinema in Aberdeen (the Belmont - also closed)

Very sorry to hear about the Filmhouse - I went there a couple of times in the '90s. I'm guessing that covid essentially did for its parent nonprofit. As for the Belmont, was that the 3-plex that the council originally owned, but never actually opened, and then City Screen took over in around 2000? I worked for them from 1996-2001, and in 1999 was sent on a site survey visit there. I can't remember if City Screen had actually taken over the place or was still thinking about it at that point. It struck me as weird and very likely not economically viable to run. All of the auditoria were pretty small (with the walls painted in regulation local government office not quite white/not quite cream!), but no expense had been spared in the booth - 70mm in all houses, Dolby, DTS, SDDS, 70mm mag, CP500s (then state of the art), the works. But I couldn't see the place as being viable for a mainstream/arthouse crossover (which was then City Screen's business model - don't know if it remained that way after the Cineworld takeover), with the main problem being the small capacity houses: even sellout shows seven days a week would have struggled to cover the likely operating costs. City Screen did eventually open that site, but I left the company very shortly afterwards. I wonder how long they ran it until it was handed over to that nonprofit.

[Allan Barnes]

Closed mid-November 2022 the STRAND CINEMA in Parry Sound, Ontario. Opened Christmas Day 1940. New owner hopes Reno opening as a 3 screen opening May 2023 for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 3 with new seats, projection and sound.

[J-sun Bailey]

The Colonial in Belfast Maine.

https://www.wabi.tv/2022/08/15/colon...new-ownership/

http://movietheatreforsale.com/

What are people's opinions, at the sale price of $1.3 Million, could someone or a non-profit make a real go at this, or is it a pie in the sky dream?

[J-sun Bailey]

The Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville Maibe just moved to its new location in the $18 million Paul J Schupf Arts Center.

https://www.centralmaine.com/2022/12...ens-to-public/

[Eric Thuemmel]

The Colonial in Belfast Maine.

https://www.wabi.tv/2022/08/15/colon...new-ownership/

http://movietheatreforsale.com/

What are people's opinions, at the sale price of $1.3 Million, could someone or a non-profit make a real go at this, or is it a pie in the sky dream?

Mike's been trying to sell his theater for some time, I hope someone takes it. He's done a lot of work with it.

If you ever get a chance to talk to him he's a wealth of info on movie theater operation!

[Buck Wilson]

Regal is closing a number of locations in the next week, the ones I’m aware of are the Hollywood Theaters Stadium 14(opened 2005) in Topeka KS, the Hollywood Theaters College Station 14(opened 2009) in Springfield MO, and the UA High Ridge in Albuquerque NM.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

another small town plex bites the dust...the wood river cinema 4 in hailey idaho has closed, unsure if it will be resurrected. it was originally opened by marshall smith of jackson hole wyoming. i think it was operated by regal the last few years. that leaves 4 screens open in ketchum idaho a few miles north. unsure of the actual close date but a friend let me know .

Good riddance to that place, there used to be a great Japanese restaurant where that building sits now. Rick will be happy and now he may have to re-open two more screens again as that area can easily support six screens. The Sun Valley Opera House is also closed. They were fast talked by Strong into installing a Sony projector. The thing probably died and the Holding kids are reluctant to re-equip the booth. Also, Marshall actually lives in Hailey but still has interest in a plex in Banff.

[Martin Brooks]

The Cinepolis Chelsea Cinema 9 on West 23rd Street in NYC is closing this Sunday 1/8/23. In originally opened in 1989 as a Cineplex-Odeon. In December of 1998, Clearview took it over, in June, 2013 Bow-Tie took over and it became a Cinepolis in July of 2016. It wasn't a great theater originally, although two screens were THX certified, but it was renovated in 2014 and was quite nice.
The closest theater is the AMC 34th Street (near 8th avenue). It's amazing to me that the Chelsea neighborhood could no longer support a movie theater.

My guess is that the building will be demolished and a new condo will be built instead.

[Bobby Henderson]

I remember when the Chelsea Cinemas theater first opened back in 1989. I was a college student at SVA back then. It seemed like it took them a few weeks longer to finish the theater than originally planned. IIRC, Lethal Weapon 2 was supposed to be one of the first big movies to help open the theater. But a 70mm print of that movie played a short walk farther West on 23rd street at the 23rd Street Triplex (which School of Visual Arts later remodeled into the SVA Theater). I watched Lethal Weapon 2 at the triplex theater within the first week or two of release. I can't remember if they later moved the print down the street to Chelsea Cinemas once it opened.

I didn't watch very many movies at the Chelsea Cinemas theater, even though it was fairly close to SVA's buildings in that part of Manhattan. More often I'd visit the Gramercy Theater farther East on 23rd Street. The Loews 19th Street six-plex opened during the same period.

[Leo Enticknap]

It hasn't actually closed, but is in serious danger of doing so - the Laemmle in Claremont, CA. From the San Bernardino Sun (my emphasis):

Laemmle calls off sale of Claremont 5 theater but needs more moviegoers

The Laemmle Claremont 5 movie theater may not fade to black after all.

The family-owned independent theater, an anchor in downtown Claremont, was in escrow to a buyer who proposed to shutter the theater and convert the property into a hotel, two restaurants and a rooftop lounge.

But in an ending worthy of a feel-good movie, the sale has been called off.

“It was a very long escrow,” Greg Laemmle, president of the eight-theater chain, tells me by phone. “There had already been one extension. We could not come to an agreement on terms for another extension.”

He adds of the theater: “It won’t be back on the market.”

If this were an old-time movie, Greg Laemmle would tear the contract in half in front of the assembled townfolk, who would cheer and throw their hats and parasols in the air. A character actor would crack a joke to release the tension. Music would swell. The credits would roll.

This being real life, the news may be more of a reprieve, not a guarantee.

The Claremont 5 remains threatened by weak ticket sales. Laemmle says he’ll give his easternmost theater one year to turn around.

I asked how much business needs to improve to be sustainable.

“We’re about half of where we need to be as far as revenue,” Laemmle says.

Business needs to double? Ulp.

Some of that increase will occur naturally as studios get back to a normal release schedule and as people feel more comfortable returning to theaters, Laemmle says. For its part, the chain will try to boost its marketing to get the word out.

Some moviegoers may have not realized the theater is operating again after a 14-month closure during the pandemic. Others may have written the theater off as a lost cause and moved on, Laemmle says ruefully.

To stay in business, he says, the Claremont 5 needs “a long-term solution.”

If you’re a movie lover, consider this a call to arms. Or to eyeballs.

In the meantime, this is better news than many of us expected.

The Laemmle family has operated theaters around L.A. County since 1938 that are generally dedicated to foreign, indie and arthouse movies. A recent documentary about the chain, “Only in Theaters,” tells the story, including how L.A. County’s shutdown of indoor theaters for 14 months during the pandemic nearly wiped the Laemmles out.

Theaters in Pasadena, West L.A. and North Hollywood were sold. Claremont’s was put up for sale.

Greg Laemmle came to one screening of “Only in Theaters” at the Claremont 5 in November, then fielded questions afterward from anxious moviegoers. “Is this theater going to close?” was the first.

Laemmle said he didn’t know. The sale wasn’t final, so all wasn’t lost, but he didn’t seem hopeful.

“The more people come, the more we’ll have the fortitude to say, ‘we’re going to stay,’” Laemmle said.

“Only in Theaters” is making a return visit to the theater at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. Laemmle will again be in attendance. Yours truly will host the Q&A.

“I wanted to give people another showing, share the news — and throw down the gauntlet,” Laemmle says. “There’s a level of business we need to do, and we’re not doing it. But I like to think it’s achievable.”

The theater has many fans, me among them. But attendance is often marginal.

As Laemmle puts it in our conversation, “It’s not enough to say ‘there should be a theater in Claremont.’ People should be supporting a theater in Claremont.”

I remind him of an anecdote he shared with me in 2008 on the first anniversary of the theater. A woman had urged him to show a certain specialty movie she wanted to see. He replied with good news: It was booked to play the following Tuesday through Thursday.

Her classic response: “That’s not convenient for me.”

The theater has settled upon a mix: a mainstream movie — currently “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” — in the main auditorium, with the four smaller theaters hosting a range of specialty films. Starting Friday, they are “The Whale,” “Corsage,” “Broker,” “A Man Called Otto” (starring Tom Hanks) and “Saint Omer.”

In recent weeks, friends who are regulars at the theater tell me worriedly that they’ve watched acclaimed movies like “EO” with audiences in the single digits.

On Tuesday night I went to see “Turn Every Page,” a documentary about biographer Robert Caro and his editor, Robert Gottlieb. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a “90% fresh” rating from critics and an audience rating of 100%. “What a pleasure it is to witness these two gentlemen at work, doing something they love,” wrote Leonard Maltin.

When I entered the small theater, every seat was empty.

During the coming attractions, a man entered, soon followed by his wife. And that’s how it stayed for the next 90 minutes: three of us in the theater.

If the Claremont 5 needs to double its ticket sales, well, getting six people instead of three people to see a movie does indeed seem achievable.

The movie was a treat, and all three of us laughed at various points. The audience rating of 100% held.

In the lobby afterward, David and Lisa Pion-Berlin told me they’ve been patrons virtually every week since the Claremont 5 opened. Like a lot of us, the Claremont couple used to drive 30 miles to the nearest Laemmle in Pasadena.

But they’ve worried about the theater’s future from the start.

“We’re lucky if we see three or four other people in the theater for any film. We’re always concerned about whether the theater will survive,” said David, 70, a political science professor at UC Riverside.

The younger generation doesn’t seem as interested in the collective experience of seeing movies in public, David lamented.

“It’s like we have our own private screening room. It’s cool,” David allowed, “but it’s sad at the same time.”

Lisa, 67, is president and CEO of Parents Anonymous, a nonprofit devoted to strengthening families. She said it’s important for people to get out of their homes and into the world.

“It’s really great it’s here,” Lisa said of the theater. “It’s a special jewel.”

What I find worrying is that this is an arthouse, not a mainstream 'plex, meaning that the widely held belief that the lack of decent movies coming out of Hollywood is to blame for poor movie theater attendance post-covid doesn't explain what is happening here. Claremont is a pretty affluent small city (by Inland Empire standards - it isn't a Fontana or a Colton), too. Doubling ticket sales over the next year is going to be a tall order.

[Stefan Scholz]

Doubling ticket sales, tough. Well, going from 3 tickets to 6 will not keep a theatre or complex open, simply not paying even utilities, despite wages.
THe recent "every housenhas to show it" Avatar II might work well for the studio blocking every large screen for 6 to 8 weeks. The figures I learnt over the last weeks, from "stunning 14 and 16 tickets" on the first 2 days of the opening weekend followed by "it's not X mas holidays yet, will improve next week", to higher ticket numbers sold, screening small arthouse films, at 28 tickets per day. Even that 28 figure is not economical to run a theatre in winter.
Service work a local 3 screen complex, made me find a woman and her daughter for an infant show at 3 pm, a single woman for the 5.30 evening show. And no pre sales for 8.
The problem is deeper.

[William Kucharski]

AMC Classic Solon 16, Solon, OH abruptly closed Monday, January 16, 2023:

https://www.clevescene.com/news/amc-...losed-41235448

[Ian Puffenberger]

A list of 39 Regal closures:

https://www.businessinsider.com/movi...neworld-2023-1

It's interesting to see so many bigger multiplexes on this list. It aligns with what I've been thinking would happen in the streaming world though: any theater with more than 10-12 screens that doesn't have recliners is probably in danger. Obviously there will be exceptions, and it will depend on the financial health of operators as well. But some of these are pretty high-profile locations. Regal Gallery Place in DC is on top of a small mall that's on top of a Metro entrance, right next to Capital One Arena (Capitals/Wizards/major concerts) and in a very busy downtown neighborhood, though a lot of restaurants around there closed during the pandemic. It might be a case of the lease just being too expensive. But there's only one other large multiplex in DC proper and it's in Georgetown and not Metro-accessible. Regal Stonefield in Charlottesville is another: that theater is less than ten years old and in a high-end shopping area with probably an expensive lease. But the only other theaters in town there are a seven-screen Alamo and a ten (tiny) - screen Violet Crown. Those both feel like cases where another exhibitor with a better balance sheet might pick up the lease, but others on this list won't be so lucky.

[Steve Guttag]

The P&G Essex 5 Cinemas in Tappahannock, VA has closed (at the end of 2022). Their phone line is now dead, FB page stops at the end of 2022 though there was one brief (now deleted) post about redeeming gift certificates on the first week of January 2023.

[Paul H. Rayton]

In the list from the link Ian Puffenberger sent (see above), one of the named cinemas to close is the "Sherman Oaks Galleria 16 (Los Angeles, CA)".
Wow -- that was a short honeymoon! It had been originally a Pacific Theaters venue, subsequently made in to one of their Arclight locations, and a hot spot for industry screenings of one kind and another, back in the day. Regal created at least one (IIRC) of their "large-format" RPX screens in there when they took over. I don't have the exact date handy that Regal re-opened it, post-pandemic, but it was probably about 2 years ago. So another ex-Arclight is probably permanently gone. And, amazingly (to me) the former Cinerama Dome/Hollywood Arclight plex still remains closed, although rumors continue to circulate that it might re-open sometime. If I live long enough!