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Author Topic: "The Pianist" premiere blunder at Loews Century Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 12-10-2002 12:02 PM                     The extra high backed seats from the old #1 house, were used to reseat the Odeon in Westwood. When Cineplex took over and redid that house for their Westwood theatre.  |  IP: Logged Mathew Molloy Master Film Handler Posts: 357 From: The Santa Cruz Mountains Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-10-2002 12:13 PM                     Hey Bill, I work in Westwood and new to the area. Where was the Odeon located?  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 12-10-2002 12:23 PM                     It is now the Mann Festival. It started life as the UA Westwood in the latter 60's and was remodeled into the UA Egyptian Westwood in the 80's. CO was the only company willing to pay the HUGE increase in rent that the building owner was demanding when UA's lease expired($750,000 per year). Variety ran an article about how the theatre grossed no more than a million a year, including concessions, and mentioned that typically Westwood theatres payed 44 percent of the boxoffice in film rentals (Westwood being a "loss leader" for studios). CO was the only company willing to pay what was demanded. They knew it was a loss leader, but this helped break the clearance that Westwood theatres enjoyed over other theatres in a 10 mile area. CO did an extensive remodel, but eventually gave up the lease and Mann took over.  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 12-10-2002 12:38 PM                     Matthew, You might also be interested to know the Regent started life as Westwood's first art house when Laemmle opened it in the mid sixties. The building originally was a small grocery store (the now defunct Mann 4-plex, originally a triplex, was also a Safeway grocery store, and the Festival was originally part of a Ralph's supermarket. Laemmle opened the Plaza in 1967 with Barefoot in the Park. Woody Allen supposedly had in his contract that his films open at the Regent when possible (due to the huge business that Take the Money and run raked up, although SLEEPERS played the Bruin). It was not uncommon for this house to take in 60K a week (and when admission was much lower). Mann went behind Laemmle's back at lease renewal time and snatched up new leases for both theatres. Laemmle was publicly upset at the time. All contacts to the owners of the properies went unanswered. They weren't even given the chance to re-sign. Laemmle sort of got back at them, and did the same thing to grab he Fine Arts (Mann's only arthouse) away from them (at the time the Music Hall was a potential victim of a possible office complex). Of course, the Fine Arts got a new owner through Cecchi Gori, which hired AMC to operate it. Now Landmark runs it.  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 12-10-2002 12:49 PM                     Paul Did you know that Pacific Theatres use to book the Regent & Plaza for Laemmle. On the Fine Arts, Mann was not going to renew the lease. They were dropping single screen houses when their leases were up. At one point a new building was going to go up there. The only theatre Mann owns in Westwood is the National. The Village and Bruin are both leased.  |  IP: Logged Mathew Molloy Master Film Handler Posts: 357 From: The Santa Cruz Mountains Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-10-2002 02:53 PM                     The "now defunct Mann 4-Plex" will once again know life as grocery store, this time Whole Foods. Just hope it's a long time before The Regent has a produce aisle again - especially as Broxton Avenue is looking more and more like a ghost town.  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 12-10-2002 03:15 PM                     quote: Did you know that Pacific Theatres use to book the Regent & Plaza for Laemmle. I had forgotten that. Now that you reminded me, I also remember Pacific used to book the Blumenfeld Theatres in S.F., too.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-11-2002 07:19 PM                        OK, I admit I am not up on the lasted corporate take-overs and mergers, but isn't Loews-Cineplex-Odius now part of Sony Theatres? I seem to recall when Sony took over Loews, seems like the first thing they did was to pull down all the Loews signage within like the the first week after the announcement. Some of the industry people here in NY thought it lacked a bit of class, seeming so eager to remove the name of a chain that was such a historic and important part of exhibition in the US. Then came the embarassing sign on the Sony Lincoln Square complex. When the building scaffolding came down, it revieled the name "SONY THEATRE" in huge letters (the singular for a cinema of multiple theatres). The New York industry people weren't any too kind as they made this the butt of jokes for quite some time. Sony quickly added the S, but the damage was already done. Frank  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 12-11-2002 08:13 PM                     Frank Yes, Loew's/Cineplex/ Magic Johnson Theatres are part of SONY Theatres. But most of the SONY signage has returned to the Loew's original signage. They opened the State 4 plex in Times Square with SONY in neon, but that has been changed for the last few years. Same thing with the Astor Plaza.If you look in the newspaper you will see the theatre listings as 99% Loews Theatres not SONY. The garbled sound was they had a blown High Frequency Driver and no replacement. It happened when they repowered up the rack.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 12-11-2002 10:35 PM                        Isn't Sony completely divested of its Loews holdings?: http://www.loewscineplex.com/corpinfo/company_history.cfm http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/Subsidiaries/outside.html http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/2001-10-25/pdf/Results.pdf http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/2002-1-25/pdf/sony20020125.pdf  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 12-11-2002 10:52 PM                    I think they were already reverting to the venerable Loews name even before taking over Cineplex Odeon, let alone Sony losing its 49% stake when they went bankrupt.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 12-12-2002 03:10 AM                        John, and Steve are correct there is no such company as "SONY Theatres" anymore. The Company is now "Loews Cineplex Entertainment" and includes Loews Cineplex USA, Cineplex Odeon, Star Theatres, Magic Johnson Theatres, Cinemex Del Guzzo, Loews Cineplex International and I think that is it. The parent company is the ONEX Corp. out of Canada and Oak Tree Capital Management has a piece too.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 12-12-2002 09:27 AM                    Right but is all Sony Theatres identification gone from those venues that carried it, some built under the Sony name?  |  IP: Logged Martin Brooks Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 900 From: Forest Hills, NY, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 12-12-2002 09:58 AM                        My understandng is that when LCE was formed, management decided that the theatres should be named "Sony." But then some higher-up at Sony correctly decided that they shouldn't give up the goodwill of the "Loews" name, so at first they were going to change all the theatres back to Loews. Then they decided instead that if it was new construction that had an IMAX theatre in the complex, it would be a Sony, but everything else would be a Loews. But once they hit bankruptcy and I think even before the sale to ONEX was finalized, they changed even the Lincoln Square back to Loews. For a while, everytime I passed the Loews Tower East (72nd St & 3 Av), it seemed like they swtiched the signs from Loews to Sony and back. Plus they kept changing the name from the Tower East to the 72nd St East and back, but now they're listing it in the papers as "Loews Theatres 72nd Street East (formerly the Tower East)." Maybe if they didn't spend so much money on signage, they wouldn't have gone bankrupt.  |  IP: Logged

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