Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What's the latest theatre to close or open you have heard about? (part 2)

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Topic: What's the latest theatre to close or open you have heard about? (part 2)

Mike Frese
Master Film Handler

Posts: 465
From: Holts Summit, MO
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 06-19-2013 09:55 AM

Looks like many leases are expiring the end of the month (2 closings listed here):

http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/ci_23481047/this-is-end-its-wrap-creekside-cinema-theater

This is the End: It's a wrap for Creekside Cinema as theater closes
By Carie Canterbury
canterburyc@canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted: 06/17/2013 08:49:48 PM MDT

The Creekside Cinema has gone out of business after conversion of the screens to digital proved cost prohibitive to the owners (Brandon Hopper / Daily Record)
"This Is the End."

Not only is that one of the final movies played Sunday at Creekside Cinema, it's a valid statement for the status of the theater.

The screens have gone dark at the theater, located at 127 Justice Center Rd., for good.

"It's really disheartening," said Linda Epperson, one of the owners of the family business Monday. "I was there earlier, and I couldn't stop crying; we tried really hard to keep it open for the community."

Epperson said the monthly lease for the theater is about $14,000 a month and with the cost to convert each screen to digital by September (about $65,000 per screen), they can't afford to keep the four-plex in business. She said the majority of ticket revenue goes directly to the movie industry, and concession revenue is what pays the staff, utilities and other expenses.

Epperson said when they moved into Creekside Mall in 2006, they knew the Four Mile Ranch was in the beginning stages, but when it didn't take off as planned, the lack of people living in the area hurt the businesses.

She said she and her family are grateful to their regular patrons, especially those who have spent their Friday nights at the theater regularly for years.

However, the owners are hoping to raise $65,000 through a kickstarter program to convert the Skyline Theater at 606 Main St. to digital before September. The cost includes the purchase of a digital projector, digital screen, digital sound system, lenses and bulbs, installation and training. Any additional funds raised will be to repair the historic neon sign, update the concession area and remodel the balcony in hopes to reopen it to the public.

The theater isn't simply asking for a handout — the kickstarter program allows people to pledge money toward the project, and they receive rewards in return.

"A $20 pledge gets you $25 worth of stuff," Epperson said. "How could you go wrong with that?"

Business packages also are available, which includes on-screen advertising.

If the money is not raised by the July 1 kickstart deadline, the owners will have to raise ticket prices, something they really don't want to have to do, Epperson said.

So far, the theater has raised about $8,115, or 12 percent, of the goal.

To make a pledge, visit http://kck.st/1276iv6. A fund also has been set up for Skyline Theater at High Country Bank, 150 N. Raynolds Ave.

For information on Creekside and Skyline theaters, visit http://bit.ly/11KVcNd" title="bit.ly">http://bit.ly/11KVcNd

http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2013/06/kenners_only_movie_theater_shu.html

Kenner's only movie theater shuts its doors in face of impending competition

The curtains have closed for good on Hollywood Cinemas 9 multiplex in Kenner. Faced with the impending opening of a new Grand Theatre location nearly within spitting distance of his box office, the theater's owner last week decided to accept the inevitable and to pull the plug on his operation once and for all. The move leaves Jefferson Parish's most populous city without a mainstream movie theater until the Grand opens later this year.

Hollywood Cinemas 9 owner Vishu Mandava abruptly closed his Kenner theater this week.

Once upon a time, local businessman Vishu Mandava, who has owned the independently operated Hollywood Cinemas 9 for 11 years, had hoped to renovate his theater and keep it running indefinitely. That renovation project, however, ran into trouble -- both political and financial -- in getting off the ground, and those plans were eventually scrapped.

That cleared the way for the locally operated Southern Theatres chain to go ahead with its plans to build a 14-screen, all-digital Grand Theatre nearby, between the Dillard's and Macy's department stores at The Esplanade shopping mall. Ground was broken on construction of the new standalone moviehouse late last September, and progress is moving apace. The new theater is expected to open for business late this summer or early fall.

Mandava had planned to shutter the Hollywood 9 eventually, but Friday's abrupt closure -- which was preceded by no official announcement, but which Mandava confirmed in an email exchange -- came sooner rather than many patrons expected. One local moviegoer said he went to the theater to catch the locally shot heist film "Now You See Me," only to see employees carrying supplies out of the darkened building.

For Mandava -- who offered words of gratitude to all the moviegoers who have patronized his business over the past 11 years -- the show will go on, although at a different site. He also runs the Hollywood 7 Cinemas in LaPlace, which he recently renovated with all new seats, a lobby makeover and the addition of digital, 3-D projection.

Mandava also owns and operates local Baskin-Robbins ice cream franchises.

According to the book "There's One in Your Neighborhood: The Lost Movie Theaters of New Orleans" -- written by Prytania Theatre operator and local movie-theater historian Rene Brunet, with fellow theater historian Jack Stewart -- the Hollywood Cinemas 9 opened its doors in 1989 as The Esplanade 9, covering 40,000 square feet and boasting 2,500 seats total. Built by General Cinema Theaters, it closed in fall 2000 when General Cinema filed for bankruptcy. Mandava and his family re-opened it in 2002.

When Kenner's new Grand Theatre opens, it will be the third local multiplex run by the New Orleans-based Southern Theaters. Owned by local businessman George Solomon, Southern also operates The Theatres at Canal Place and the Grand Theatre in Slidell, as well as the Grand Theatres and Amstar Cinemas in 18 other locations in nine states, accounting for 292 screens.