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Topic: What's the latest theatre to close or open you have heard about? (part 2)
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 09-03-2017 09:57 PM
Not so much an opening or a closing, but the geographically closest movie theater to me has just changed hands:
quote: Redlands Daily Facts
Krikorian team members expected to stay on with new owner
Studio Movie Grill is moving forward with plans to create a full-service movie going experience at its newly acquired Redlands location.
Effective Friday, Sept. 1, the Dallas-based company took over the operations at the formerly named Krikorian Redlands Cinema 14, and some of the previous team members will still be on board.
“The employees by in large were invited on,” said Peter Lehman, the theater’s longtime general manager. “Our customers will still see the same friendly faces everyone is used to seeing here, that is true.”
The recent purchase of the Eureka Street-based theater is part of Studio Movie Grill’s expansion plans targeting Southern California. The company also purchased Krikorian theaters in Monrovia and Downey which, too, will undergo a rebranding.
Krikorian announced the news on its Facebook page on Friday.
“It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our Redlands, Monrovia and Downey communities,” the post reads. “We are so grateful to all of you that have supported us in these communities for so many years and can’t thank you enough for letting us be a part of your lives.”
Krikorian plans to continue to operate at its remaining locations, and to Lehman’s knowledge, the group’s plans to open a Menifee location is still in the works. The state’s largest indoor screen is proposed for that location. At 100 feet by 54 feet, it would top the 80-foot screen at the Harkins Mountain Grove 16 in Redlands.
Lynne McQuaker, senior director of public relations and community outreach for Studio Movie Grill, said the company is committed to keeping the Redlands theater’s story alive as it journeys into a new chapter.
“We are committed to preserving the culture of the theater and its historical relevance,” she said. “We intend to keep the integrity of the theater.”
There are plans to begin a remodeling effort in the new year to bring on SMG’s signature amenities — including an “American Grill”-style menu and bar, plus in-theater service — and McQuaker is aware a downstairs restroom is “very much desired.”
A timeline for renovations was not immediately available.
The refurb is sorely needed: step into the lobby and it's like having jumped back in time to the 1980s. The opening of a new Harkins at a megamall about two miles away last year effectively forced the issue. Ticket prices are roughly the same, but the every aspect of the Harkins is vastly superior to the Krikorian in its present form: parking availability, concessions, seating, pix and sound, you name it. Krikorian either had to invest heavily in that site, or pull out of it. It looks like they chose the latter.
The other significant aspect to this is that Studio Movie Grill must be pretty convinced that the Redlands Passenger Rail project is never going to happen. If it does, the site on which the theatre currently stands is slated to become a railroad maintenance depot, which is probably a big part of the reason why Krikorian made no serious investment in the place (apart from the 35mm to digital conversion) for many years. Frankly, I think SMG are right: the initiative to reopen the railroad has been going on for almost three decades, with no sign of it progressing beyond committee meetings and feasibility studies.
It'll be interesting to see what SMG does to the place. My wife and I have been going to the Harkins since it opened, because it's such a nicer theater; but it is a longer drive and the queues there can be bad. The now ex-Krikorian is only 4-5 minutes away, so it's good to hear that it isn't going to be closed and bulldozed.
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Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008
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posted 09-13-2017 05:53 PM
for posterity sake and I don't see the Smithsonian changing their mind at the last minute in keeping this open after Oct. 2nd.
Here's what director Greg MacGillivray, the leading producer and distributor of giant-screen movies stated and took a stand against what the Smithsonian was demolitioning the intent (and legacy) that Samuel C. Johnson envisioned in this theater's purpose to educate museum goers with larger than life IMAX movies:
"In an increasingly noisy and distracted world, it is often hard to capture people’s attention for more than a few minutes. A casualty of our distracted age is our broken connection with the natural world and all its wonders.
And yet, it is technology that helps bridge that gap through the power of film. Not just any film — Imax film, in all its sweeping 70-millimeter grandeur. One Imax screen in particular now needs to be protected from demolition.
Unless something changes, on Oct. 1, the iconic Samuel C. Johnson Imax Theater at the National Museum of Natural History will go dark. The Smithsonian Institution is tearing it down to make way for an expanded cafeteria. I have tremendous respect for the Smithsonian, but this decision of fast food over documentary nature films is a disservice to the public and to the educational mission of this 171-year-old institution.
This theater is the country’s premier venue for those without the luxury and means to travel the world to experience the grandeur of nature. It is the only theater in the nation’s capital dedicated to showing Imax films about nature, from the depths of the oceans to the harshest deserts, from the top of Mount Everest to the lush Amazon rain forests.
I know a bit about the power of Imax films. I had the honor of producing “To Fly,” the 1976 Imax film that introduced an entire generation of moviegoers to the six-story screens of this incredible, large-as-life format. Since then, I’ve produced some three dozen documentary nature films in Imax, including “The Living Sea,” “Everest” and “National Parks Adventure.” My company’s body of work has grossed more than $1 billion in box-office sales around the world, about 80 percent of which goes to the museums and science centers where these films play. I have shot more Imax 70-millimeter film than any cinematographer in history.
Before the wrecking balls start swinging, I urge the museum and its supporters to think about what we are about to lose.
The Johnson Imax Theater sees hundreds of thousands of people through its doors every year, tens of thousands of them schoolchildren with discounted tickets. They come to the museum, run past the massive elephant in the foyer on their way to other exhibits, stop by the giant squid for a brief moment to gasp in wonder and walk through the skeletons of dinosaurs. These are memorable but brief experiences.
And then they go to the Imax theater. Here, for 45 minutes, they are immersed in a single topic. They fly above Yellowstone, explore the singular beauty of our world, and meet scientists and explorers who are driven by the need to explain it. Do we really think cheeseburgers and fries are more important to the mission of one of the most iconic museums in the United States?
I don’t. Our world has so many challenges facing it right now. Climate change that will force populations to move in record numbers. Dwindling natural resources for the 7.5 billion people on our planet, double the population when I picked up my first camera to shoot black-and-white surfing films in California 50 years ago.
Our children are the ones who will be faced with solving the most complex problems in human history. If they are to do that, they need to be inspired by what they are fighting to save.
The Smithsonian is the standard by which other museums are measured. The educational and behavioral power of Smithsonian exhibits is magnified by the Imax experience. These films evoke change in those who see them. Food court revenue may be attractive on paper, but the true cost appears to be lost in the equation. Are the exhibits valued for the revenue generated or for the value they bring to the public? The Imax experience creates value and revenue. These films inspire change, create wonder and encourage children to pursue science careers, care for our world and expand their minds.
The Smithsonian should open the discussion to a public dialogue. There has to be a better way to increase space for concessions at the museum without losing this powerful tool for learning and moving hearts and minds." (Washington Post, September 8, 2017)
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Paul Goulet
Master Film Handler
Posts: 347
From: Rhode Island
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 09-16-2017 09:51 AM
http://www.recorder.com/Cinema-planned-for-North-Quabbin-Commons-8279879
ATHOL — The magic of the movies will be celebrated at the 89th Academy Awards in Hollywood on Sunday, but the North Quabbin area has reason to cheer, too, with the announcement that an eight-screen cinema is slated to open by this time next year.
The North Quabbin Commons hosts Market Basket and a handful of other businesses and is poised to welcome the theater with state-of-the-art digital presentation, with digital sound and 3-D, according to Steve Cucinatti, a leasing representative for RMD Inc., the property management company that handles the leasing for DeMoulas Super Markets Inc., which owns the shopping center.
“We think it’s a great draw for the region and complement to the center,” Cucinatti said.
Cucinatti said the 19,000-square-foot theater will be owned by Belmont Capital, a private operator that runs theaters throughout New England. Attempts to contact Mark Benvenuto, president of Belmont Capital’s theater division, were unsuccessful Friday.
Cucinatti said the pending theater construction and the development of a medical care building are part of the North Quabbin Commons project’s second phase, which aims to establish 136,000 square feet of retail and entertainment in the center. He said RMD is still searching for a restaurant interested in moving in.
Cucinatti said he does not yet know how much the theater project will cost.
Medical building
He also declined to disclose the cost of the medical care building. Work on it has started and it will be leased by Heywood Healthcare, which operates Heywood Hospital, Athol Hospital, Heywood Medical Group and The Quabbin Retreat.
Cucinatti said the facility will host Tully Family Medicine and Heywood Urgent Care. Michael Grimmer, the chief operating officer at Athol Hospital and vice president of service support at Heywood Hospital, said the 7,600-square-foot facility at 81 Reservoir Drive will likely support Dr. Elizabeth Nottleson and three advanced practitioners. He said Nottleson has worked in Phillipston for years and has outgrown her space there.
Grimmer said Heywood has been working on this project for “the better part of a year” and he hopes the building will open in August. He also said there is a similar practice that opened in Gardner in January 2016.
“We had an overwhelming response to it and there was obviously a need,” he said. “The first day we had 20 patients, which is almost unheard of.”
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Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002
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posted 09-22-2017 07:20 PM
Following up on my Landmark and Roxy post above:
Some of the screens at the Landmark are incredibly small. The seat counts (including wheelchair companion seats, but not including wheelchair seats) are: 25, 34, 48, 75, 164, 171, 19 and 22. Personally, I think those low seat counts are absurd. Why didn't they combine those screens together - right now they're' only playing 3 different movies across the 8 screens anyway.
And the 99-seat Roxy has indeed reopened.
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Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008
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posted 09-29-2017 06:41 PM
some more juicy tidbits of how Smithsonian sabotaged it's own theater and decided to close it on very few (mis) facts and attendance tix sale manipulation numbers:
"Smithsonian wants to grill more hot dogs. Congress should grill the Smithsonian." (The Hill - BY TARAN DAVIES AND JONATHAN BARKER)
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The first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Joseph Henry, once noted that “narrow minds think nothing of importance but their own favorite pursuit.” More than 150 years later, that advice is unheeded at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and Congress needs to step in.
The museum is pursuing headlong its plan to tear down the Samuel C. Johnson IMAX Theater, the nation’s premiere venue for showcasing films about the natural world. In its place, the museum’s leadership has a grand vision of an utterly unscientific pursuit—that of expanding its cafeteria in order to make more money selling fast food to visitors, including the millions of school children it hosts each year.
This represents a troubling detour from the scientific and educational mission of the Smithsonian, which receives 70 percent of its funding from taxpayers. The giant screen films shown on the Johnson IMAX theater’s six-story screen immerse audiences in the wonders of the natural world, enriching the museum going experience and inspiring children to learn about natural history in a way that cannot otherwise be provided.
Thousands of scientists, teachers and ordinary citizens have voiced their displeasure with the Smithsonian through an online petition, on Facebook, and with letters to the museum. The museum’s director, Dr. Kirk Johnson, has ignored these calls, planning to close the theater on Sept. 30 so that demolition may begin. That the Smithsonian would swing a wrecking ball at this educational powerhouse in order to sell more hot dogs and pizza is mystifying. No one visits a museum for its culinary fare, and there are clearly other ways to expand the cafeteria without destroying a pillar of the Smithsonian’s educational programming.
Even more disturbing is that the Smithsonian simply doesn’t know if any of this makes financial sense. These are scientists, not financial experts, who are embarking on a project that has the potential to come back to the American public asking for a bailout.
We’ve heard the false and oft-repeated assertion by the museum that the theater is a “losing proposition” and that attendance has dropped off “dramatically.” But the truth is that attendance has grown over the past three years, from approximately 265,000 tickets sold in 2014 to 310,000 last year.
This growth has been in spite of the museum’s surprising attempts to sabotage attendance, which it did by drastically reducing the signage and promotion of the theater and its films from the main rotunda, making it nearly impossible for visitors to include a film in their visit without knowing in advance that the theater exists. In short, the museum made a decision to cut the theater off at the knees, and then claim that attendance was going down. This despite the museum director stating recently that he continues “to make our visitors aware of the theater and its offerings online and onsite”.
After failing to manage the most important venue for natural history films in the world, the museum’s leadership wants us to believe that they will somehow be better restauranteurs.
The museum has claimed publicly that demolition and construction of the cafeteria will cost $16 million, despite not having issued any request for proposal (RFP) to construction companies or furnishing any engineering plans. We’ve asked, repeatedly, and been met with obfuscating silence. And that’s where Congress comes in.
The largely taxpayer-funded Smithsonian is overseen by Congress. Congressional leaders sit on its illustrious Board of Regents. To date, there has been not a peep of inquiry about the costs and financial viability of this massive undertaking, nor any serious questioning of the claims that the theater is a losing proposition. Whether or not elected leaders enjoy soaring over mountaintops or diving into the deep blue sea in IMAX grandeur, surely they take seriously their commitment to our children’s education and their fiscal responsibility to ensure that that taxpayer money is not squandered on an ill-planned restaurant.
The Smithsonian is about to take on millions in construction debt while destroying one of the most successful educational theaters in the country, and taxpayers must not be the ones left holding the bag when hot dog sales are down at the new cafeteria. Furthermore, there remains the important—and unanswered—question of how the original construction bond for the construction of the theater will be paid off, especially when the institution is going to incur major new capital costs.
All of this could be dealt with in a simple way: Congress needs to start asking questions and demand answers from the Smithsonian in order to protect the public from losing one of the gems of its natural history programming and having to pick up the tab for this poorly planned, opaque, vanity project spearheaded by “narrow minds blindly obsessed with their own pursuits.”
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