Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Last Picture Show

This is topic The Last Picture Show - Times Square in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 02-01-2006, 09:59 AM:

The Last Theatre in Times Square shuttered down on Friday last week. Story is in the www.NYPost.com under entertainment. It is a sad day for the people of New York who have worked in this industry to watch, as the industry as we knew it is disappearing.

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW

By LOU LUMENICK

February 1, 2006 -- AN era has ended with the closing of Loews State, the last movie theater operating in Times Square, once the nation's premier moviegoing dis trict.
The State — a modest four-screen multiplex tucked into a sub-basement of the Virgin Megastore on Broadway at 45th Street — was the final holdout in an area that once housed more than a dozen movie palaces along Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 47th streets.

The theater's quiet closing last Friday coincided with the purchase of Loews by AMC, America's second-largest movie chain.

Bill, It was also the last theatre in Times Square. Do you remember the Original Loews State? The Forum, The DeMille, The Embassey, The Victoria, The Forum, The Rialto, The Circus, The Astor, The Criterion, The Trans-Ux, The Pusseycat, The Rivoli, The Capitol.

[ 02-01-2006, 02:26 PM: Message edited by: Bob Maar ]

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 02-01-2006, 01:23 PM:

Loews really put no money into the theatre, other than redoing the street level signage. When it opened it was first run, when their E-Walk 13 was being built. Then it became a move-over house then budget ($4.95) then back to move-over/extra area screen plus running Bollywood films on some of it's screens. It was the worst projection in the city.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-01-2006, 06:54 PM:

When I lived in New York I visited the Loews Astor Plaza, the UA Criterion Theater and Cineplex Odeon National Twin theaters in Times Square on a fairly regular basis (with the huge Astor Plaza theater getting more of the business).

Kind of sad all those places are gone. But then there's little room for a megaplex right in the middle of Times Square. If I remember correctly, AMC had all kinds of challenges to build the Empire 25 nearby on 42nd Street. Of course, the megaplex experience has sadly made great single screeners largely irrelevant for most movie presentation duties. Only the shi shi black tie premiere events seem to prefer the classic single screen palace experience.

Again, I would much rather watch a movie in a well equipped 1000+ seat movie theater than watch the same film in a room with less than 150 seats, even if that multiplex had 20 or more of those rooms. I'm not impressed by how many screens are under one roof. I can only watch one movie at a time on a single movie screen.