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Closings
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January 17, 2008
Chelsea West to close
NEW YORK, NY — The Chelsea West is to close for good February 10, 2008, so I am told.
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December 27, 2007
Kingman’s only theater closes
KINGMAN, AZ — The Movies, a fourplex that showed first run films at bargain prices, closed just before Christmas, leaving Kingman without a single operating movie theater. The theater was nothing fancy, possibly an old two theater complex that was turned into a fourplex years ago. The seats were cramped, the sound was iffy, but despite all this the theater was very popular ($2 matinees). Apparently their lease was up and it was not renewed.
For more check out the story in the Kingman Daily Miner.
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December 12, 2007
Edgewater Cinema 10 closes
PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL — This theatre has closed for good; according to locals, it showed its final films this past summer, a victim of the competition provided by the new Grand Theatre 16, which features stadium seating at slightly cheaper prices.
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November 20, 2007
Carmike to close Cinema 5
STATE COLLEGE, PA — Another representative of the quickly disappearing post single-screen era, the Cinema 5, is set to close.
The only Carmike Cinema remaining in the borough is expected to close its doors within months.
Building owner Sid Friedman plans to convert Cinema 5, a five-screen operation at 116 Hiester St., into a five-tenant commercial and retail complex, according to plans submitted to the borough.
A cinema has occupied the downtown site for more than three decades. If it were to remain in business, the Fraser Centre complex planned for the 100 block of South Fraser Street would introduce substantial new competition.
Read more in the Centre Daily.
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November 2, 2007
NuWilshire to close next week
SANTA MONICA, CA — The NuWilshire Theatre, rumored to be closing for months, looks like it finally shut its doors next Thursday. Supposedly, it is not Landmark, its operator, that wants to do this but its owner, who plans to convert the site to retail.
Another theater is going dark. Landmark is leaving the NuWilshire in Santa Monica, though it seems the chain wanted to stay but was kicked out by an owner intent on developing the site.
Read more at L.A. Observed.
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October 29, 2007
Popular Bohm Theaatre closes
ALBION, MI — The historic 1929 Bohm Theatre closed this week after a supposedly successful period in which it was owned and operated by Albion College. Locals and students from the school (who could attend for free) alike visited regularly so no one saw the closure coming.
Albion’s historic Bohm Theatre closed its doors Monday, and local officials said they had no idea the closure was coming.
Sue Marcos, president of the Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce, said the news came as a surprise. She first heard about the closure on Monday.
“We are very disappointed that it closed,” Marcos said. “It was a great theater, very reasonably priced and used by many people in the community.”
Read the full article in the Battle Creek Enquirer.
Such a shame. Like me, after discovering this article, you probably thought some megaplex on the outskirts of town came in and killed this theatre. Not even close. The 10,000 citizens of this town are most likely traveling 20 miles to Jackson or almost 30 to Battle Creek to go to the movies instead of attending their neighborhood theater!
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October 17, 2007
Cinema 10 closing set for October 21
FLINT, MI—The Cinema 10 will close on Sunday, October 21. The closing was previously announced last August, but the closing date wasn’t announced until now. As with the co-owned and now closed Showcase Cinema Flint East, the closing is because operation of this multiplex is no longer viable. National Amusements, which leased this theater, will make “every effort” to relocate the Cinema 10’s 30 employees to National Amusements' other theaters.
Details can be found in the Flint Journal.
National Amusements' cutbacks in Michigan are the subject of the latest Flinn’s Journal from this writer.
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October 16, 2007
Northampton theater to close
NORTHAMPTON, MA — The Pleasant Street Theater is slated to close soon as the new owner has no intentions to maintain its business.
The Pleasant Street Theater, Northampton’s last remaining venue for first-run movies, will show its last film sometime within the next two months and close its doors, its owner said today.
Robert Lawton, who owns the business with his wife Julie, said he is in the process of selling the building at 27 Pleasant Street that houses two small theaters. Lawton declined to say who is buying the building but said the new owner does not intend to get into the movie business.
“He would be happy to have a movie theater there, but he doesn’t want to run it himself,” Lawton said.
For more info, go to the Republican.
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October 5, 2007
Lincoln Village 1-6 to close
CHICAGO, IL — In a move that perhaps surprises no one, Village Entertainment’s Lincoln Village 1-6 will close soon, possibly as early as this week.
It was the only cinema remaining in West Rogers Park.
The theater is closing, according to Village CEO Ron Rooding because of a lease dispute over the parking lot, which is owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Last March, the district prohibited theater patrons from parking in the by installing concrete barricades in the parking lot between the theater building and the Chicago River. The barricades also blocked access to the Lincoln Village Car Wash, which will also close.
“Without parking, I can’t sustain my business,” Rooding said. Theatre patrons were also prohibited from parking in the lot of the adjacent Lincoln Village Shopping Plaza and were instead directed to park their cars in the Home Depot lot across the street.
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September 24, 2007
Dupont Circle 5 to close in Jan ‘08
WASHINGTON, DC — According to a report in the Washington Post, the AMC Dupont Circle 5, a 5 screen 725 seat miniplex, will officially close by the end of January ‘08. It was the last surviving theater in that area after the closings of area theaters such as the Janus, single screen Dupont and Embassy. Its replacement will be an undisclosed retailer.
The last movie theater standing in Dupont Circle, a neighborhood once known for its small, funky, foreign and art-house film offerings, will close in January after struggling to compete with the area’s bigger and newer multiplexes.
The demise of the Dupont 5 reflects the increased difficulty for smaller, neighborhood theaters competing with megaplex venues. Those behemoths, after conquering the suburbs with their stadium seating and surround-sound offerings, have steadily gained a foothold in urban markets. It is also a sign of the continuing change underway in one of the most distinctive neighborhoods in Washington, one brought on by increasing rents for commercial real estate.