National Theatre

If this is confirmed, I plan to be there for the final show, yes.

Who’s going to be there Thursday night for the final show? Thank god they’re going out with Shooter, a fairly decent movie that will make good use of the big screen and the sound.

LIGHTS OUT!

Westwood’s Mann National, a big single-screen house that once played the exclusive runs of The Godfather and The Exorcist, will close at the end of this week. This theatre has been dying for years. We live in a megaplex stadium-seating world, and sagging-at-the-heels behemoths like the National — a once-grand showplace that still has pretty good and projection quality — are all going to be toast sooner or later.

Mann’s National has a date with the wrecking ball
I mentioned the National’s closing to a twentysomething L.A. woman, and she told me she’d never been there. The crowds aren’t going to Westwood any more. I can let the National go but please don’t tell me this is going to happen to Mann’s Village also. If this is in the cards don’t want to hear about it. The same thing that happened in NYC is slowly happing to LA, the single-screen theatres are closing, and what LA will have left will be multiplexes like the Arclight, the Grove, teh AMC Century City and The Bridge.

The National was used last year for a scene in Zodiac. Mark Ruffalo can’t handle watching Dirty Harry and goes out into the lobby for a smoke, and then Jake Gyllenhaal comes up to him and chats him up about the case.

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Per IMDB website under trivia for “Zodiac”:

“David Fincher decided to use the Thomson Viper FilmStream camera to shoot the entire film, making this the first feature film shot exclusively with the camera, and in the uncompressed digital video format. Zodiac is the first "Hollywood Studio Production” shot with the VIPER and in an uncompressed digital “data” Format. The first ever shot feature Film shot entirely with the VIPER is the British independent production Silence Becomes You (2005) by director Stephanie Sinclaire. After Silence Becomes You, other independent European Movie-Productions like Highlander: The Source (2007) (director Brett Leonard) and Scorpion (2007) (director: Julien Seri) have used the same work flow."

Confusion must have been that this was the forst time for this particular camera.

Yes without using film!

“Zodiac was the first movie to be shot totally in digital…” SAY WHAT???

I saw Rocky VI there back in January and it is the same. Personally for me I like the retro 60’s interior just the way it is. Part of it’s charm. The only thing I would do is put in new seats and paint the ceiling.

This week you can see “Zodiac” at the National. It moved over from the Bruin. Now you watch the movie at the theatre where filmed scenes! Too bad they didn’t just open “Zodiac” at the National. In earlier days they probably would have as its a Paramount Picture. Now the National just seems to get the leftovers and the move-overs. Sad.

I’ll truly miss this screen. The only movie I ever saw here was the secret Dolby Digital test of “Star Trek VI.”

Actually, now that I think of it, I take that back; I also saw “Single White Female” there.

At any rate, it’s a shame they’re shutting this one down. One less single-screen palace.

I was wondering myself and was thinking about making a visit this weekend. It sounds like a short term agreement has been made but would imagine the National’s days are numbered. Mann has been trying to build a Stadium seating Multiplex in Westwood for a while. If they succeed in that they will probably drop the National and the Festival and keep the Village and Bruin. They could make money on the National if they booked more premieres there, but I guess most studios want the Village and Bruin. I could never understand why they let the National get so run down. They could have at least put new more comfortable seats in it. I’m happy it will be around a bit longer; it is a great theatre and last of its kind.

I had heard that it was closing at the end of July, but I just called today to ask if Clerks II is going to be the last film they show and was told by a manager that something had been “worked out.” Has anyone else heard about this? The manager didn’t seem fully confident about what he was saying, so maybe it is just going to be open on a month to month basis. He didn’t seem to really want to talk to me, so maybe someone else could get more information. The direct number to the box office is (310) 208-3946.

I second the notion of 70mm revivals here. I saw Titanic here in 70mm – with all the masking expanded to full capacity (unlike Chinese)! Truly an epic experience!

Reading this makes me want to cry. As someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s, The National, more than any other theater in Westwood, could instantly transport me back to those wonderful, informative years as soon as I entered the lobby. The theater has a wonderful, nostalgic, retro vibe, while still giving you a state of the art presentation, which is only found in a few other houses in LA. If it is truly going to be going, I’ll be very sad indeed.

I think the perfect use for this theater would be as a revival house (but a nice one) to offer people another chance to see some of these films on a wonderful, giant screen. I’d love to have the opportunity where I could show up and see Alien, Superman, 2001, Top Gun, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark… They could even start it off with another engagement of The Exorcist! I have to believe this town, more than any other, could support that. If I had the money, I’d do it myself.