Nova Theatre

3589 Broadway,
New York, NY 10031

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Showing 76 - 94 of 94 comments

br91975
br91975 on February 2, 2005 at 3:14 pm

A long-standing personal mystery solved; thanks for that bit of info, Robert. I’m surprised none of the distributors have caught on; it’s probably safe to say they pay more concern to the venues their films show in on, say, the UWS of Manhattan than they do of the ones in Washington Heights or Corona.

RobertR
RobertR on February 2, 2005 at 2:01 pm

Thats done on purpose so they can double book films onto one screen. Many of these are in the first few weeks and the distributor would never allow the screen to be split. In addition to the papers being wrong they give they wrong times on the tape so if anyone checks they can say that particular movie is playing alone. This causes people to show up at the theatres furious. It’s worth it though to give out a few free passes to be able to not have to pass on a film on it’s opening week because your stuck with the 5th week of a commitment on an ongoing film. Check out the Kent in brooklyn during peak release times they will have 5 movies advertised all with times like 130 330 530 730 930.

br91975
br91975 on February 2, 2005 at 1:14 pm

Newspaper display ads and general movie clocks for Creative Entertainment-booked theatres (as was true with the Nova) often provide inaccurate information, listing more showtimes than a given theatre can support (i.e., four full showtime runs for a three-screen venue) or a showtime schedule on one or more screens which doesn’t jibe with running times.

br91975
br91975 on February 2, 2005 at 1:07 pm

The Nova was converted into a three-screen venue in the early to mid-‘90s and closed as such.

cinemaservices
cinemaservices on February 2, 2005 at 12:21 pm

About midway through the 1985 film “Death Wish 3” a delivery truck drives by the Nova Cinemas. The film must have been shot sometime in 1984 most likely summer; anyway “Beverly Hills Cop” is one of the movies advertised on the marquee. The Nova at this time must have been a twin because only two movies were on the marquee.

br91975
br91975 on October 18, 2004 at 8:27 pm

‘Spy Kids 2’, ‘Undisputed’, and ‘XXX’ were the final offerings at the Nova – which became a triplex sometime in the early ‘90s – in August of 2002.

RobertR
RobertR on October 17, 2004 at 11:55 pm

1989 films
5/19 1- Fistfighter 2- See No Evil
6/2 2- Renegades 2- See No Evil
6/16 1- No Holes Barred 2- See No Evil & Renegades
6/23 1 & 2 Batman
7/7 1- Lethal Weapon II 2- Batman
8/11 1- Lethal Weapon II 2- Nightmare on Elm Street V
8/18 1- Casualties of War 2- Nightmare V
8/25 1- Casualties of War 2- Millenium
9/1 1- License to Kill & Casualties of War 2- Lockup & Do Right Thing
9/8 1- The Abyss 2- Casualties of War & License to Kill
9/15 1- Casualties of War 2- Kickboxer
9/22 1- Black Rain 2- Kickboxer
9/29 1- Black Rain 2- Kickboxer & War Party
10/13 1- Black Rain 2- Halloween V
10/20 1- Look Who’s Talking 2- Black Rain & The Package
10/27 1- Look Who’s Talking 2- Shocker
11/10 1- Best of the Best & Shocker 2- Look Who’s Talking
11/17 1- Harlem Nights 2- Look Who’s Talking
11/24 1- Harlem Nights 2- Back To The Future 2
1/12/90 1- Downtown 2- Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
1/19 1- Tremors 2- Downtown & Texas Chainsaw 3
1/26 1- Tango & Cash 2- Little Mermaid & Tremors
2/16 1- Nightbreed 2- Hard to Kill

br91975
br91975 on September 28, 2004 at 10:35 am

Thanks for your response to my September 2nd post, Robert – just out of curiosity, where was the Astro located?

br91975
br91975 on September 28, 2004 at 10:33 am

The exterior of the property looks much as it did – see my posting from this past March 7th – during its years of operation as a movie theatre. Of the marquee, all that remains are stubs of the wire supports visible to the left and right of the center of the marquee in the above photo.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on September 28, 2004 at 12:30 am

While difficult to see in the photo above, the white carvings at the top of the building on each side are smiling rabbit faces (complete with ears), further symbolizing the original name of the theatre. Are these still there since conversion to a 99 cent store?

RobertR
RobertR on September 2, 2004 at 4:54 pm

br91975 I agree, to think it made it from 1913 and then into the new millenium and then greed closed it. I drove by it a few times but never saw the inside. Never saw inside The Astro either but went buy it a few times.

br91975
br91975 on September 2, 2004 at 4:45 pm

I’m curious to know… does anyone have any memories of having seen movies at the Nova or any memories they’d like to share of the theatre, the people who went or worked there, etc., etc.? What was the interior like? Was it as popular a theatre as the Coliseum on 181st Street? What was its history, beyond its opening as a photoplay house in 1913, Jesus Nova assuming the lease in the early 1980s, and its recent shuttering and conversion into a 59/79/99-cent store? The only time I visited its interior was when I wanted to see what had become of it this past March and I’ve been haunted since by what I saw that day and heartbroken that such a cool, little long-running neighborhood movie house slipped away and just became another retail space…

mikehoyts
mikehoyts on July 23, 2004 at 4:15 pm

Mr. Nova did not own the Nova Cinema but did rent the cinema before the rent was raised to high and Mr. Nova left. The landlord than gutted the cinemas for retail use and found someone to rent it ( a 99 c store). Mr. Nova also closed and has since reopend The
New Coliseum.

dailies
dailies on April 26, 2004 at 11:41 am

Did nova convert his theater into a 99cent store or has he sold the land. Meaning is the store his?

br91975
br91975 on March 7, 2004 at 2:18 am

To answer my own question – yes, the Nova has indeed been converted into a 99-cent store. All that remains within the interior is the downward slope which greeted patrons as they entered the theatre, an odd cement formation in the ceiling where at least one or two of the cinemas were (I spent a moment or two staring at it, trying to figure out what it was, but to no avail), a small counter to one’s left as they enter the theatre (it’s too battered to have been installed during the recent renovation) and what appears to be either the fire exit (although it isn’t marked as such) or the entranceway to a storage room. (Walking around, I couldn’t imagine how three auditoriums were fit within that space or what the precise layout was; at least one or two of them must have been relatively tiny.) Of the exterior, the box office and marquee are gone, as are the one-sheet display cases shown in the above photo; the tiles beneath those one-sheet cases remain and the exterior otherwise has been painted tan.

br91975
br91975 on December 11, 2003 at 11:28 pm

Does anyone know if the Nova’s heartbreaking conversion into a 99-cent store has been completed?

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on February 17, 2003 at 2:05 am

The building is located on Broadway and 147th Street.

FoxTheatres
FoxTheatres on December 20, 2002 at 12:00 pm

Nova Cinemas closed for good

philipgoldberg
philipgoldberg on October 24, 2002 at 10:44 am

This theater had a sister theater in Park Slope, Brooklyn (The Plaza and now the Pavilion Twin). It recently closed, leaving Manhattan north of 125th Street with not a single operating cinema.