Paris Theatre
4 W. 58th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
4 W. 58th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
56 people
favorited this theater
The first of the post-war movie houses constructed in Manhattan, the Paris Theatre is directly across from the Plaza Hotel and not much further from the beginning of Central Park. This luxurious art house in Manhatten’s Midtown has a plain Art Moderne exterior. The auditorium has blue velvet walls and seating for 421 on the main floor and 150 in the balcony. It has excellent projection and sound. The atmosphere is elegant, including with a well attired and helpful staff.
The Paris Theatre opened on September 13, 1948, with Marlene Dietrich cutting the ribbon in the presence of the Ambassador to France. The opening movie was “La Symphonie Pastorale”(Pastoral Symphony) starring Michelle Morgan. The original movie operator, Pathe, ran the theatre until August 31, 1990. The Paris Theatre became one of the very best places to see art house films in New York. As its name implies, the Paris Theatre had an affinity for playing foreign films (especially French films). Many premieres have been held at the theatre, including in spring of 1968 when the Paris Theatre became the first in the U.S. to play “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet” a United Kingdom/Italy co-production starring Leonard Whiting & Olivia Hussey and directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
Loews took over on September 1, 1990, and the theatre was known for a while as the Loews Fine Arts Theatre. Loews ceased operation of the theatre on April 30, 1997. Reverting back to its original Paris Theatre name, the theatre was operated by the owner of the building until 2009, when City Cinemas became the movie operator. On August 27, 2019, with leases expiring, City Cinemas closed the Paris Theatre with the movie “Pavarotti” and exited the other theatre owned by the owner, the Beekman Theatre.
On November 6, 2019, Netflix reopened the Paris Theatre with their movie “Marriage Story” starring Scarlett Johansson.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick, Howard B. Haas
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Recent comments (view all 364 comments)
I saw the animated feature nominee Klaus today, my first visit to the theater since the reopening.
Looked to be better maintained than its City Cinemas days, though sadly just a few people there. The ushers did mention Netflix plans to do renovations starting in March, so maybe there will be more advertising for the theater after that.
Tuesday, Jan 21, are the only screenings of The Irishman which are at 10 AM & 8 PM. After Jan 21, the films mentioned above but not The Irishman, are listed thru the end of the month.
Does the Paris still selling refreshments since Netflix is the running the theatre? I remember prior to Loews taking control, the theatre didn’t sell refreshments.
Yes, the Paris is selling refreshments.
Hello-
to xbs2034- prior to its August 2019 closing i thought theater was always well maintained, helpful staff, clean men’s room etc…… baring this in mind could you please be specific as to what you mean by “looked to be better maintained than its City Cinemas days”?
I’ve been seeing movies at the Paris every other month or so for many years. City Cinemas closed the Paris for a couple weeks in 2007 prior to Victoria and Abdul, and reupholstered chairs. The Paris looked very good in all functional aspects to me then. With Netflix, the changes that I saw were exterior: front doors papered over with movie promotion, windows above marquee also so. And, Netflix put movie “stills” in the lobby’s horizontal poster case, a practice that for the most part had not been done in many years at the Paris. So, in those aspects, Netflix added some razzle dazzle to the Paris. I didn’t scrutinize the difference in concession offerings. There was no difference in the Mens restroom which has always been fine. Netflix also upgraded the digital projection from 2k to 4k as to DCPs. City Cinemas had installed 7.1 surround, which is what Netflix also has used at the theater, but the surround sound did seem better after Netflix tookover.
Hello-
to Howard B. thanks for your reply. for me more advertising doesn’t make a theater “better maintained”. so I would greatly appreciate it if xbs2034 could reply as to their meaning of “better maintained then in the City Cinemas days”. for me the Paris has always been the best maintained movie theater in Manhattan so I am intrigued as to what exactly xbs2034 meant.
70mm is coming
Regarding 70MM, before this shut down, the projection room was being renovated to reel to reel projectors for 35MM and 70MM. The platter system will be removed.
Hopefully it reopens soon.