Originally published at: ArcLight and Pacific theaters permanently close doors | Boing Boing
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all those Hollywood folks could pay to reopen the theaters with the loose change in their sofas.
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Unless the structure itself is being demolished, “permanently” is overstating things. Some other entity will probably buy the property and run it.
I live on the other coast, but I have so many great memories of the Arclight in Hollywood that I mourn its loss like a local. L.A. isn’t going to be L.A. without it.
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When I was on sabbatical in 2016, we traveled to Los Angeles. Me and my kid saw “The Good Guys” at Arclight Hollywood. I was very impressed by such a huge, sprawling, labyrinthine complex (and the film wasn’t half bad either). The seats and the overall presentation were spectacular.
Hopefully they’ll resuscitate it once this goddamned plague has ended.
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I have my fingers crossed that it’ll be Alamo Drafthouse that eventually buys up all those theaters, but seeing as they’re also hurting pretty badly right now, I’m not exactly confident in that. More likely it’ll be AMC or some other giant corporate entity that will ignore theater upkeep and gouge moviegoers even more for bad quality refreshments, but even that is better than the most likely scenario, they all sit dormant for 2 years before being demolished and converted into Soul Cycles and luxury condos.
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I know the article mentions that the whole chain is involved, but the picture and the LA-based commenters seem to be focused on just the Cinerama dome. It’s bigger than that, guys.
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But not necessarily as a theater. We’ve had a bunch of pretty special theaters close in my city, none of them were kept as theaters by the new owner.
It isn’t a new phenomenon, even for unique and spectacular theaters. When the Southtown closed in Chicago, it became a department store (my dad worked there). As far as I am aware, it was the only theater in Englewood with a dirigible hook.
The property that the Hollywood Arclight is on might be too valuable to sustain a cinema; the main hope is someone in the movie industry buying it as a supplement to their main business. The repeal last year of the Paramount Decree makes this a possibility (and TBH makes the timing of the Arclight/Pacific theaters closing a little suspicious, as it meshes nicely with the end of the sunset period for that decree’s repeal.)
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I have bad news for you
I really hope Alamo Drafthouse survives, i love them with a passion and they’re honestly my favorite thing about living in Austin pre-pandemic. I was there at least once a week
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A shame. As I’ve mentioned here before, one of my most memorable moviegoing experiences was seeing a revival of 2001 at the Cinerama Some back in the 1980s. I also agree with the Twitter comments about the staff at ArcLight theatres being enthusiastic cinephiles.
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