arclight and pacific cinemas will not be reopening

[henrygandorf 29192]

this is devastating.

https://deadline.com/2021/04/arclight-cinemas-and-pacific-theatres-wont-be-reopening-1234732936/

Quote

After shutting our doors more than a year ago, today we must share the difficult and sad news that Pacific will not be reopening its ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres locations.

This was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.

To all the Pacific and ArcLight employees who have devoted their professional lives to making our theaters the very best places in the world to see movies: we are grateful for your service and your dedication to our customers.

To our guests and members of the film industry who have made going to the movies such a magical experience over the years: our deepest thanks. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve you.

 

[DCA_HORN 725]

That sucks. I'm not a frequent movie goer the past ten years or so because I'm not into the comic book movies and whatnot but was really looking forward to seeing too gun in the theater. I was out there last month and seeing all the arc lights empty, I wondered about the future.

[henrygandorf 29192]

predictably, la is collectively losing their shit. 

 

 

 

 

[henrygandorf 29192]

fun story, we were behind mindy kaling in the concession line (and then sat in front of her) at the new beverly - the old theater tarantino bought years ago to “save” it. 

it was for a screening of roxanne and she sat by herself and ate everything in sight. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

2 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

she sat by herself and ate everything in sight. 

i know that game.

[ChickenSandwich 9843]

2 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

predictably, la is collectively losing their shit. 

 

 

 

 

too bad this group doesn’t have the money to save them. 

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

6 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

fun story, we were behind mindy kaling in the concession line (and then sat in front of her) at the new beverly - the old theater tarantino bought years ago to “save” it. 

it was for a screening of roxanne and she sat by herself and ate everything in sight. 

I'm not surprised. After that "surgeon" took a battering ram to her face, there was no point in keeping up the charade. 

[Kyle 207]

3 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

too bad this group doesn’t have the money to save them. 

There's a few billion rona dollars lying around. We need to help the vulnerable.

[pied 252]

ASsuming these are mainly on the west coast?  NAt familiar with them  Seems AMC/Cinemark/smaller restaurant places are the norm around here (DFW).

[henrygandorf 29192]

59 minutes ago, pied said:

ASsuming these are mainly on the west coast?  NAt familiar with them  Seems AMC/Cinemark/smaller restaurant places are the norm around here (DFW).

there are several in la, and over the past few years, i think they opened one in chicago and one in bethesda, md.  no idea about other spots, because the website has been changed to reflect the news.

the first arclight was built around the old cinerama dome (one-plex), which has been a hollywood institution since the 60's.  it was shuttering about 15 years ago when the arclight came to be.  the hollywood complex (sunset+vine) has a traditional 12 theater building, and then around the corner is "the dome", which is a 1200 seat awesome theater.  a lot of premieres have been held there, just like the other one-plex theaters in hollywood and westwood village.  when you got tickets to see a movie there, you always wanted your showing to be in the dome.  the others were just regular theaters.

when it first opened (2003-2004?), it was the first theater that had assigned/reserved seating and was all done online.  this was especially helpful for opening weekends (or older screenings with only one showing).  it's commonplace now, but was revolutionary at the time, to be able to reserve your exact seats.  the staff there was all about the movie experience.  they showed 3 trailers, zero commercials, before every movie.  and the movie started right on time.  if you showed up to the theater a few minutes late, they would not rip your ticket, they would turn you away and give you a ticket for a later showing, because they did not want people shuffling in once it had started.  it was the ultimate snob theater, which i love.

the arclight also constantly had screening series showcasing older movies, and often with writers/directors/actors involved with the movies doing q&a's afterwards.  i probably saw 30+ of these screenings over the years.  we saw "in the heat of the night" several years ago and sidney poitier came out and introduced it.  they also did a great job of showing award season movies with star studded panels.  if you go on youtube, you can search arclight and find a bunch of them.

 

[pied 252]

Sounds like a cool special place(s).  Probably hard to replicate on broader scale in other locations with so many of the special parts, but could see a one off doing well in certain locations around the country.  Bummer.

[DonkeyCigars 143]

I get it that movies and film are cultural and cool. Not being from LA or Hollywood and lacking the outsized adoration and interest for movies and their impact on life (and economy), I didn’t get why this is thread worthy or anyone would care. But it has been interesting to see LA people and cinephiles comment and talk about it, which  helps me to get a view for why this matters.

I’m having a tough time finding an analogy for Texas. What is something that’s unique to our geography (a la Hollywood) that is sentimental and feeds into an overall or overarching economy and cultural offering? It would be like if Oil and Gas were entertaining? Or maybe if the State Fair shut down forever due to Covid?

[956 Worldwide 34715]

I’d say maybe if like not just the state fair but county and regional livestock shows just never came back. That makes me sad just thinking about.

[gsoda3 3263]

help me understand if this is a bigger deal than just another movie theater company shutting down (maybe like if austin shut down the alamo locations?).  i get that they had a nostalgic component in integrating the dome in hollywood.  but with arclight/pacific shutting their doors you still have AMC and cinemark.  the show goes on no?

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

I understand mourning the loss of a good movie theater. I still miss the Sundance in Downtown Houston. The River Oaks Theater closing is even sadder because it's in a historic building. 

But movie theaters will come back. They'll come back looking different, but they'll come back. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by billfromlaketravis

[henrygandorf 29192]

44 minutes ago, DonkeyCigars said:

I get it that movies and film are cultural and cool. Not being from LA or Hollywood and lacking the outsized adoration and interest for movies and their impact on life (and economy), I didn’t get why this is thread worthy or anyone would care. But it has been interesting to see LA people and cinephiles comment and talk about it, which  helps me to get a view for why this matters.

I’m having a tough time finding an analogy for Texas. What is something that’s unique to our geography (a la Hollywood) that is sentimental and feeds into an overall or overarching economy and cultural offering? It would be like if Oil and Gas were entertaining? Or maybe if the State Fair shut down forever due to Covid?

there probably isn't a direct comparison, but to use the closest thing i can think of - imagine if alamo drafthouse and any other theater experience closed, and you were left with just plain old oversized mall theaters from the 1980's.  or if dkr downsized to a high school stadium and tailgating was outlawed.  it's an experiential thing, and something that we just got used to and probably took for granted. 

i used to live in a big house in the hills (everyone has seen the pictures) with 3 other guys and we have a text chain going discussing that other than the house, we probably spent the most time together at arclight hollywood.  when the news came down yesterday, i got about 8 texts within 15 minutes.

seeing that it was in la - especially the hollywood location - it was just a special place where they showed old movies and new, and you would also see celebrities, which makes the experience kinda surreal.  everybody goes to the movies, including famous people, and it's always fun to see them going about their lives.

we saw lawrence of arabia there and during the intermission (yes, they had an intermission), we saw doris roberts in the concession line gabbing with her girlfriends, like it was an outing from a nursing home.  it was hilarious.  and then she died like a month later.

we saw the princess bride there and cary elwes popped in unexpectedly and did a 20 min q&a afterwards, which was basically just telling andre the giant stories.  they used to partner with target once a year and screen like 10-12 movies, all at the same time, huge movies with a huge star introducing it.  so you could pick only one, and they sold out in minutes.  that was the sidney poitier one, but i remember people saying they saw jodie foster, michael douglas, and oliver stone all yapping outside waiting for their time to go in.

i bought tickets one year for dustin hoffman introducing tootsie, and had to go out of town for work, and gave the tickets to @Ramsalot and i think that was one of the first times he experienced something like that.

and for film snobs, it was often a cinematographer, writer, editor, producer - and these people most often have better stories.  we saw rain main there with barry levinson and mark johnson, and i had no idea how interesting johnson would be (i've long been a levinson fan).  we saw sicario with a roger deakins q&a afterwards.  if you don't know who he is, look him up.

it will probably get bought and will stay open, and everyone will calm the f down.  but right now, it's an uncertain time.  and it's the everyday things that quietly go away that really blindside you and upend your normal life.  so many people are like "i know things are back to normal when i can be sitting at the arclight on a thursday night again".

i'm sure it's hard to understand for those who don't live out here.  but over half the people i associate with are involved in some way or another with the entertainment industry.  watch the credits for a mission impossible or avengers movie and you'll realize that tens of thousands of people owe their living to the movie business.  and when little things like this start happening, it's just upsetting.

i'm still processing.

[henrygandorf 29192]

another random arclight story.  i usually make a big deal out of my birthday, because i'm a fucking child.

anyway, i was arguing with my then girlfriend/now wife about what the plan was, and i decided out of spite not to do anything.  i just said fuck it, let's go to a movie.

we ended up getting 3 other couples, did dinner and drinks and then saw the friday night 9pm showing of baby driver on its opening weekend.  and out of nowhere, edgar wright came out and did like a 15 minute introduction.

[DonkeyCigars 143]

7 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

there probably isn't a direct comparison, but to use the closest thing i can think of - imagine if alamo drafthouse and any other theater experience closed, and you were left with just plain old oversized mall theaters from the 1980's.  or if dkr downsized to a high school stadium and tailgating was outlawed.  it's an experiential thing, and something that we just got used to and probably took for granted. 

i used to live in a big house in the hills (everyone has seen the pictures) with 3 other guys and we have a text chain going discussing that other than the house, we probably spent the most time together at arclight hollywood.  when the news came down yesterday, i got about 8 texts within 15 minutes.

seeing that it was in la - especially the hollywood location - it was just a special place where they showed old movies and new, and you would also see celebrities, which makes the experience kinda surreal.  everybody goes to the movies, including famous people, and it's always fun to see them going about their lives.

we saw lawrence of arabia there and during the intermission (yes, they had an intermission), we saw doris roberts in the concession line gabbing with her girlfriends, like it was an outing from a nursing home.  it was hilarious.  and then she died like a month later.

we saw the princess bride there and cary elwes popped in unexpectedly and did a 20 min q&a afterwards, which was basically just telling andre the giant stories.  they used to partner with target once a year and screen like 10-12 movies, all at the same time, huge movies with a huge star introducing it.  so you could pick only one, and they sold out in minutes.  that was the sidney poitier one, but i remember people saying they saw jodie foster, michael douglas, and oliver stone all yapping outside waiting for their time to go in.

i bought tickets one year for dustin hoffman introducing tootsie, and had to go out of town for work, and gave the tickets to @Ramsalot and i think that was one of the first times he experienced something like that.

and for film snobs, it was often a cinematographer, writer, editor, producer - and these people most often have better stories.  we saw rain main there with barry levinson and mark johnson, and i had no idea how interesting johnson would be (i've long been a levinson fan).  we saw sicario with a roger deakins q&a afterwards.  if you don't know who he is, look him up.

it will probably get bought and will stay open, and everyone will calm the f down.  but right now, it's an uncertain time.  and it's the everyday things that quietly go away that really blindside you and upend your normal life.  so many people are like "i know things are back to normal when i can be sitting at the arclight on a thursday night again".

i'm sure it's hard to understand for those who don't live out here.  but over half the people i associate with are involved in some way or another with the entertainment industry.  watch the credits for a mission impossible or avengers movie and you'll realize that tens of thousands of people owe their living to the movie business.  and when little things like this start happening, it's just upsetting.

i'm still processing.

Great insight thanks for sharing, exactly the sort of context and “why does this matter” that you don’t get from a bunch of Mindy Kaling tweets. Your last paragraph is exactly it and from your post I can sort of start to sympathize and understand because as you mentioned, in Texas, who cares if Galaxy 80 or the NorthPark AMC or Woodlands CineMark shuts down?

[Nuge 1970]

Maybe a comparison would be if Austin City Limits shut down production forever.

[Sbbruin 21860]

The Cinerama Dome was my childhood theater.  Closest theater to my house.  Saw the original Star Wars there.  Hell, I saw Fletch there!  Someone will definitely pick that site up, but damn I wouldn't want to be the landlord at the Pasadena or Sherman Oaks locations.  No idea how you repurpose those.

[henrygandorf 29192]

13 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

The Cinerama Dome was my childhood theater.  Closest theater to my house.  Saw the original Star Wars there.  Hell, I saw Fletch there!  Someone will definitely pick that site up, but damn I wouldn't want to be the landlord at the Pasadena or Sherman Oaks locations.  No idea how you repurpose those.

the thing is - several of the other arclight locations were just other theater chains that arclight came in and fixed up.  they could just as easily revert back to amc or whatever chain.  we really don't have cinemark here.  the grove is/was a pacific theater, and there's no way they'll have a shopping center like that without a theater, so that will stay something.  century city is amc and that theater is awesome, so that's good.

the arclight hollywood is the only one people care about.  it was the original and it has the dome.

when @Hank Kingsley lived out here with me, we'd be driving by the dome (pre-arclight) and if a decent movie was playing there, it was like, fuck it, i could go for a movie.  even if it was something we'd already seen or weren't dying to see.

 

[huge 3793]

23 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

The Cinerama Dome was my childhood theater.  Closest theater to my house.  Saw the original Star Wars there.  Hell, I saw Fletch there!  Someone will definitely pick that site up, but damn I wouldn't want to be the landlord at the Pasadena or Sherman Oaks locations.  No idea how you repurpose those.

Only movie I ever saw there was Ghostbusters!  (well ghostbusters 2 but whatever).

 

No possible way the Dome stays closed

[Sbbruin 21860]

17 minutes ago, huge said:

Only movie I ever saw there was Ghostbusters!  (well ghostbusters 2 but whatever).

 

No possible way the Dome stays closed

Any attempt to redevelop it would result in immediate landmark status being applied (if it hasn't already).  So yeah, it will stay a theater for the foreseeable future.  What I expect may happen with some of these locations is one of the big studios- Disney, Netflix, WB- acquire them.  There used to be a restriction against studios owning theaters, but that was removed a couple of years ago.  Netflix is spending money like drunken sailors out here, so I could definitely see them looking for a theater chain to expand their presence.

[babysdaddy 2725]

Love Arclight.  My wife and went to movies there when I lived in LA

In response to movie theaters and staying in business, here is tarantino talking about the Joker and how much better it was to watch in a theater versus at home

 

[Foosters 17858]

Went and saw 50th (i think) anniversary of Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World at the Cinerama Dome a few years back. Had some original cast members there, including a sad and confused Mickey Rooney who legit had no idea what he was doing there or what was going on.

[crony 362]

AMC lookin to step in.

 

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/amc-theatres-raises-million-acquisitions-investments-1234961260/