A Forest Hills movie theater, which has been struggling to keep its doors open, is one step closer to avoiding closure after two major studios have licensed additional first-run films to the cinema, the owner said.
Nicolaou, 57, whose family has owned the theater since the mid-1960s, said the venue has been struggling primarily because it was not receiving first-run films since 2008, when it screened "Sex and the City."
Last year, the movie theater lost about $200,000, Nicolaou said.
But earlier this year, the theater, which originally opened in 1927, got another chance when Warner Bros. decided to license "American Sniper," a war drama directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller, to the Cinemart.
Local residents launched a campaign asking their neighbors to support the theater by buying tickets and attending the screenings at the Cinemart.
Nicolaou said the campaign worked and thousands of people showed up.
6 comments:
My sincere wishes of good luck. It will be a struggle, but if there is support it can be done.
I wish Nicolaou the very best in keeping the Cinemart open. But, that would depend on a better selection of quality films from the Hollywood movie makers themselves. Up until now, the noise and sight pollution that still pass for entertainment (as filmmakers continue to pound out mediocrity), is an assault on my eyes and ears, and "Sex And The City" in 2008 was a perfect testament to my sentiments. Alas, I don't think the sad arbiters of Hollywood decay even like their industry, let alone the products they deliver on cue, with a vile, vapid and vacuous loop of grinding commerce over quality and integrity. Make better films that are rich in social value (that don't rely on endless sequels of something that wasn't even marginally good as a first run), not to mention the "blow up everything to smithereens" vehicles, gratuitous sex and borderline pornography romps, and the terminally annoying comic book figures that rely heavily on visual effects, without a trace of seasoned acting that is credible. Further, stop paying these untalented hacks more than $30 million a picture, and start reinvesting in the picture show industry itself, from the beginning. How about a nice Wurlitzer organ overture before and after each show, a true sound system that represents 21st century entertainment, comfortable seats and remodeled theaters (that don't look like someone's apartment building rec room), and steps to abolish all mega complexes that look like housing projects! Bring back the local theater (and bring back valued entertainment), while restoring and refurbishing the broken, abandoned ones (like the Keith's on Hillside Avenue, in Richmond Hill), and maybe I'll consider shelling out $13 bucks or greater for something that could earn and justify an admission price that doesn't compete with a mortgage payment! Like so many broken industries and people, imminent change is required (mainly from outside sources of production), in order to guarantee continued survival of the Cinemart (and many other faltering, once great theaters countrywide), which symbolizes a deeper pathology in fiscal, moral and societal collapse. A local neighborhood theater is so much more than purported entertainment---it's sharing, togetherness and community!
Hey Rich, use paragraphs. They are free!
Its not because of not receiving first-run films !!
Its because
1 Blue Ray 1080P home theater
2-everything Hollywood, Canada and New York is putting out is shit people dont want to pay for let alone leave the house, drive, park & sit in shitty seats, shitty sound and strange people who could be coughing out TB.
A theater outing for 2 will cost ya around $50 and possibly a nasty virus and sick days.
Yep, "blow up everything to smithereens" vehicles, gratuitous sex and borderline pornography romps, recycled comic book figures, SNL "comics" trying to be professional actors, fast flickering cuts and camera movements to hide the fact nothings going on.
Drive X miles, park + pay $15-$20 to set in a chair to watch that HELL NO !!!
Total shit, you hit it right on the head Rich !!
"togetherness and community"
There is no more community, what was once pop culture has been balkanized into niches of different groups watching and playing their own things!!
Heritage, community and American pop culture went right out the window with the arrival of illegal 3rd world immigrants. They throw garbage out the windows, beat their women and spit on our sidewalks and steal the pipes right off a $100,000 restored Wurlitzer & blower room nobody in 2015 can even maintain & operate under $200 an hour let alone play.
I know, there is one at the Beacon theater where I played and was also a local 1 backup stage hand (as in locked out IATSE father&son only CROOKS) The above is 1984 prices (AN HOUR)to run the Wurlitzer and blower room motors and box was so big it sat on springs to keep the whole theater from rumbling apart.
Movies today are crap!
That's why I ONLY watch TCM (Turner Classic Movies)....
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