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Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Local Hype: Cinerama Dome Dead, Arclight Cinemas And Pacific Theatres Decimated

 
George Townley

Multiple news outlets are reporting on the end of an era in LA. Social media is on fire at the loss. The Cinerama Dome, Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres are out of business and shut down. None will reopen under parent company Decurion. This is awful news as things were opening up again as of 4/13/21.

We at TTDILA can't even sum up how many events we attended at the Cinerama Dome. So many festivals, so many sneak screenings, premieres, special Q&A's with directors. Oy.

And then we can't even factor how many movies we've seen at Pacific Theaters and ArcLights around LA. The style and difference of an ArcLight. This is a huge blow to cinephiles.

We do have to report that this doesn't mean all the theaters will go away, they could just go under new ownership. It's doubtful that the iconic Cinerama Dome won't be bought by another corporation or just some celebrities with pocket change. The same goes for theaters at locations the bolster huge attendance...when things were normal.

New ownership might not happen anytime quick.

And, on a somewhat scary note. Any of the major studios could buy the theaters. There was a law in place to stop that, for obvious monopoly reasons. But, you might see Disney grabbing them or even Netflix, who knows? And that means they can get rid of indies and competition. Let's hope not.
Ryan Hungerford