The movie theater business in Santa Monica remains in shambles as the city attempts to claw its way to post-pandemic life.
The closure of Arclight Cinemas at Santa Monica Place, declining tourism, sky-high parking costs and the pending conversion of a 337 car downtown parking structure into affordable housing have dealt a collective blow to the local big screen experience.
Yet just a few miles away — at the AMC Century City 15 — a pep rally of sorts is taking place today with studio executives and other industry big wigs celebrating the return to theater-going.
Its title: “The Big Screen Is Back.”
But is it?
Michael Cieply — a film industry expert and Executive Editor of Deadline.com — suggests Hollywood’s “movers and shakers” should take a jaunt to Third Street Promenade and survey the ruins of a once flourishing theater scene.
“The junket [would] remind them how much damage has yet to be repaired before filmgoers can sort through the continuing confusion—theaters half-open? about to open? closed forever?—and actually dare to enjoy the simple pleasure of dinner and a movie,” he writes.
Cieply noted that the AMC 7 at 3rd Street and Arizona Avenue was briefly shuttered over the weekend due to a power outage. It was reopened on Monday.
“The picture was brighter at AMC’s Broadway theater, two blocks down the promenade,” he noted.
“There, our junketers could press noses against the glass, and see faint signs of movie life—a ticket sales counter that didn’t look dusty, and ‘mask required’ warnings that implied occasional human presence.
“This one, says AMC’s website, is indeed open, three days a week. Come May 27, it will be open daily, assuming the plan doesn’t change.”
ArcLight — and its 12 screen — went dark in March 2020 due to “Safer At Home” orders related to COVID-19. It never reopened. In February, the owners of Santa Monica Place filed a lawsuit demanding $1.9 million in back rent.
Two months later, Pacific Theaters announced it would permanently shutter all of its locations, including ArcLight Santa Monica.
“ArcLight was a weak link in its chain even before Covid,” Cieply writes. “Traffic, street dwellers, and those $25 parking fees made it a tough sell for those who just wanted an easy night out.
“Now, the lobby is dark, and the LED-board outside, a very big screen, is pushing–quelle horreur!— a streaming service, HBO Max.”
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