classiccinemafan Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryLyn2 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 It costs big bucks to convert to the digital format. And if the theaters want to show any new realeses they have to convert to digital. I know several vintage theaters in our area had many different programs to raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to make the conversion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Going digital wouldn't have that much of an impact as long as one has Dolby Stereo. My downtown theatre stayed monophonic up to its closing back in the late 1980's. I was told that in the early 80's it would had cost $50,000 to install stereo in the single screen theatre - way too much to absorb. Take into account at this time the ticket price was $3.50 for an adult ticket. (for my theatre ) Other factors for downtown theatres closing is, minimal number of screens, heating/cooling and upkeep especially in the old movie palaces. In my area there are B&O taxes that has killed and buried downtown business. At home I still use standard 2 channel stereo with headphones so I'm not that spoiled for surround. I wouldn't care to see a movie in a theatre with "substandard" (no surround) as long as it has a huge screen. Small mall screens is what I hate. This is why I wait for a movie to be released to Directv/video. $4.99 plus a buck for a blank DVD if I like it - can't beat that deal. Edited by: hamradio on Dec 14, 2012 12:14 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I have in my list of "Favorites" a website of movie theaters that have closed down in Michigan. The list is depressingly long. The one movie house in my hometown here has been closed for quite some time, although the building is still there. It languished as a porn house for about a decade or so. Other local theaters have disappeared; The Southgate theater is now a car dealership, the building having been razed. In nearby Melvindale, the MEL theater was torn down 15 years ago and replaced with a strip mall. The Harbor theater in neighboring Ecorse had been gone since the late '70's. After a long time being a porn theater, it was razed and a CHURCH of all things replaced it. Now, even the church is no longer standing. But the list doesn't stop there. A lot of "first rate" movie theaters are long gone: The United Artist theater in Downtown Detroit. Others that were downtown include: The Palms The Madison The Grand River The Hollywood The Riviera The Mercury The Summit ( a Cinerama theater) The Columbia The State Luckily, the premier movie house, the FOX theater, had been renovated and restored to original decor, and has been used for multi purposes from special "anniversary" screenings to presenting "The Nutcracker" every year, and other special events. I for one find it hard to blame digitizing movies as the culprit, since many of these have disappeared long before that proccess had arrived. And my list is short compared to the actual numbers. Sadly, it represents a FRACTION of the actual closings. Even some of the older theaters that once survived as DOLLAR SHOWS have closed up and had been torn down. Almost makes me want to cry. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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