Two iconic Los Angeles movie theaters will close later this week.
The Regency Village Theatre in Westwood and its nearby sister theater, the Bruin, will close Thursday, their operator confirmed Sunday.
Regency Theatres, which operates 20 locations in California, has operated the two theaters (on either side of Broxton Avenue) for the past 14 years, but its leases on the properties expire at the end of this month.
The two theaters, opened in the 1930s, have become landmarks in the film industry and were recently featured in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.”
Regency Village, designated a historic cultural monument in 1988, will only temporarily close after a Herculean effort to save it led by director Jason Reitman, the man behind the recent Ghostbusters films.
Two Los Angeles movie theaters that featured in films will close later this week
Reitman and a group of film industry luminaries, including Christopher Nolan, JJ Abrams, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg and Bradley Cooper, purchased the theater in February.
The group has previously stated plans to renovate and reopen the building to screen a mix of new and older films, but has not given a timeline for completing the project.
“We have an exciting vision that includes dining, drinking, cinema, gallery tours and programming of new and returning films, and we can’t wait to share it with everyone,” Reitman said. He told the LA Times.
The 52-metre-high white Spanish Art Deco exterior of Regency Village was designed by Percy P. Lewis.
Opened in 1931, it was originally part of the Fox Theatres group before being acquired by the Mann Theatres chain in the 1970s.
The Bruin, which first opened its doors in 1937, will be closing its doors in the near future.
“The owners (of the Bruin) thank the Golin family and Regency Theaters for our relationship with them over the past 14 years,” a representative said in a statement to the Times.
The owners added that they are “currently evaluating future opportunities for the Bruin.”
The Bruin first opened its doors in 1937, but is scheduled to close in the near future.
The Regency Village, named a historic cultural monument in 1988, will only close temporarily
The two movie theaters featured in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’
Movie theaters have struggled to recover from the effects of pandemic shutdowns, the rise of streaming and the latest blow from the SAG-AFRA writers’ and actors’ strikes last year.
As a result, the production of new films has slowed significantly, making it difficult for movie theaters to recover.
However, blockbusters like Twisters, which debuted to great acclaim last weekend, offer a ray of hope to struggling movie theaters across the country.