SIFF buys Cinerama, plans reopening of shuttered Seattle movie theater
It took a while, but yes: Cinerama is, finally, coming back.
The Seattle International Film Festival has acquired the historic Seattle movie theater at Fourth Avenue and Lenora Street from the estate of Microsoft co-founder, investor and philanthropist Paul Allen. SIFF plans to reopen the theater, which has been closed since February 2020, later this year. The acquisition was announced at SIFF’s opening-night gala Thursday at the Paramount Theatre, and drew a huge ovation from the crowd.
“We will work so hard to uphold [Allen’s] legacy,” SIFF Executive Director Tom Mara said, amid the cheers. “We can’t wait to see you in this cathedral of cinema.”
SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett said in an earlier interview that a fall date seemed most likely for the theater’s reopening. Programming, she said, will be very similar to what Cinerama has offered in the past: “A lot of bigger-budget, first-run studio films, a lot of specialty events and festivals, and hopefully a lot of special events focusing on filmmakers.” She confirmed plans to resume Cinerama’s traditional 70mm film festivals, and noted that the theater will be part of SIFF’s annual festival, as it has been on multiple occasions in the past. It will return, appropriately, in time to celebrate the fest’s 50th anniversary next year.
Terms of the sale, which was finalized Thursday, were not disclosed. A representative of Vulcan, the company founded by Allen and his sister, Jody Allen, said that funds from the sale would be donated to philanthropic organizations. This was, she said, in accordance with the wishes of Allen, who died in 2018. The representative did not provide details of that philanthropic plan.
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“We are so pleased about SIFF’s acquisition of the theater,” Jody Allen, executor of the Allen estate, said in a statement. “They are the ideal mission-driven organization to now shepherd this very special place, bring more film and movie lovers to downtown Seattle, and steward the venue and its role in our community for years to come.”
Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis, whose district includes Cinerama’s block, said in a statement: “There is no Seattle recovery without Downtown recovery, and SIFF’s acquisition of this iconic theater represents a huge step forward in bringing back Downtown.”
It’s a happy ending for the long saga of the Seattle Cinerama Theater, which opened in 1963. Originally intended to showcase three-strip Cinerama technology, an immersive widescreen format that involved three simultaneous projectors, the theater quickly pivoted to showing 70mm and 35mm films. Like many downtown movie theaters, the Belltown theater fell into disrepair in the 1980s and ‘90s as audiences headed for suburban multiplexes. Paul Allen, a movie buff, bought the theater in 1998 and reopened it the following year after major renovations.
Over the next two decades, Cinerama became a beloved destination for moviegoers who loved its enormous curved screen and expansive sightlines, its quirky retro décor and its chocolate popcorn. Offering a mix of first-run blockbusters, classic films and you-can’t-see-these-anywhere-else series (its 70mm festivals were especially popular), it was downtown’s only single-screen theater for many years, and a clubhouse for film buffs.
And then, abruptly, it all ended: Citing plans for renovations (there had been two previously, in 2010 and 2014), Cinerama closed its doors in February 2020, its staff dismissed. The pandemic quickly followed, and Vulcan announced in May of that year that it was shuttering all of its Arts + Entertainment division, which included the theater. Since then, Cinerama has been dark, and waiting.
SIFF has long expressed publicly an interest in acquiring Cinerama. A statement from the organization in 2021 said that SIFF would be “well-positioned to maximize the facility’s potential,” but noted that it would need additional funding or investment. Mara, SIFF’s executive director, said in an interview that serious talks to buy the theater began last year, after he took his job with the organization.
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“We’re able to acquire the cinema because of our board’s commitment to SIFF,” he said, saying specifically that board member David Cornfield, “who is a cinema buff and also a champion of our film culture, really stepped up to finance this acquisition.”
Mara said that SIFF would be launching a capital campaign later this year to invite community investment in SIFF’s programs and “position SIFF strongly for the future.” He declined to offer more specifics on the campaign, saying that those conversations are ongoing.
Though Barrett and Mara both said they didn’t anticipate major changes or renovations to the theater, whose interior and equipment are in good shape despite the long closure, one major thing about Cinerama will be changing: its name. Cinerama is a trademarked name, licensed by Vulcan during Allen’s ownership of the theater but reverting to the trademark owner when the property is sold. “Unfortunately, it does not look like we are going to be able to renew that license,” said Barrett, adding that the name change “is going to be a terrific discussion point this summer.”
Whatever it’s called, the reopening of the theater — bringing SIFF’s year-round screen total to six, with the SIFF Uptown, SIFF Egyptian and SIFF Film Center — is welcome news for local filmgoers, coming at a time when audiences appear to be returning to theaters. Mara pointed to SIFF data showing that attendance at its theaters is up 56% in the year’s first quarter compared to the same months last year.
And Barrett, who confirmed that Cinerama will indeed bring back its chocolate popcorn, saw the news as an occasion for renewed hope and optimism. ”It’s such a wonderful gift to the Seattle film community,” she said, “to be able to take this opportunity and reopen Cinerama.”
Seattle Times Managing Editor Lynn Jacobson contributed to this report.
Source: The Seattle Times
