Hopes that art house haven ArcLight Cinemas and the adjoining Cinerama Dome — a high-profile destination for Hollywood’s most respected directors — will reopen in time for the 2022 awards season and the year-end holidays are waning.
Numerous studio sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the Sunset Boulevard complex won’t reopen until the latter part of 2023, after they were informed it could happen this year.
In April 2021, the Decurion Corporation said it was shuttering the Dome and its Pacific Theatres chain, which includes the ArcLight Hollywood, a haven for art house enthusiasts. Decurion owns the land underneath the actual Dome and made it clear to suitors that it planned to hold on to the iconic location.
Social media lit up in December 2021 when a public notice of an application to sell alcoholic beverages was posted outside the building. At that time, studio distribution sources confirmed that the theater, built in 1963 by Decurion, was preparing to resume showings at both the Dome and ArcLight.
Now, those same sources are being told nothing will happen until next year, despite the application being approved this summer.
The only sign of life at the complex on a recent September day was a guard standing outside the ArcLight, whose floor-to-ceiling windows are covered in plywood (same for the Dome). In its absence, AMC Theatres has been the biggest beneficiary of the closure of Decurion’s Hollywood complex, between AMC’s new location at The Grove — previously operated by Decurion’s now-defunct Pacific Theatres — and AMC Century City.
Says one distribution chief, “Filmmakers keep asking me about what’s happening with the ArcLight and Dome.” Other sources say they’ve been told substantial renovations are in the works.
Decurion itself has remained mum, and didn’t immediately respond to a comment for this piece.
The Dome had long been a favorite site to stage premieres, while the Arclight multiplex was likewise a favorite site to host screenings and premieres during awards season.
This story first appeared in the Sept. 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.