- Cinema Ghost Town
In sheer dollars, 2009 was Hollywood’s biggest year on record for revenues; box-offices raked in $10.5 billion in grosses. (In number of tickets sold, it was the best year since 2004.) It would seem to have been a good year for the movie business. But not in Brooklyn.
The movie theaters at Kings Plaza have closed for good, according to the blog Brooklynometry. A mall security guard told the blog that a Best Buy will take their place.
The last decade was bad for Brooklyn movie theaters. Off the top of my head: Bensonhurst’s Marboro Theater closed in 2002; Dyker Heights lost The Fortway in 2005. This, of course, is just the tail-end of a trend that has been going for decades. (In my neighborhood, Bay Ridge, we are lucky to still have one theater—but we also have four buildings that were once, conspicuously, movie theaters. Ah, the good old days…)
Anyway, Best Buy has proven a surprisingly resilient company: first, they took over the failed Virgin Megastore in Union Square. Now this? I suppose it’s a sign of the times: kids don’t go to movies (or buy music) anymore! They make their own, and Best Buy sells the equipment needed to do so, and the computers on which to stream and share it all. Yuk. Children: stop producing, start consuming.
And of course Prospect Heights’ Flatbush Pavilion, closed in 2004, is now an American Apparel:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2106/
Ridgewood Theater might reopen (I wouldn’t hold my breath though…): http://cinematreasures.org/theater/4021/
and here: http://www.ny1.com/content/112136/story
Best Buy took over the Circuit City space, not Virgin Megastore (I think some kind of clothing is going there). I’m generally surprised by the weak number of theaters in Brooklyn, given its size and population. I live in Greenpoint, so while I do go to some Brooklyn theaters, it’s more for novelty — most of the time it makes just as much sense, if not way more, to head to Manhattan. I thought I remembered hearing something about an arthouse going up in Williamsburg sometime soon. I’d think any theater in walking distance of the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area would do pretty decent business, but what do I know about decent business.
Movie moguls dont care about Brooklyn people.