ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters will close all be closing. Mostly found in California, there will be close to 300 theaters closed due to the huge hit taken from the pandemic.
“After shutting our doors more than a year ago, today we must share the difficult and sad news that Pacific will not be reopening its ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters locations,” the company said in a statement. “This was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.”
The Cinerama Dome opened in 1963 with the premiere of Stanley Kramer’s wide-screen comedy the Mad Mad Mad Mad World. The Pacific Theater is well-known for its concrete geodesic dome. It was built to house the wide, curved screen required for single-lens Cinerama.
The theaters also hosted Hollywood premiers including Shrek 2 and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.
And its closing prompted an outpouring of sentiment from Hollywood notables.
I’m so sad. I remember going to the Cinerama Dome to see Star Trek IV with my dad when I was little. So many memories since then. ?https://t.co/ptQsiMgYoA
— Joseph Gordon-Levitt (@hitRECordJoe) April 13, 2021
? Well this sucks. Every single person who worked at the Arclight loved movies, and you felt it. Sending love to every usher, manager and projectionist who rocked that blue shirt and made it such a special place.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) April 13, 2021
Dome is the highest-grossing theater in America but sadly hasn’t been able to recover from the financial hit taken from COVID.
