Local Regal Teater to Close

By SOFIA RUBINSON Sun News Editor

Regal Ithaca Mall Stadium 14 is set to turn off its projectors in the coming weeks after its parent company Cineworld announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September, according to a report by Business Insider.

On Jan. 17, Cineworld detailed its plan to reject the leases of 39 Regal theaters nationwide starting Feb. 15. Regal did not respond to requests for comment about whether the reports on the Ithaca location’s closing are accurate.

The Ithaca Mall location has held a movie theater since 1976 and opened as a Regal Cinema in 2007. Cornell students have expressed deep sadness over the announced closing of the largest movie theater within a TCAT ride from campus.

“I saw going to the movie theater as being a chance to escape for a couple of hours and forget about everything else that’s going on,” said Jacob Gonzalez ’26, who would see a movie about once a month. “Classes can be very hard at Cornell, and it was really comfortable being able to just go out and disappear for about two and a half hours and get to watch a great movie and eat some popcorn. I think that was really important for a lot of people.”

Although there are other theaters in town, students told The Sun that Regal’s movie offerings were better for movie-goers who want a wide variety of blockbuster films.

“I would prefer to have a Regal theater. I’m from New York City, and we have Regal a lot, so it’s definitely a different experience,” said Lina Liu ’25, who recently picked up a film minor and was excited to watch the latest blockbusters at Regal.

Cinemapolis is located in Downtown Ithaca and specializes in independent, foreign and locally-produced films. There is also Cornell Cinema, which plays classic Hollywood and foreign films, documentaries, silent films, cult classics, experimental work and recent Hollywood and arthouse movies.

Gonzalez expressed concerns about these theaters’ niche demographics.

“Now that there’s no big movie theater that has some of the bigger movies, like Marvel movies, I think it’s not a good thing,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of people are going to have to find other stuff to do. There’s definitely a lot of other things to do, but that just takes away one of the big activities.”

According to Cinemapolis Executive Director Kate Donohue, the five-screen theater has not shown