CINEMATIC CINEMATIC

ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST-LOVED MOVIE THEATERS IS CLOSING FOR GOOD, PROMPTING AN OUTPOURING OF GRIEF FROM FILMS FANS.

The historic Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood is one of 300 screens across California shuttered forever by the economic impact of Covid-19.

Also gone from the state are all ArcLight Theaters –previously one of the highest earning chains in the country – and all Pacific Theaters, including their flagship cinema at upscale LA shopping mall, The Grove.

But it’s the shocking loss of the 70-foot-high Cinerama Dome which has led to the most dismay on social media and prompted a petition to save it which drew 10,000 signatures in just the first three days since the closure announcement.

That landmark has become a symbol of Hollywood’s motion picture history since opening in 1963 with the premiere of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and been featured itself in a string of films including, most recently, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.

Will anyone step in to save it? Maybe even Tarantino himself? Not so far. At the time of writing, it really looks like this icon – like so many other theaters where fans first fell in love with movies – will not return.

Without them it’s a sad, sad, sad, sad world.

– Sandro Monetti

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