The Royal, Revue and Kingsway to Close

Sad news... it's these types of old theaters that have charm.

funny though because those are the same strategies that the bloor have been using forever and they seem to be facing the same problems.

now that famous players has cut the price down and the emergence of the rainbow, it leaves this revue film houses in a poor spot.

btw...i belive its white KNIGHT as opposed to night

oops. yeah, that was a pretty bad typo. anyway, i wouldn't say the bloor has fully adopted those strategies. either way, i think this may be one of those cases where we need the government or some non profit to step in and rescue these historic cinemas which are an integral part of the city's heritage. but maybe it won't come to that. maybe there's some ms. hendersons out there that might find it a personal challenge to in them.

i would also suggest that should a new owner(s) emerge, they invest in upgrading the seating. i don't mind it so much personally, but i know there's plenty of people out there (particularly those 50+) who just won't go to these cinemas b/c the seating is so uncomfortable.

Was at the Revue tonight and folks were moaning about the new owners - sons of original owner who recently passed on and left them the biz, apparently. Pretty sad mood in the place, though it drew in a pretty big audience for the 9:25 Sunday show.

And it's BELIEVE, not belive, Tik, but I'm just sayin. ;)

I will be so sad to see the Revue go! I hope someone saves it. I have grown up with it. :(

Sometimes I wonder... it seems "we" (by which I mean active, engaged but non-wealthy people) are always saying city hall should do this or that, whether it's rescuing cinemas or building interesting new public spaces. If that fails, we hope that some rich person saves the day. What I wonder is if there isn't a way for like-minded people to come together, pool their resources and do these things privately; maybe start a company or something. A few hundred average people probably make a multi-millionaire.

Like turning a rep cinema into a co-op?

Forget the City bailing the theatres out, the City is looking for a bail-out itself!

i'm not normally prone to suggesting the government come in as a savior. i'm much more of the mindset to let the marketplace resolve itself unencumbered by government involvement. but in this case, i'm looking at these cinemas as heritage properties, and think that the city needs to step in and save them if the private sector cannot.

I used to live a block from the Revue and now live 5 minutes from the Kingsway. I go to the Royal and Paradise often too. So I love them all. I think there is an argument to be made for changing the format a little because of current market conditions. I think a greater focus on first run films that are not released elsewhere like Lonesome Jim and Battle in Heaven would be good. I also think older films that you would just die to see on the big screen like Lawrence of Arabia or Doctor Zhivago. This would really capitalize on the era these theatres remind me of. Surely these theaters will become more viable as downtown areas become more affluent and congestion gets worse. I think the Festival cinemas should direct more advertising at the local community because what I loved about the Revue was walking there. I was home from school or work and I went to the theatre. There was no plan, there was no traffic to negotiate, there was no parking to find, I didn't even have to go to the video store and choose the movie.

I used to live a block from the Revue and now live 5 minutes from the Kingsway. I go to the Royal and Paradise often too. So I love them all. I think there is an argument to be made for changing the format a little because of current market conditions. I think a greater focus on first run films that are not released elsewhere like Lonesome Jim and Battle in Heaven would be good. I also think older films that you would just die to see on the big screen like Lawrence of Arabia or Doctor Zhivago. This would really capitalize on the era these theatres remind me of. Surely these theaters will become more viable as downtown areas become more affluent and congestion gets worse. I think the Festival cinemas should direct more advertising at the local community because what I loved about the Revue was walking there. I was home from school or work and I went to the theatre. There was no plan, there was no traffic to negotiate, there was no parking to find, I didn't even have to go to the video store and choose the movie.

Well, it isn't just the small rep theatres that are suffering, the rest of the movie industry is down the tubes as well. Name your culprit: movie downloads (blah), cost to value ratio at a first run theatre (maybe), crap hollywood movies (quite possibly), DVDs (very likely).

I think it's the DVDs that hurt the rep theatres the most. Movies, especially the small ones, move so quickly from first run to second run to DVD, I think a lot of people end up saying "I'll just wait for the DVD so I can watch it at my leisure, on my own time". The theatre-going experience is starting to disappear, I think.

Don't get me wrong, I love the rep theatres, esp. the Royal, the Revue (for Kung Fu Fridays) and the Paradise, right around the corner from me. With all of these closing down...ugh, such a shame. :(

For Scott who wrote that he would like to see Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen again, as the manager of the Revue Cinema I have at least one piece of good news, as it is our final screening on June 30th at 7pm. I hope to see you there!

If anyone out there would like to voice your support or would like to offer your brilliant save-the-theatre suggestions, please email savetorontoreps@gmail.com

I sent this to the gmail address if anyone would like to comment:

Hello at Midori's request I am sending two ideas for the repetory cinemas.

One is to charge more for the memberships. I personally would have no trouble with a 100 dollar membership or to purchase reel deal cards in the 100 range.

I own a Chapters discount card that I never use enough to get the value and Costco memberships are 50 dollars even. The theatre membership would be good value.

I understand that logic of the cheap membership is to encourage people to come again. So perhaps the idea of putting reel deal cards in the 100 dollar range is the better choice.

Second, I believe the repetory cinemas should direct more advertising to their specific neighbourhoods. The Paradise and Kingsway are good for parking but the Fox, The Royal and The Revue can at times be problematic. Capitalizing on those people who live in the area I think is the way to go. People like the cinema but going to the movies on a weeknight seems stressful for time: traffic is congested, parking may make you late, it is hard to plan right after work, the nine and ten o'clock shows may be too late when you have to get up for work.

These are all ADVANTAGES for the neighbourhood cinema!

You can walk there. You can decide to go at 6:50 and be on time. You will not have to line up.

I think the repetory cinemas have wrongly fallen into the thinking that they are a discount product. They are a premium product! The theatres are beautiful! They are convenient! They offer you the opportunity to see a movie that is a month old (who has time to go see every movie release in a month?) on a real screen. If the film is still playing at the Cineplex after a month it has probably been relegated to a tiny screening room that feels like someone's wide screen television.

The repetory cinemas also offer a service. They are out getting those movies that win awards at Sundance or internationally and writing about them and encouraging me to go. I recently saw Cache and I cannot imagine a subtitled film like that would have had any impact upon me on DVD. These films were meant to be appreciated on real screens.

With the advent of television films went to widescreen because they needed to offer people something they could not get at home.

More sad news. Apparently the Paradise will close as well.

More sad news. Apparently the Paradise will close as well.

Bad managment sounds like the major cause of these cinemas going down. Running a indy cinema is hard, I work at one in Ottawa. Its hard work with little returns. I'm sure the owners just figured selling would be an easy way out and very profitible. Also as much as people complain that they would like to see older classic movies play at these cinemas, when the theatres do play them, no one shows up. I think the theatres have to get away from being reps and start saying there art house thaetres playing indy features and docs not playing at the big houses. Being a single screen is tough though, why do you thing all the chains got rid of their singles in the early 90's. Also no theatre owner is going to buy the Royal for 2.7 million + $30,000 taxes a year. A group in quebec recently bought 80 screens with all the equipment from Cineplex for 2.5 million! It is a very grim time for T.O. I used to go to most of those cinemas while going to school in T.O. if your going to save just a couple save the revue (its the oldest theatre still running films in Toronto, since 1912!!) and the Royal... but I have a feeling it will become a night club.

I am sooo sad about this. I have been loving these cinemas since I moved to Toronto 20 years ago. If no white knight is coming soon, (I wish I had the resources and the know how to be the one...), I think a co-op solution is not a bad idea at all. And yes I agree, the programming should be more difficult-to-see-elsewhere, international, documentary, Sundance stuff.

I only found out on the weekend when I went to my beloved Revue theatre that they were closing on June 30....how shocking!! I don't live in the neighbourhood and have only recently discovered that charming old place so I can only imagine how long-time fans are feeling. It is so much a part of the fabric of the neighbourhood and I don';t think we should let it go without trying everything we can to keep it. I'm not sure how far innocent bystanders can go toward saving it (heritage possibilites, fundraisers, co-op possibilites etc.)if the owners are bent on getting it off their backs for profit. Where do we begin and what can I do? I'm in.

I've enjoyed going to these 3 theatres for over 20 years, and I live just a couple of blocks from the Revue. It will be very sad to lose it, and the other two as well. I can't believe there isn't a market for these. Now people will have no choice but to go to the movie-viewing processing centres in the burbs...at $14.00 a shot.

Thanks for all of your comments. The reality of the situation is quite a bit more complex than has been explained.

It should be known that all three cinemas have been operated on the basis of preserving the neighbourhood film experience. This philosophy has guided the Festival chain of rep cinemas for all of their three decades (in one form or another). There has never been a time when they have been notably profitable and over the past years it has become increasingly more difficult to maintain a viable business. The original owners – Tom, Jerry and Peter and the many dedicated managers and staff over the years and in the various locations were entirely motivated by their love of film. The whole enterprise has been ‘about’ the community and ties to the Toronto neighbourhoods in which each theatre sits.

There have been a number of comments above relating to programming and relating to a revision in the economics of the business model we have followed. The respondent that pointed out that 'Art' and 'Festival' product (Sundance-esque seems to be a popular refrain) will not fill the seats on an ongoing basis is on the mark.

We have to ask what is at the root of the concerns expressed here and elsewhere. If it is neighbourhood cinema we seek to preserve, then programming a theatre with 'elitist' and erudite product will demand a 'City-wide' appeal - the cinema will no longer be the 'neighbourhood' institution that everyone is so nostalgic for. A similar problem would arise if memberships were $100 and we charged a 'boutique' price to attend - no more 'neighborhood' amenity.

So, lets extend this line of thought - maybe it is a 'Toronto' amenity that is being advocated for... We then run into the lack of parking for all of the city’s movegoers that are keen to see ‘Drowning By Numbers’ as part of the Peter Greenaway retrospective. The several references to ‘just walking in’ or making a 6:50pm decision for a 7:00pm film are also eliminated as, I assure you, three evenings of Greenaway will more than exhaust the walk-up audience in Roncey. Besides, Toronto is already well-served for this need, what of the role played by Cinematheque (with considerable outside funding I might add, and the product leverage granted by the status of TIFF) - isn't this the place for the well-screened filmophile?

The last series of protests come from those who simply love the experience of seeing a film in a pre-war theatre (or more pointedly of seeing such a cinema as part of the street-scape in their daily goings-on). Are these buildings really ‘Heritage’ concerns? I suppose if enough people agree so, then they are such. Keep in mind that for the buildings to survive (i.e. not fall over) they need to be maintained at a meaningful cost. Most private citizens will not be too enthused at the idea of paying to preserve a building deemed ‘for the public good’ – it is a hell of a burden for anyone.

These single screen cinemas are subject to the same economic factors that have seen the major exhibitors close every last one of their locations and retreat to DTS Stadium multiplexes on the 400-series highways. There is a reason for this. For the majority of the people who form the neighborhoods of Toronto, the place of 'film' and 'going to the theatre' has diminished (in a big way). If community/ neighborhood cinema was viable as a business model, the major exhibitors would have remained in this business.

In the end, maybe we’re in error. Maybe there is a viable business just waiting to break-out at each cinema. If we have failed, someone ought to come along, make us a fair offer and run with it. The three of us will be thrilled – we live in the neighborhoods too – we can come in, buy a bag of popcorn and simply enjoy the show. It would be a great relief.

Thanks,
Chris

I'd like to see our local, provincial, and federal politicians weigh in. It seems the federal govt. has money for arts and culture. The possible closing of the Revue should be a siren call for action.
Peggy Nash, Sylvia Watson, and our local MPP: Can you save our theatres?
Please.

Although i'm sure it's all a done deal, a couple of years ago I was in a rep theatre in Boulder Colorado. The owners there had turned it into sort of a bar/theatre hybrid. The back half od the theatre had tables and chairs while the front half retained the theatre seats. It was great. You could buy popcorn and other standards, but you could also get beer and pub style food int there. Maybe that's an idea.

Great to see that people like Chris & Midori who are close to the heart of the matter still have sufficient interest to follow the story.

Not knowing much about the film industry, but starting to get to know a few local film makers, I think the untapped market is to not think of cinemas as a mere place for watching a film. With new technologies, watching a film can be done almost anywhere anytime. Instead, a physical location's value is in its ability to gather people where they can share the film experience. Tapping into my foodie terminology, film watching at places like Cineplex & Famous Player is almost like having a mediocre meal at chains like East Side Mario or The Keg. There has to be a way to elevate the film experience to something that equate to having the tasting menu at Spendido or Susur.

The city has its fair share of indie film lovers - look at the line-up's at recent film festivals like hot docs & insideout. These people are not afraid to travel & pay to experience the films they like. With enough population, spending power & interest in Toronto to fill up high end restaurants, live theatres, opera, ballets, etc., I doubt there is no sufficient film lovers to fill up a couple of rep cinemas?

Hi,

I've had a membership at the Kingaway for a few years now. I love going to see movies there. The seats are extremely comfortable and your neighbour is not sitting in your lap. Plus it's good value. For me there is also the nostalgia, my grandmother used to love to see movies at the kingsway and then my father as a child.
The reason I started going there was the foreign films that they played. I used to go to the Cumberland all the time but I switched to the Kingsway. I have been going alot less because they have been playing movies that have been in wide release.

I do love the bar idea that an earlier poster mentioned.

I really hope someone figures out a way to keep the Kingway going.

I was watchcing a travel show, where I saw that there is a place in trendy Austin that is a resteraunt/bar/movie theatre.
They have a basic menu, and also make specials that suit the movies (watch a Spaghetti Western - and have spaghetti for dinner). They could charge a little less, and make a little more through booze and food.
It seemed to really work there.
I would looooove something like that here in Toronto.
Also: has anyone thought of contacting any of the movie stars that hail from this city?
They have been willing to bail out Toronto sports teams in the past, maybe there's someone with the moolah and the cohones to invest in some culture instead.

To say this news is distressing, disturbing and heartbreaking is putting it rather mildy.

Yes, the times are a changing. BUT, I feel Festival Cinemas has strayed too far off the mark from its original course ie screening old classics, independents and Euro classics/contemporary films. MANY people feel that Festival Cinemas
runs way too many Hollywood films on their program schedules, not to mention the fact that in one month, the Revue runs the same film countless times - THIS one factor has turned many people off. Plus, many people I talk to who are regular Festival
Cinema goers such as I note that suggestions for films to management are often ignored.

WAKE UP, FESTIVAL CINEMAS! Perhaps if you LISTENED to your patrons years ago, who begged to have less Hollywood crap on the screens, things might, might be different. Who knows. Many people feel the overall approach of Festival Cinemas re marketing, scheduling is/was rather apathetic, and I am inclined to somewhat agree here.

Charge more for memberships and raise the admission! You would be pleasantly surprised at how many would
Have no problem with this.

My God, the Revue opened in 1911! THIS THEATRE HOUSE HAS TO BE SAVED! Along with the Royal. This is absolutely horrid news.

PLEASE GOVERNMENT!
Save our theatres! The right to see second-run Hollywood films at $3 off is an essential part of our cultural landscape that must not be lost.
(end of sarcastic comment)

Hey, I liked to go to those theatres... all of them. I like not having to go to a big mega-plex to watch a film. The old theatres are what a *real* theatre looks like. But really people, aside from showing the odd old movie, or independant film, what contribution did these places make anymore?

Government bailout? You could probably send everyone in town a free Blockbuster rental coupon to greater effect and for less money. Sheesh!

I just walked by the Royal today and saw that the building had been sold. Does anyone know who purchased it?

sorry to hear of the closing of a wonderful old theatre..just a great place,will yu be showing lawrence of arabia on friday if so what are the times??thanks
regards
Lee

It's been a year since all of these emails, what's the situation now?