The Carlton Cinemas to Close December 6th

I love the Carlton. I've shed a few tears there, and seen some really excellent movies. I loved the intimacy of the small theatres. Goodbye, Carlton.

This is solumn news for good cinema.

This "prime time real estate" is one of the darkest and dingiest places along that stretch of Carlton. The cinema was the perfect answer to an otherwise disastrous building design. I will miss the Carlton and its quirky cinema fare very much.

I will miss it. I have many fond memories of seeing foreign and indie films you couldn't see anywhere else in the 80s and 90s. Farewell dear Carlton.

awesome jack, now tell us what hong kong would do with that space.

it sucks that it's closing, but anyone who's been there in the last few (or 10) years would have seen that they weren't making any money. i'll miss it.

hong kong would not waste prime real estate like that in downtown.. if you guys miss this place so much, why didn't you go there more often.. that area is so shady... this place should have closed down long time ago.. in fact, most stores in toronto are a joke...they are never busy with shoppers

So where will one have to go to watch foreign films now…? Will those movies screen somewhere else in Toronto, or nowhere at all?
I am quite disappointed. I have seen many movies there in my years living in Toronto, the Departures being one of them, amazing film!

Aw, this sucks. I just moved onto the street this year and I was excited to go see movies there, I guess I'll have to go to AMC from now on. I'll definitely be going to see as many movies as I can before it closes it's doors forever.

I've never been so it's no loss to me. I assume it was an older smaller theatre, the old-school type with cramped seats, small screen, and near-horizontal seating to give you the perfect view of the giant head in front of you. Yep, I'm not gonna miss it.

I want the bigger screen, bigger sound, and stadium-style seating, makes the movie experience much better. That's why I really hope they renovate the Varsity and Cumberland. I enjoy non-blockbuster independent flicks but they're always played in these smaller theatres and never in the Coliseums.

Whoa...who are you, Li Ka Shing?? Tear down the Carlton? How you gonna do that without taking down the whole freaking block?

Yeah, I've been to HK and it works just fine. TO isn't HK by any stretch and will never be. The little alleyway 5-10-table eateries won't fly in TO. And the TO bums are here to stay, unless we adopt Brazilian tactics. HK has no bums, no panhandlers, and very little down and out. HK is Holt FrooFroo, TO is Honest Eds.

The Carlton was perfect for this dismal space. I can only hope some filmophile with $$$ can re-open it.

This is terrible news

jack, this isn't HK.. its not gonny fly here.. nobody is going to go sip bubble tea and do karaoke, we are into beer, dancing and fscking, different night life scenes.

You're a waste of human space. You should've been replaced by a mailbox a long time ago.

I've gone to a couple of movies at the Carlton that where myself and my girl were the only people in the theatre. Given that we were in a theatre in downtown Toronto, we felt pretty special.

You know I wanted to. She was too shy. Doh!

I personally believe that the Carlton was way past it's prime, I agree that the Cumberland should get a extreme face lift and possibly add another cinema to boot (that office space Famous Players vacated hasn't been filled up, except for the Burberry store front on Bloor). Jack has a point if some many people cared about the Carlton, more people should have went to it. Remember Cineplex is a publicly traded company, it needs/wants to make money. People don't got to small, fairly uncomfortable venues anymore when you have the alternative of the new AMC. Cumberland isn't owned by Cineplex (but has some agreement that they [cineplex] take care of back office support, but if they just renovate the theatre I'm sure it could be a star again for arthouse films and TIFF (before TIFF leaves the Bloor Yorkville area).

this is awful... i wish there was something we could do. this is the theatre i go to most of the time... i love their selection of foreign and independent films. i am heartbroken.

Little Johnny Sensitive.

I used to live on the same stretch of Carlton as the theatre- in 5 years, I probably went to that theatre 3-4 times max. The theatre was less than 30 years old (i.e it was built in the 80s) - not much historical significance there. The theatres were cramped, the screens were tiny - compared to a typical viewing experience today, it didn't have much to offer - hence the lack of patronage. Its not like there's a lack of options in the area.

to Jack: why the obsession with HK? HK has a population of 7 million in an area barely larger than the downtown core of Toronto - that type of density allows you to do things that aren't feasible here. Get over it!

Best popcorn in the city, and cutest staff.
Loved only having to share an entire theatrre with maybe 1 or 2 other people, max!
Will be missed.

too bad Carlton; we needed the competition,of course. But also, you showed some really interesting films and you were always a good ource for foreign movies.

Some of us don't go to the movies much because we don't want stadium-style seating and state-of-the-art sound. I love the Carlton. It's where I first learned about independent and foreign film. I've seen countless movies there, and learned a lot from them. I'll miss this theatre a lot.

Man, I don't get the complaints about this being an outdated cinema or the fact it is owned by Cineplex.

The Carleton is comfy, has good popcorn, screens and sound and, best of all, good movies. I have fond memories of going there. I scared the bejesus out of my gf when we saw 28 Days Later. She had me walk her home afterwards only to kick my butt to the curb for my audacity. Good times.

I remember seeing Taxi to the Dark Side at the Carleton with a friend and afterwards going to the Brownstone to debate whether Khadr was a child soldier. That movie opened my eyes about a few things. I never would have seen it at Scotiabank.

Who cares if Dundas or Scotia or Varsity has bigger screens and stadium seating? That's a bit like saying Transformers is a better movie than Atanarjuat because it has special effects. It does, but it ain't.

And who cares if Carleton is owned by Cineplex? Is any more good done in the world because you see an indie film at the Cumberland vs. a chain? Not that I'm aware. In fact, if more people went to see indies at chains, maybe more indie (and Canadian) cinema would be carried by chains and more Canadians would be exposed to great movies.

"Toronto suck. HK is better. The buildings are taller and they have more elevators..." - okay, I get it now, you're a just a troll who posts solely to start up sh** on anonymous internet forums. Until you wrote that last post, I almost believed you were offering a legitimate opinion. You almost had us fooled.....

Ok to all those that say the popcorn is good at the Carlton compared to other theatres, I mean come on all the Cinplex theatres use the same corn kerrnals, same oil, and equipment. Saying that a programed machine makes it taste better at one place than another is... just odd. I don't think people are against Cineplex as in more that they quietly close smaller theatres cause, "It is not representative of the calibre and quality of theatre that we would like to present to our guests … it is not what would be called state of the art."

Translation: it's not representative of the kind of Revenue Per Guest Cineplex Corp. can generate in auditoriums showing piece of crap films that cater to illiterate teenagers.

Indie films don't get enough screens mostly due to booking managers at Head offices that don't think they'll turn a buck at a multiplex, or in general. No cause of lack of art houses, do you know how much is skimmed off a ticket from a theatres?? Lets say that it would be better to put it right to DVD and put the money in marketing, then leave it to theatres to push product.

someone is impersonating me to post comments here...as i didn't write some of the idiotic postings here

i didn't write this.. i meant
"Toronto suck. HK is better. The buildings are taller and they have more elevators..." - okay, I get it now, you're a just a troll who posts solely to start up sh** on anonymous internet forums. Until you wrote that last post, I almost believed you were offering a legitimate opinion. You almost had us fooled.....

I didn't write this either.
"hong kong would not waste prime real estate like that in downtown.. if you guys miss this place so much, why didn't you go there more often.. that area is so shady... this place should have closed down long time ago.. in fact, most stores in toronto are a joke...they are never busy with shoppers"

Paul, I don't know how you can say that all the popcorn at every Cineplex is the same. That's as silly as saying every experience at every Cineplex theatre is the same. You obviously haven't had the popcorn at the Carlton: it is made with love and tastes 10x better than the popcorn anywhere else.

Rainbow Market Square has good popcorn. I think they use real butter.

Ugh...i hope that "love" isnt baby batter!
I heard stories about that cinema.

I totally agree..this is DISGUSTING what's happening to this city...but unfortunately venting online about it isn't gonna stop big biz demolishing culture. Unless we organize and put huge pressure on politicians/licence issuers...nothing will change..other than our blood sugar levels!

Do you think there is any resemblance in the industries of movie theatres & bookstores? There is a market for the independents to compete with the big box, and perhaps it's time to brand the value that small could be better. Somehow, I don't think the theatres on Queen E or Mt Pleasant have quite risen to the ocassion. If it's not Carlton, it could be someone else. Why is it an anomaly for independent films to appear in nice movie houses? Hollywood isn't always the answer, and isn't there a market for the cache of finding the next big sleeper? (Or just enjoying a flick for the shear pleasure of its' plot, that wasn't picked up by Hollywood first.)

I just learned about this recently, as I was away from Toronto. I actually wanted to go to Carlton today, but did not see the listing in Tribute.ca, so I checked, and found out that it had shut down. Very sad indeed.........I had watched numerous films there over a span of 10 years. I really do hope another place like Carlton crops up in downtown Toronto...

Kind of late to the party with the response there, Arby (even though it was well-intentioned.)