Celebrities support plan to reopen New York City movie theater
The facade of the Metro Theater, in New York on July 4, 2008. Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke and John Turturro are all listed as advisers to a new proposal to buy the former Metro Theater, which closed in 2005. (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)
by Annie Aguiar
NEW YORK, NY.—
After almost two decades of failed attempts to reopen, a landmark Upper West Side movie theater may be resurrected with a plan from a potential new buyer and celebrity support.
Independent film producer Ira Deutchman is spearheading the project, along with Adeline Monzier, the U.S. representative of French film promoter Unifrance and a programmer at the Metrograph, a Lower East Side theater. They have formed the Upper West Side Cinema Center, a nonprofit corporation, whose website lists Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke and John Turturro as advisers, along with Bob Balaban, Griffin Dunne and “American Psycho” director Mary Harron. (They would call it the Metro Cinema Center.)
Representatives for Scorsese and Dunne confirmed their involvement.
The plan was reported earlier by IndieWire.
The proposal includes a five-screen theater dedicated to art house releases, classic film and special events. It would also have an education center and a cafe.
Mark Levine, president of the Manhattan borough, said he has spoken with two other parties that are talking with the owners about a potential sale, but Deutchman’s proposal is the most fully developed. The estate of the former owner also has yet to engage a broker for the sale, Levine said.
The Upper West Side, once a hot spot for art house theaters, is now served by selections at Film at Lincoln Center and large multiplexes. “This is a really underserved audience that is in a community that clearly has an interest in the kinds of movies we’re talking about,” Deutchman said in an interview.
The Metro Theater, with its landmark pink terra-cotta art deco facade, opened in 1933 and closed in 2005. At the time, Albert Bialek, its owner, pointed to the rise of multiscreen theaters as making smaller movie houses such as the Metro “obsolete.”
Subsequent attempts to reimagine the space as a Planet Fitness and an Alamo Drafthouse location were unsuccessful. Development options are limited because of the landmark status and because Bialek, who died in 2023, previously sold the air rights above the theater. Deutchman said he thinks his proposal has a higher chance of being successful than previous attempts to revitalize the theater because Bialek’s estate is looking to sell the building, while Bialek had pursued leasing agreements.
The Upper West Side Cinema Center proposal hinges on persuading Bialek’s estate to accept the plan and finding funding through individual donors, private investors and, possibly, government grants.
Deutchman said he was not at liberty to disclose a financial estimate for the purchase. But he indicated that estimates from a community group, which were included in the IndieWire article and placed the sale at $5 million to $10 million and restoration at $15 million to $25 million, were generally accurate.
“We’re hoping that there’s one person of means who would really like to see their name” on one of the five movie theaters that would make up the Metro Cinema Center, he said.
Levine, who has been involved in efforts to reopen the theater since he was a City Council member representing the district, said that he likes the plan and is optimistic, but that it’s still early.
“I have been through at least half a dozen cycles of hope and heartbreak,” he said. “It’s been quite a roller coaster.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
