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Movie Theatres in Toronto - Old and New

Odeon Humber is no more...

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From link.
 
The facade of the A&A Auto Clinic at 1202 Woodbine is one of my favourite spots in the whole city. I love the aesthetics of auto shops. In a city that's obsessed with a cheap minimalism it's a relief to get this splash of colour and clutter. I usually only see it when driving by, but I had a rare chance to take some photos on foot the other day. There have been a couple of cases where I've waited to long to get photos of shops and missed out when they end up demolished.

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Here's an earlier iteration from 2009 streetview. You can't really create something like this from scratch, it has to grow over time.
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While I was taking photos, one of the guys from the shop invited me inside to take a look and told me that the building was an old theatre. I only took a couple of photos because people were working and I felt like I was intruding.

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I couldn't see the ceiling at all because of the lights, but when I got home I could see that some of the ceiling ornamentation was still there.

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I didn't know it was a theatre and I also didn't know its connection to director Sidney J. Furie, so turns out you can learn something from standing round and taking photos.

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Here are a couple of additional links.

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Anyhow, for me, this is as good as it gets.
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Shocking news! However this is a reality in
Toronto and this doesn’t mean that The Revue can’t operate elsewhere! Maybe on a secondary street that commands less rent?
 
christiesplits said:
Sad news about the Revue Cinema.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1806436208781779296
Click to expand...

Let me bring that forward for the click averse and the preview deprived:

1719535849753.png


The Revue is not a movie palace by any stretch, but it is heritage and they do make an effort to incorporate a wide range of programming which I appreciate. I do hope they pull this out.......

rdaner said:
Shocking news! However this is a reality in
Toronto and this doesn’t mean that The Revue can’t operate elsewhere! Maybe on a secondary street that commands less rent?
Click to expand...

Not realistic. The society doesn't have the money to build a new cinema, you can't easily refit a generic retail space for that purpose........it would be very costly.

There are no plethora of former cinemas sitting vacant and in good shape, just awaiting a new tenant.

There are a few restorable (former) cinemas left........but it would take deep pockets and it would be a labour of love, not profit.
 
The Globe has some details on the situation:
www.theglobeandmail.com

Revue Cinema, Toronto’s oldest operating movie theatre, faces closure over tensions with landlord

Landlord Danny Mullin says he wants to get rid of the film society’s board as negotiations for renewal of the theatre’s commercial lease grow contentious
www.theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com

For the paywalled or click-averse, here are the relevant bits:
The tensions stem from a series of disagreements between the Revue and landlord Danny Mullin. The 96-year-old real estate investor purchased the property, located on a prime stretch of real estate, in 2007. A resident of the community, Mullin then handed the building’s operations over to the film society, a federally incorporated organization that essentially acts as a board, with 10 volunteer members.

“No one is planning to evict anyone – I just want the board out of there. I’ve said that everyone who works there can keep their jobs if they want to work for me,” Mullin said in an interview Thursday. “I’ve been good to them, giving them everything that they’ve wanted, and they haven’t done anything since. All I want now is to get rid of the board. We’ll take over Monday morning, nothing changes.”

...

If the Revue’s operators are not able to reach a new lease agreement with Mullin, the film society will be forced to remove all the equipment it has acquired over the years, including the digital projector that the Revue purchased in 2012, a critical piece of exhibition infrastructure.

“The business license is in our name, we own the equipment, we oversee the programming, we have the relationships with the distributors,” Oyston said. “We view this as a hostile takeover from Danny, but he won’t be able to seamlessly take over a cinema.”

As part of the negotiation process, Mullin requested a hike in the rent from $10,000 a month to $15,000.

“He’s requested various amounts during negotiating, and $15,000 came up over the past few days, which we have agreed to,” Oyston said. “But he’s refused to accept our cheques.”
Click to expand...

The article also mentions that the landlord reached out to current staff with offers to hire them, but that staff (quite reasonably!) declined.
 
Northern Light said:
... The Revue is not a movie palace by any stretch ...
... There are a few restorable (former) cinemas left........but it would take deep pockets and it would be a labour of love, not profit.
Click to expand...
I'm sure the society means well, and they do what they can with limited funds, but it's been a dingy old theatre for as long as I can remember, and it's difficult to imagine it would have much of a future continuing in its present state.
If the owner has plans and money to turn it into something like The Paradise, that would be great.

Paradise Theatre (1006 Bloor St W, Tawse, restoration, ERA Architects)

http://www.thegridto.com/city/places/derelict-delights-paradise-cinema/ Derelict Delights: Paradise Cinema Derelict Delights is a weekly series where we look at abandoned buildings begging for revitalization. This week: the old Paradise Cinema was recently recognized as a heritage site by the...
urbantoronto.ca urbantoronto.ca
 
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I think "dingy" is overselling it, and while I love the Paradise, I wouldn't want its fully modern interior transplanted to the Revue. I wouldn't say no to some improvements to the seating and bathrooms, but leave the rest as is.

As for the exterior,
“The Revue Film Society is committed to maintaining and preserving the Revue Cinema and looks forward to continuing our work, including completing the façade restorations planned for this summer.”
Click to expand...
 
Northern Light said:
Let me bring that forward for the click averse and the preview deprived:

View attachment 576126

The Revue is not a movie palace by any stretch, but it is heritage and they do make an effort to incorporate a wide range of programming which I appreciate. I do hope they pull this out.......



Not realistic. The society doesn't have the money to build a new cinema, you can't easily refit a generic retail space for that purpose........it would be very costly.

There are no plethora of former cinemas sitting vacant and in good shape, just awaiting a new tenant.

There are a few restorable (former) cinemas left........but it would take deep pockets and it would be a labour of love, not profit.
Click to expand...

smably said:
The Globe has some details on the situation:
www.theglobeandmail.com

Revue Cinema, Toronto’s oldest operating movie theatre, faces closure over tensions with landlord

Landlord Danny Mullin says he wants to get rid of the film society’s board as negotiations for renewal of the theatre’s commercial lease grow contentious
www.theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com

For the paywalled or click-averse, here are the relevant bits:


The article also mentions that the landlord reached out to current staff with offers to hire them, but that staff (quite reasonably!) declined.
Click to expand...

The Fox Theatre in The Beaches could be a business model for the Revue to follow. The Fox appears to have a reliable membership base and a lot of venue bookings for corporate and community events.
 
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