Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema Eyes December 2018 Re-Opening
UPDATED (July 25): New Beverly Cinema‘s Twitter account announced a tentative re-opening date of December 1.
Dormant since commencing with “upgrades and enhancements” on New Year’s Day, the Quentin Tarantino-owned New Beverly Cinemahopes to welcome back customers this December. The Los Angeles theater shared the following statement via its Twitter account Monday:
“We would like to thank everyone for their patience while we have been working to get a target date for the re-opening of the New Beverly Cinema. If everything goes as planned, we are looking at a December 2018 re-opening. While we are doing a lot of behind the scenes work to upgrade the theater, rest assured when we re-open, you will find the vintage New Beverly Cinema that we all know and love. We look forward to sharing more with all of you as we continue this process. Again, thank you for your patience, loyalty, and support.”
Since 1929, 7165 Beverly Boulevard has variously served as a exhibition space for vaudevillains and pornographers, as well a candy factory and nightclub, according to The Los Angeles Times. Tarantino’s predecessor, Sherman Torgan, began the venue’s repertory programming of 35-mm films in 1978; in 1994, he permitted the future Oscar winner’s debut feature, “Reservoir Dogs,” to screen at midnight for six consecutive months. When Torgan died in 2007, Tarantino became the new landlord, to the chagrin of developers intent on building a Supercuts in its place.
Tarantino also assumed the role of head programmer in 2014, ordering what The Times described as “a raft of updates,” including “rebuilding the sound and picture heads, adding workspace and new controls to the projection booth, scrapping the periscope projection system and lowering the portholes in the booth to give the picture a straight, unfiltered journey to the screen.” A documentary on the theater, “Out of Print” was completed that same year by former manager Julia Marchese, who said she was forced to quit when Tarantino expanded his role.
IndieWire has reached out to the New Beverly Cinema regarding the nature of the latest renovations.
Of late, tickets inside the 228-seat space have retailed for $8 apiece, and the majority of the films shown come from the director’s personal collection. Just this month, Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” collaborators took over another historic local theater — the Cinerama Dome — for a night of exterior shots.
