The Longer the Arclight Hollywood Stays Closed, the Trickier It Will Be to Come Back

New year, new building permit application extension request (until March 1) from the owners of the closed Cinerama Dome and its adjacent Arclight Hollywood complex. That’s a sign that there is at least a pulse at the location, which combined an iconic standalone theater and 14 state-of-the-art stadium screens.

There is nothing specific to report on the status of any partial or complete reopening plans. But in the event it does happen, the theater will be in a challenging position to return as the dominant one it was at its height.

When Arclight Hollywood opened in 2002, it immediately set the standard for innovative presentation. Reserved stadium seating was radical at the time. Its lack of advertising on screens was a significant change. Staff introducing films, lobby amenities including a book store, and now-standard director and cast appearances all quickly made it a destination theater.

The Decurion Corporation, which owns the property, is presumably assessing the best way to return it to financial viability. If the thinking is to resume operation as a movie theater, here are points worth considering.

What would be their annual projected revenues?

In 2019, Arclight’s last full year before COVID forced closure, the theater grossed $15.2 million. The most optimistic projections for 2025 have the U.S./Canada box office total to be $10 billion, down from $11.2 billion in 2019. So if a similar performance, that would be under $14 million before adding concession and other revenues.

Arclight HollywoodIndieWire

Is that level even realistic?

Arclight Hollywood was not a normal theater, compared to juggernaut locations in Los Angeles and elsewhere (it was for the record the fifth-biggest grossing location in the region for 2019, with AMC’s Burbank #1 at $27 million). But its still impressive gross total was elevated more than anything because it was often the premier and most irreplaceable platform theater not just in Los Angeles but anywhere.

Flash forward to Christmas 2024: That world has changed forever. “Nosferatu” (Focus), “A Complete Unknown” (Searchlight), “Babygirl” (A24), and “The Fire Inside” (Amazon MGM) opened wide on December 25. All four, specialized or specialized-adjacent, from companies that routinely release sophisticated, often award-contending titles, would like in 2019 have been initially positioned these as platform films (typically, two theaters each in New York and Los Angeles).

The first three have done better than expectations, and without the imprimatur of that having an initial platform run added (“The Fire Inside” had more modest expectations, and has gotten elevated awareness for its Prime streaming likely to come soon). Add “Conclave” (Focus) and “The Substance” (MUBI) months earlier (which was intended as a platform until shortly before its wide release) as another example.

These platform runs, plus more than decent but hardly breakout grosses for Marvel and other franchise titles (and less so for animated films at about 25 percent of industry revenue last year), were the core to Arclight Hollywood’s success. How does the theater return to past glory without them?

How has the competition changed?

Concerns that what the Arclight Hollywood provided in terms of elevated attention for certain films, ability to perform when platform runs are still desired, and replacement of revenue have almost totally evaporated.

Leading the way has been the now AMC Grove. The theater, located about four miles away in the Fairfax district, was previously under the same ownership with the Arclight. Now, the AMC Grove competitive theater, and though its ability to provide the same amount of screens and seating for platform films isn’t as strong, it’s been adequate for those films it has played.

The Landmark, Los AngelesMichael Buckner for Variety

The Arclight Hollywood partly existed in tandem with The Landmark in West Los Angeles, another hub for platform and specialized releases. That theater has permanently closed, replaced usually by the AMC Century.

The surprises have come from other theaters filling the void. AMC’s Burbank, always a general audience powerhouse, has often done near-equal business (in part because it has greater capacity). On a lesser but not unimportant level, Quentin Tarantino’s single-screen Vista, just over two miles away, has done excellent business as a platform location for “The Zone of Interest” and recently a 70mm run of “The Brutalist.”

It is inconceivable to imagine powerhouse AMC (which also operates the Lincoln Square in New York, an irreplaceable platform theater) agreeing to let the Arclight Hollywood resume its past position as an exclusive platform theater. And if they played together, their grosses would be lower.

No IMAX presentation

Most top theaters in the country, including the AMC Grove, Century City, Burbank, and Lincoln Square, have IMAX and other special presentation auditoriums. The Arclight Hollywood never added IMAX (the nearby Chinese also has it).

Though the theater was less reliant on format-leading franchise epics, IMAX does enhance grosses for when they are played (as they always did there) and is increasingly being used for a wider range of films. Not having IMAX is a disadvantage (apart from any knowledge of IMAX’s interest in partnering here, the expense involved in doing so is another additional cost).

Arclight Hollywood does have 70mm capacity, not often called upon but an asset. But as noted, the nearby Vista also has it.

Overview

The Arclight Hollywood had a more spacious ambiance, a different feel in some ways from the comfortable but more standard-issue AMC and similar locations. But its biggest strength was its programming, its draw from a wide area not just because of its amenities but because the theater showed many films earlier than others.

It’s difficult to see how that would be replicated. And again, that kind of platform programming is rapidly receding, and with films with the kind of draw that played a big part in the theater’s annual total.

The theater’s return would be welcome, and a victory over circumstances. How to successfully do so after more than five years closed remains uncertain.