Westwood's historic movie palaces, the Regency Village Theatre and the Bruin, will close later this week.
“The last day of operation for the Bruin & Village Theatres under Regency management is Thursday, July 25.“,” Lyndon Golin, president of Regency Theatres, confirmed in an email Sunday.
Regency has managed the two theaters for 14 years, but its leases on the properties expire at the end of this month, Golin added.
The Village Theatre, a beloved landmark, is expected to close only temporarily, thanks to a high-profile effort by director Jason Reitman and others to save the once-stately 170-foot Art Deco-Spanish Revival tower that has drawn Westside moviegoers since 1931. The group announced in late February that its acquisition of the theater had closed but did not reveal a timeline for renovations or say when the Village might be ready for a grand reopening.
The fate of the nearby Bruin, opened in 1937, remains unclear: it was not purchased together with its more striking sibling.
“He [Bruin’s] “The owners are grateful to the Golin family and Regency Theatres for our relationship with them over the past 14 years,” the family said in a statement, provided by a representative. The owners said they are “currently evaluating future opportunities for the Bruin.”
Long known as Fox Westwood Village, the theater was designated a historic cultural landmark in 1988.
Designed by Percy P. Lewis, this location was used as a location for Quentin Tarantino’s 1960s film “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.” Originally, it was part of the Fox cinema chain. In the 1970s, it became part of the Mann cinema chain.
The theater went up for sale last year. Upon hearing the news, Reitman scrambled to assemble a group of filmmakers to purchase the space before it could be turned into a retail store or other business serving the nearby UCLA community.
Plans include beautifying the Village, which has a 70mm-capable screen, an upgraded sound system and a cavernous auditorium that seats more than 1,300, to eventually screen a mix of first-run films and repertory programming, the new owners have said.
“We have an exciting vision that includes dinner, drinks, movies, gallery tours and programming of new and returning films, and we can’t wait to share it with everyone,” Reitman said in an interview with The Times in February.
Representatives for Reitman's group did not respond Sunday to inquiries seeking additional details.
The Regency Bruin Theatre box office in Westwood Village boarded up in 2020, during the COVID-19 closure.
(Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
The effort to save the Village Theatre on Broxton Avenue came as movie theaters in Los Angeles and elsewhere around the country struggled to stay afloat following the devastating double whammy of COVID-19 pandemic-related closures and last year’s strikes by Hollywood writers and actors.
The recovery of the film industry has been slow to slow, which has hampered the hopes of many cinema operators for a comeback.
Some did not survive the pandemic, including the ArcLight Cinemas chain, with six locations in the Los Angeles area, and the Landmark Theatres branch at Westside Pavillion.
Still, there have been glimmers of recovery with the success of recent Hollywood blockbusters, including Universal Pictures' “Twisters,” which opened this weekend and grossed more than $80 million in domestic ticket sales in its debut. Disney/Pixar's “Inside Out 2” has also been a big hit, generating an estimated $1.4 billion in global sales since its June release.
Others have shown faith in the independent film scene. Four years ago, Netflix bought the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood; filmmaker Tarantino purchased the historic Vista Theatre in Los Feliz in 2021; and Sony Pictures Entertainment last month took control of the Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse movie theater chain, including its downtown Los Angeles location.
The Reitman group includes an impressive array of Academy Award-winning filmmakers and other talents, including Christopher Nolan, J.J. Abrams, Guillermo del Toro, Christopher McQuarrie, Judd Apatow, Damien Chazelle, Steven Spielberg, Chris Columbus, Bradley Cooper, Alfonso Cuarón, Hannah Fidell, Alejandro González Iñárritu, James Gunn and Rian Johnson. Other announced members of the ownership group include Gil Kenan, Karyn Kusama, Justin Lin, Phil Lord, David Lowery, Chris Miller, Todd Phillips, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Jay Roach, Seth Rogen, Emma Seligman, Emma Thomas, Denis Villeneuve, Lulu Wang and Chloé Zhao.
Through Thursday, “Twisters” is playing at the Bruin and “Fly Me to the Moon” is playing at the Village, according to Regency’s website. Regency Theatres operates 20 theaters, primarily in Southern California.
This is a developing story.
Staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this report.
