The UC Theater Lives!

Tetsuo316

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Mar 14, 2000
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Hurray! (for at least another three months)

To sum up the following newsbrief, it basically states that the UC Theater shall remain open at least until the end of the year, and may even change management from Landmark/Silver Cinemas to private management. I'm so happy. For those of you who have no clue what all this is about, read my earlier thread about the closing of the UC Theater in Berkeley. Needless to say, my sadness has been assuaged and I have hope for the world again. Well, I may not be that happy, but it's a start.

Taken form Saturday's SF Chronicle:

"BERKELEY -- Berkeley's landmark UC Theatre, threatened last week with closure at the end of the month, appears to have won a temporary reprieve.

Prospects for the cavernous 83- year-old movie house on University Avenue looked glum last week when it was disclosed that the cinema had stopped scheduling films past Sept. 30. The cinema operator, Landmark Theatres, said it couldn't afford to pay its share of seismic-retrofitting costs obligated by its lease.

But now the popular showcase for a wide variety of films typically not found at mainstream houses has booked films until the end of the year, Landmark officials confirmed yesterday. They said negotiations over the seismic costs are continuing.

``I'm totally enthusiastic,'' said theater manager Maria Zvetina. ``I think it's wonderful news.''

The new quarterly schedule -- a familiar item in Berkeley backpacks -- went to the printers yesterday. Usually the schedule would have been set by last week.

The new schedule, however, is different from the old one. The new calendar primarily has films booked for one-week runs, which could mean fewer films. Up to now, the schedule regularly featured shorter runs, including one day, in addition to a week.

A cloud of uncertainty still hangs over the 1,300-seat former nickelodeon. Mike Mullen, senior vice president for operations of Landmark's parent company, Dallas- based Silver Cinemas, acknowledged that the UC is only ``marginally profitable'' and that shouldering the extra seismic cost would be ``pretty tough'' following Silver Cinemas' filing of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition.

The lease requires Landmark to pay half the seismic costs. A report issued yesterday by the city of Berkeley said Landmark ``has indicated its inability or unwillingness to pay'' its half of the $512,000 total bill.

Yuval Bobrovitch, part of the landlord partnership, said he has received scant information from Landmark, aside from an unacceptable request to forgive the seismic cost entirely and cut the rent in half. He learned of the extended booking past Sept. 30 from The Chronicle yesterday.

Gary Meyer, a Landmark co- founder who reopened the UC Theatre in its current incarnation in 1976 and left the company four years ago, said he is ``pretty optimistic'' that the current type of programming can continue there, though probably not under Landmark's operation.

Landmark has said it will maintain similar programming at one of the screens at its Shattuck Cinemas multiplex if it leaves the UC. ``We're exploring every option at our disposal to keep that theater open,'' Mullen said. ``We continue to negotiate and float ideas back and forth.''

Meyer, who is now a film consultant, said several people have urged him to resume operation of the theater. He said he has ``a lot of enthusiasm for what could be done there,'' but he is unsure if he has the commitment to spend the long hours that would be required.

Berkeley's manager of economic development, Bill Lambert, also hailed the ``good news'' yesterday. The theater is an important part of the city's promotion of downtown as an arts and entertainment district."
 

Tetsuo316

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Mar 14, 2000
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Well spoke, Moonbeam. I couldn't have said nothing with quite as much flair as you just didn't. I think. Something like that anyway.