I'm so glad they're reopening it & I hope it survives. It's one of my favourite Auckland cinemas & I found it so strange that they did essentially a full refurbishment at the same time the Westfield cinema was being built & then shut it down not long after the refurb was done.
Maybe Event will keep it as a cheaper offering compared with Westfield? I was keen to check out the fancy library cinema there but the prices are ridiculous.
That would be ideal I reckon. The cinema closest to me is at West City which is super old but tickets are only $10 so no one cares if you put your feet on the seats. I'd love it if Broadway had that vibe...
Close to 20 years ago, Wellington had two Hoyts cinemas (10 screens) in the central city on Manners Mall and Manners Street. Then Reading Cinemas opened up on Courtenay Place and overnight, the Hoyts cinemas were ghost towns. Except on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (also school holidays) when the Reading Cinemas sold out and Hoyts got the overflow. My guess is it's maybe less expensive to mop up the overflow from up the road during peak times than to break the lease (which is surely expiring soonish anyway because why else would you build another complex just up the road instead of renovating?) It's really unique to Auckland as a Premiere space, but in the end I think Hoyts Manners Street became offices, and Manners Mall definitely became a hostel/apartment complex ("The Setup"). For years those cinemas held on: they consolidated management, and reduced opening hours and staff, but they only had busy shifts when Reading was sold out or they had something unique. Broadway simply cannot compete with the new cinema outright, especially not in 2021. But is 2 stories (including projection) of huge open space in a pretty great location. Ultimately, I'm more confused by this whole thing (even moreso than the iMax building) because it's surely more "valuable" to the owner as residential real estate? Yet there must be a reason Event are holding on to it.
I think one of the reasons why I like Event Broadway is that access is so easy and parking is a breeze. I hope it works, I hope it stays open, but I've been up to that new cinema many times and I get the appeal of a new cinema surrounded by eateries. It's your whole night out in one place. Exactly what the iMax building used to offer....
Definitely! Broadway is unique, and holds a lot of memories for me. It would be a shame to see it go - but given I was once a projectionist working with 35mm film, I learned it's generally an industry that embraces and plans for change. Nice work on the Metro story by the way. I bought a copy to read it and wasn't disappointed. Interested to see anything you uncover here.
I'm enjoying the discourse on Physical since it's so varied. There are those who are way too triggered by it to continue watching and I certainly understand that and then there are those who see it as nothing more than misery porn and those who say that it's only watchable because of Rose Byrne. I've not read an unqualified positive review but plenty of middle of the road recommendations.
In The Heights did not do well here in the States, musicals are still a tough sell unless they come with solid reviews and a star packed cast. I'm interested to see how it does in other countries.
Physical's tone is so jarring and dark - an eating disorder displayed almost comically. I'm only one episode in and I've heard it takes two or three until it makes more sense.
In the Heights should surely be a hit? Where are the Hamilton crowds? So confused...
As far as the filmed version of Hamilton, originally it was set to debut THIS WEEK in theaters but Disney+ decided to put it out last year since lock down was a perfect time to showcase their streaming service and it did very well for them. No one was asked to leave home to see it. In The Heights is also available on HBO Max, so if you have that service, you don't have to head out to theater if you want to see the film (incidentally, HBO Max also has the film's star, Anthony Ramos, on the new season of In Treatment, so it was getting cross promotion out of the movie.
Hamilton and ITH are very different musicals, while Lin Manuel Miranda's lyrical style is consistent, the story is set to a specific neighborhood (a real one, some people don't seem to know that) and doesn't tell as expansive of a tale. It also received some rightful criticism for not casting any dark skinned or Black Latinx people in any of the major roles. Colorism is real and endemic in Latinx communities (I'm Puerto Rican) so I can see how many people felt left out of the narrative of a film that was supposed to represent all Latinx people. I plan to see it (at home) soon. I'm not comfortable going to a theater yet, even here in NYC where we have a high vaccination rate.
To brag, I did see Hamilton on Broadway with the OG cast and then I saw it again in Puerto Rico and I will carry the memory of that performance for the rest of my life.
I didn't dig In the Heights but I thought that was just my aversion to musicals - and that weird moment when the actor who played Dr Dre in the NWA movie starts singing and doing jazz hands. Knowing that background now makes it a far more complicated proposition...
I'm so glad they're reopening it & I hope it survives. It's one of my favourite Auckland cinemas & I found it so strange that they did essentially a full refurbishment at the same time the Westfield cinema was being built & then shut it down not long after the refurb was done.
Maybe Event will keep it as a cheaper offering compared with Westfield? I was keen to check out the fancy library cinema there but the prices are ridiculous.
That would be ideal I reckon. The cinema closest to me is at West City which is super old but tickets are only $10 so no one cares if you put your feet on the seats. I'd love it if Broadway had that vibe...
Close to 20 years ago, Wellington had two Hoyts cinemas (10 screens) in the central city on Manners Mall and Manners Street. Then Reading Cinemas opened up on Courtenay Place and overnight, the Hoyts cinemas were ghost towns. Except on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (also school holidays) when the Reading Cinemas sold out and Hoyts got the overflow. My guess is it's maybe less expensive to mop up the overflow from up the road during peak times than to break the lease (which is surely expiring soonish anyway because why else would you build another complex just up the road instead of renovating?) It's really unique to Auckland as a Premiere space, but in the end I think Hoyts Manners Street became offices, and Manners Mall definitely became a hostel/apartment complex ("The Setup"). For years those cinemas held on: they consolidated management, and reduced opening hours and staff, but they only had busy shifts when Reading was sold out or they had something unique. Broadway simply cannot compete with the new cinema outright, especially not in 2021. But is 2 stories (including projection) of huge open space in a pretty great location. Ultimately, I'm more confused by this whole thing (even moreso than the iMax building) because it's surely more "valuable" to the owner as residential real estate? Yet there must be a reason Event are holding on to it.
I think one of the reasons why I like Event Broadway is that access is so easy and parking is a breeze. I hope it works, I hope it stays open, but I've been up to that new cinema many times and I get the appeal of a new cinema surrounded by eateries. It's your whole night out in one place. Exactly what the iMax building used to offer....
Definitely! Broadway is unique, and holds a lot of memories for me. It would be a shame to see it go - but given I was once a projectionist working with 35mm film, I learned it's generally an industry that embraces and plans for change. Nice work on the Metro story by the way. I bought a copy to read it and wasn't disappointed. Interested to see anything you uncover here.
Ha thanks - there's more coming on Friday!
I'm enjoying the discourse on Physical since it's so varied. There are those who are way too triggered by it to continue watching and I certainly understand that and then there are those who see it as nothing more than misery porn and those who say that it's only watchable because of Rose Byrne. I've not read an unqualified positive review but plenty of middle of the road recommendations.
In The Heights did not do well here in the States, musicals are still a tough sell unless they come with solid reviews and a star packed cast. I'm interested to see how it does in other countries.
Physical's tone is so jarring and dark - an eating disorder displayed almost comically. I'm only one episode in and I've heard it takes two or three until it makes more sense.
In the Heights should surely be a hit? Where are the Hamilton crowds? So confused...
As far as the filmed version of Hamilton, originally it was set to debut THIS WEEK in theaters but Disney+ decided to put it out last year since lock down was a perfect time to showcase their streaming service and it did very well for them. No one was asked to leave home to see it. In The Heights is also available on HBO Max, so if you have that service, you don't have to head out to theater if you want to see the film (incidentally, HBO Max also has the film's star, Anthony Ramos, on the new season of In Treatment, so it was getting cross promotion out of the movie.
Hamilton and ITH are very different musicals, while Lin Manuel Miranda's lyrical style is consistent, the story is set to a specific neighborhood (a real one, some people don't seem to know that) and doesn't tell as expansive of a tale. It also received some rightful criticism for not casting any dark skinned or Black Latinx people in any of the major roles. Colorism is real and endemic in Latinx communities (I'm Puerto Rican) so I can see how many people felt left out of the narrative of a film that was supposed to represent all Latinx people. I plan to see it (at home) soon. I'm not comfortable going to a theater yet, even here in NYC where we have a high vaccination rate.
To brag, I did see Hamilton on Broadway with the OG cast and then I saw it again in Puerto Rico and I will carry the memory of that performance for the rest of my life.
I didn't dig In the Heights but I thought that was just my aversion to musicals - and that weird moment when the actor who played Dr Dre in the NWA movie starts singing and doing jazz hands. Knowing that background now makes it a far more complicated proposition...