Hollywood’s iconic Cinerama Dome theater will not be reopening in 2024, according to Variety. It is instead hoped that the theater alongside the adjacent Arclight Theaters will be set to open in 2025, suggesting more time will be needed to complete renovations. These theaters have been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.
In 2021, Pacific Theaters filed for bankruptcy; however, their parent company, the Decurion Corporation, kept the right to use the Arclight and Pacific brand names at these theaters. The Decurion Corporation’s owners received a liquor license in 2022 and indicated they would change the complex’s name to Cinerama Hollywood.
Before filing for bankruptcy, Pacific Theaters gave up the other Arclight Theatres locations, most of which now have new operators. Amazon runs the Culver City location, Regal operates the Pasadena theaters, and the Santa Monica location may reopen as a digital art installation.
The Cinerama Dome was built by William Forman in 1963; it was one of several in the country, and the first movie screened at the theater was It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
Though the prolonged closure of the iconic theater remains an unfortunate reality for film lovers in Los Angeles, there has also been happy news for the L.A. film community. Other iconic theaters in the area have reopened, such as Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre, Los Feliz’s Vista, Eagle Rock’s Vidiots, and openings of new Landmark locations in Pasadena and on Sunset Boulevard.