After years of rumor and locals’ hopes it would never happen, Malibu’s one-and-only movie theater is finally closing its doors permanently. It’s been confirmed by property management that the 45-year-old cinema in the Malibu Village Shopping Center on Cross Creek Road will hold its last showings on Sunday, Sept. 10.
Regal, the nation’s largest movie theater chain, which leases the Malibu space, did not return phone calls for comment, but The Malibu Times did hear from property management firm Jamestown, which issued this statement:
“Despite extensive efforts to revive the theater’s prospects, including a 75 percent reduction in rent for the past several months, Regal has determined that the current business model is not financially viable and the theater will close as of Sept. 10. Jamestown is committed to finding a replacement tenant that will fit compatibly within the unique Malibu community. Over the past few months, we have been exploring a variety of options and we hope to announce a new tenant in the very near future.”
The 4,000-square-foot theater—tiny by today’s multiplex standards—opened in 1972, first by the Wallace Theater Corporation. By 1992 the company was known as Hollywood Theaters. After a fire forced its closure in 2005, it reopened more than a year later and in 2011 Regal Cinemas took over its management. Sources at Jamestown Property Management (which leases space in the Malibu Village) earlier stated the theater’s lease had expired and was operating on a month-to-month basis and at a reduced rate in order to keep the business operating. That may not have been enough for Regal’s business model getting as many patrons in as many seats as possible.
The Malibu Times asked employees at the venue for comment, but the workers at the theater this past weekend said they were unauthorized to speak about the theater’s demise.
Malibu resident Dick Guttman, a longtime film publicist, told The Malibu Times he was astounded by the theater’s closing.
“It’s incomprehensible in a town that basically was founded as a movie colony—originally a bunch of huts along the ocean that movie stars went to in the ‘30s to get away,” Guttman said. “Malibu’s always been not just a beach town. For it to abandon or be abandoned by theatrical distribution is just ridiculous.”
Guttman said one factor that may have contributed to the theater’s demise was greed.
“I read the distributors did not wish to do any more of it. I’m sure that’s a function of what the costs had become. There are a lot of contributing factors and most of them are the common denominator of greed,” he said. “I would attribute that as the primary factor. I think it’s imperative that it can be maintained as a place to see a film in a theatrical setting without taking the time and the risk of getting on Pacific Coast Highway.” Guttman went on to explain that with so many Academy members living in Malibu and with less access to see films locally, they may eventually feel “disenfranchised.”
Scott Tallal, the executive director of the Malibu Film Society, which operates out of the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue and has used the Regal Twin Malibu theater space for screenings, also commented on the loss saying.
“While it’s really sad to see Malibu losing its only movie theater, this is a day that we always knew was going to come,” Tallal said. “In fact, it’s one of the main reasons why we founded the Film Society eight years ago—to make sure that Malibu would still have a place where the community could continue to see movies on the big screen, even after the theater closes.
“Fortunately, the studios and publicists have been incredibly supportive in helping us establish an alternative screening venue,” Tallal went on to say. “We may not be operating as a (stand alone) theater 24/7, but this year MFS is expecting to show at least 50 sneak previews and first-run films—the vast majority of which will be in contention for Golden Globes and Academy Awards.”