Movie Theatres in Toronto - Old and New

[Cast2]

So I'm glancing at a National Post article on the new condos up at Shops at Don Mills when I stumble across this in the article.....

and, just recently, news broke that a five-theatre cinema complex will open catering to adults with wine and gourmet food served.

First I've heard of this.........anyone else got news on this? I tried googling w/o luck.

Original article here....... http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/0...welcomes-yet-more-pedestrian-friendly-condos/

The mystery has been solved and it is not surprising, it will be a Cineplex Odeon there. This will be the company's first stand alone V.I.P. theatre. Also existing theatres such as the Queensway and Silvercity Yonge & Eglinton will get V.I.P. cinemas.

http://www.citytv.com/toronto/cityn...5--cineplex-to-open-3-adults-only-vip-cinemas

Cineplex also hired a corporate chef for its V.I.P. cinemas.

http://business.financialpost.com/2...it-ramps-up-expansion-of-upscale-vip-cinemas/

This looks like Cineplex is ready to keep off foreign cinema chains such as Alamo Drafthouse, iPic, Cinepolis, etc from expanding into Canada. The company is going through a national expansion building new theatres in Vancouver B.C., Calgary, Alberta, and in Ontario in cities such as Markham, Barrie, Kitchener & Guelph.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

There used to be an Odeon theatre there (Odeon Don Mills) that was built in the early 60's I believe, a big 700 or 800 seat cinema. They added on a second smaller cinema (300-400 seats) in the late 70's. I think Cineplex closed in about the mid 80's.

 

[Cast2]

Probably around 1988 according to Rivest's website because of the newly rebuilt Fairview Mall cinemas.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Ah yes, that sounds right. FYI, the original Fairview Mall cinema (split in half and made into two cinemas in the mid 70's) used to be in the basement (similar to the old Yorkdale cinemas) at the north-west corner of the mall.

 

[NotKevinBacon]

Ah!! I sent an email the cinplex about this exact issue:

These are some of the reasons why I stopped going to movie theaters for good. Squeaking seats, people talking to each other (sometimes even on the phone) or laughing, loud eating and drinking, bad sound and inability to pause movie whenever I want to go to the bathroom or to eat something. Yeah, maybe I've grown a bit lazy on this part, but watching a film is a really personal experience for me and I want to enjoy it as much as I can, not to be constantly distracted by something. And my solution? Although it seems like waste of space to some people, I've got a media room in my basement similar to the picture in this article:
http://jamiesarner.com/toronto-real-estate/2012/11/top-home-features-in-2012/
although mine is done in a deep red colour to resemble old theatres from the times of silent movies.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

The main things that have changed going to the movies is the advent of mobile devices, on screen advertising and the home media explosion in the early 80's. People were always noisy, eating/drinking, kicking squeaky seats and we had much, much worse sound years ago. For the most part people our age are not the target demographic because we don't go a lot - it's kids, teens and young adults. Some film fans 40 & up still go, but not anywhere near as often as the younger set. My mom was in town this week and I couldn't drag her to see the Bond film (she loves Bond and it's playing in IMAX) nor even PT Anderson's "The Master" which she's dying to see but hasn't been able to find it yet on bit torrents.

 

[taal]

I'd be careful downloading movies, particularly new releases nowadays, except to see many more lawsuits targeting non commercial offenders. I think the max fine was lowered to 5000 recently ...still a hefty sum/

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I don't d/l anymore and I never d/l films, I was a very occasional BT user. I've been reading the stories on how a company is collecting P2P data on millions of Canadians right now. Scary stuff.

 

[khris]

They can't do anything to you if you download movies in Canada. It's not illegal to do that here.

 

[khris]

These are some of the reasons why I stopped going to movie theaters for good. Squeaking seats, people talking to each other (sometimes even on the phone) or laughing, loud eating and drinking, bad sound and inability to pause movie whenever I want to go to the bathroom or to eat something. Yeah, maybe I've grown a bit lazy on this part, but watching a film is a really personal experience for me and I want to enjoy it as much as I can, not to be constantly distracted by something. And my solution? Although it seems like waste of space to some people, I've got a media room in my basement similar to the picture in this article:
http://jamiesarner.com/toronto-real-estate/2012/11/top-home-features-in-2012/
although mine is done in a deep red colour to resemble old theatres from the times of silent movies.

Ya, I love watching movies at home now. It used to be a crappy experience back in the days of VHS, but with a good speaker setup and a nice screen and Blu-Ray, I get by just fine. The only thing I miss is the popcorn. My air popper makes good popcorn, but not like theatre stuff.

 

[dazednconfuzed68]

Forgive me if this is the wrong place to post this.

I am trying to dig up some info and pictures on an old theather in Scarborough that was located at Morningside and Kingston Rd. I believe it was leveled to make room for the Morningside Mall. I have been told it was called the Bijou but that may not be correct.

TIA.

 

[mk39920]

Noticed this past weekend the demolition work on AMC Kennedy Commons has started. The interior has been stripped and they started to pull down the concrete curtain walls.

Anyone know whats going in?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Forgive me if this is the wrong place to post this.

I am trying to dig up some info and pictures on an old theather in Scarborough that was located at Morningside and Kingston Rd. I believe it was leveled to make room for the Morningside Mall. I have been told it was called the Bijou but that may not be correct.

TIA.

I grew up in central Scarborough & went there a few times when I was young, I didn't like the cinemas there so I avoided it then one day it was just gone - maybe early 80's.

& here's part of an ad for films from 1977, the Bijou is highlighted in red

Noticed this past weekend the demolition work on AMC Kennedy Commons has started. The interior has been stripped and they started to pull down the concrete curtain walls.

Anyone know whats going in?

Nobody was interested in picking up Kennedy Commons & a few other locations so I guess AMC managed to sell this one off. Cineplex & Empire picked up maybe a dozen AMC locations across the country and Cineplex just picked up the remaining Festival theatres in Vancouver.

 

[dazednconfuzed68]

I grew up in central Scarborough & went there a few times when I was young, I didn't like the cinemas there so I avoided it then one day it was just gone - maybe early 80's.

& here's part of an ad for films from 1977, the Bijou is highlighted in red

Nobody was interested in picking up Kennedy Commons & a few other locations so I guess AMC managed to sell this one off. Cineplex & Empire picked up maybe a dozen AMC locations across the country and Cineplex just picked up the remaining Festival theatres in Vancouver.

Thanks for the picture. Morning side mall went up in late 79 around the time we moved back to Scarborough. Most of what little i did find said it was open from 71-78.

 

[Suiseiseki]

The Empire Theaters at Empress Walk is closing down! Apparently the last day for them will be Thursday March 21, 2013.