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Paris Theater (Manhattan)

The Paris Theater is a 535-seat single-screen art house movie theater, located in Manhattan in New York City. It opened on September 13, 1948. It often showed art films and foreign films in their original languages. Upon the 2016 closure of the Ziegfeld, the Paris became Manhattan's sole-surviving single-screen cinema. Since November 2019, it has been operated by Netflix, playing first-run releases alongside repertory programming.

History

The theater was opened by Pathé Cinema on September 13, 1948, when actress Marlene Dietrich cut the inaugural ribbon in the presence of the U.S. Ambassador to France.[2]

It was designed by the New York architectural firm of Emery Roth & Sons. It was one of the first designs produced by Richard Roth when he reorganized the firm after returning from duty in the Pacific during World War II. He later co-designed the Pan Am Building and the World Trade Center.

Located at 4 West 58th Street in Midtown Manhattan, it has specialized in foreign (especially French language) and independent films.[3] It is between the Solow Building and Bergdorf Goodman Building, across from the Plaza Hotel.[4] The theater became a destination for motion pictures by directors including Federico Fellini and Franco Zeffirelli.

In 1990, Pathé lost its lease.[5] Loews Theatres then took over the operation and it was known as the Fine Arts Theatre for a while.[2] In 1994 the space was purchased by Sheldon Solow, a New York City–based real-estate developer and owner.[6]

By 2009, City Cinemas was the theater's operator.[2] After the Ziegfeld closed in January 2016, the Paris became Manhattan's sole surviving single-screen cinema.[7] In August 2019, a notice of closure was posted.[1][8] In November 2019, it was announced that the cinema would reopen for a limited run of Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story (2019).[9] At that time, Netflix leased the Paris Theater to use it for Netflix-original movie debuts, special events and other screenings.[10][11] The Paris closed temporarily in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, reopening in August 2021.[12][13] During the closure, Netflix installed new seating and made other improvements to the facility, which reopened August 6, 2021.[14]

See also

  • 1948 in architecture
  • List of art cinemas in New York City

External links

References

  1. Jeremiah Moss. Paris and Beekman Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, August 29, 2019, retrieved August 29, 2019^
  2. Ross Melnick, Howard B. Haas. Paris Theatre Cinema Treasures, retrieved November 4, 2011^
  3. Nygaard, Sandra. Paris Theater New York, n.d., retrieved November 4, 2011^
  4. NYCityMap NYC.gov, New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, retrieved August 6, 2024^
  5. Andrew L. Yarrow. Paris Film House Loses Its 58th Street Home The New York Times, 1990-09-01, retrieved 2022-09-10^
  6. Joe Queenan. On 58th Street, the Keeper of the Flame The New York Times, 2008-08-30, retrieved 2022-09-10^
  7. Tom Brueggemann. Now That Netflix Saved the Paris Theatre, Here's What to Expect IndieWire, December 6, 2019, retrieved September 10, 2022^
  8. Blake Alsup. Midtown's historic Paris Theatre has officially closed New York Daily News, August 29, 2019, retrieved March 23, 2022^
  9. Pamela McClintock. Netflix to Keep New York's Paris Theater Open The Hollywood Reporter, November 25, 2019, retrieved March 23, 2022^
  10. Netflix takes over its first cinema BBC News, November 26, 2019, retrieved November 27, 2019^
  11. Netflix To Reopen Famed Paris Theatre In Manhattan WLNY News, November 25, 2019, retrieved November 27, 2019^
  12. Rebecca Rubin. New York City's Paris Theater to Reopen in August Variety, July 28, 2021, retrieved September 10, 2022^
  13. Dana Schulz. Under new Netflix management, historic Paris Theater will reopen next month 6sqft, July 21, 2021, retrieved September 10, 2022^
  14. New York City's Legendary Paris Theater Reopens: What Film Lovers Can Expect Netflix, July 28, 2021, retrieved March 23, 2022^