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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Neptune Theater to Close?

Posted by on Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 11:24 AM

Neptune_sm2.jpg
  • Landmark
Word is circulating that the Neptune Theater may be closing its doors—right on the heels of the Uptown announcement. I just spoke with Ruth Hayler from Landmark Theatres, which owns the Neptune, and she said, “I am under instructions to tell you that I have no comment."


I am on the case. More when I know more.

 

Comments (33) RSS

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Hernandez 1
Oh, no fucking way. That would be terrible!
Posted by Hernandez http://hernandezlist.blogspot.com on November 24, 2010 at 11:26 AM
Matt from Denver 2
That would be a shame. They ought to renovate it if they haven't since I moved away (that almost-flat floor and old seats really are horribly out of date), but I suspect it's more than they want to invest.
Posted by Matt from Denver on November 24, 2010 at 11:33 AM
DOUG. 3
Oh, man, that's a truly great theater. Which is, indeed, a little worn.
Posted by DOUG. http://www.dougsvotersguide.com on November 24, 2010 at 11:39 AM
gloomy gus 4
Argh. Landmark's also demolished that house on their property next to the Gables. It's owned by a Mark Cuban-controlled holding company - wonder if they're bleeding money.

Thanks for getting and staying on top of it. That sounded dirty.
Posted by gloomy gus on November 24, 2010 at 11:56 AM
Will in Seattle 5
ARRRRRRRGH.

Bummer.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on November 24, 2010 at 12:02 PM
meowmeowkitty 6
Sadness. The Neptune is a treasure.
Posted by meowmeowkitty on November 24, 2010 at 12:15 PM
Last of the Time Lords 7
Jesus fuck!!
Posted by Last of the Time Lords on November 24, 2010 at 12:21 PM
stinkbug 8

I have a few gripes with that theater, but losing it would be awful.
Posted by stinkbug on November 24, 2010 at 12:25 PM
stinkbug 9

1) The blog entry Paul links to says "A guy who works [at Uptown] ... told me that wasn’t likely since they are closing the beloved Neptune!" So one little comment that a guy (who works for a different company) said translates to "word is circulating"? And that blog entry's title is a definitive "Seattle Landmark Neptune Theater Closing" - which is also misleading.

2) The inability of URLs to include punctuation can distort things. i.e. Paul's slog entry is a decent "Neptune Theater to Close?" but it then becomes /neptune-theater-to-close.
Posted by stinkbug on November 24, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Captain Wiggette 10
This is sad, but it also isn't entirely surprising to me, IMO.

I always thought it was weird that there were 4 different Landmark theaters all withing a few blocks of each other:

The Varsity on the ave,
The Neptune right around the corner,
The Metro a block away
and the Seven Gables 5 blocks up the street.

And then there's the Guild 45th that's not too far away either.

But another question, didn't they just equip the Neptune with a D-Cinema projector so they could do 3-D? I know they've been showing all the 3-D movies there...

With the exception of Cinerama, I pretty much exclusively go to Landmark theaters because of their superior popcorn and superior choice of independent movies. I hope they're not struggling, or if they are that it isn't happening here in Seattle.
Posted by Captain Wiggette on November 24, 2010 at 12:54 PM
Demetria 11
If the Neptune is torn down, PLEASE don't demolish the overhead marquee sign. Move it to West Seatle's Admiral Theater building, which was designed by the same architect back in the 1940s and has needed a marquee restoration ever since its original was removed in the 1970s.
Posted by Demetria on November 24, 2010 at 1:19 PM
Demetria 12
If the Neptune is torn down, PLEASE don't demolish the overhead marquee sign. Move it to West Seatle's Admiral Theater building, which was designed by the same architect back in the 1940s and has needed a marquee restoration ever since its original was removed in the 1970s.
Posted by Demetria on November 24, 2010 at 1:20 PM
13
Netflix (at least for me and I suspect a few others) has just about killed the movie theater. It seems that only 3-D and other cutting edge visual technology can save it.
Posted by neo-realist on November 24, 2010 at 1:37 PM
14
Sound transit
Posted by sickoffit on November 24, 2010 at 1:47 PM
vsgirl86 15
:( I love The Neptune! That sucks if that is the case.
Posted by vsgirl86 on November 24, 2010 at 1:50 PM
stinkbug 16
@13: The opening of Thornton Place cinema probably didn't help either.
Posted by stinkbug on November 24, 2010 at 1:50 PM
SchmuckyTheCat 17
After the Cinerama, the Neptune is my 2nd favorite cinema in the city. What's too bad for both of them is I rarely ever see first run movies in the cinema.
Posted by SchmuckyTheCat on November 24, 2010 at 1:53 PM
Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In 18
Under instructions to tell you that I have no comment = that ain't good.
Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on November 24, 2010 at 2:03 PM
Paul Constant 19
@9: Lindy wrote this post, not me.
Posted by Paul Constant http://https://twitter.com/paulconstant on November 24, 2010 at 3:07 PM
20
Seems a little weird that Ruth would be acting like it was a big secret... the general Landmark population have known for over a week.

...and I'm sure you geniuses have noticed that there are other businesses in that building besides the movie theatre. Landmark doesn't have any more power to tear it down than you have power to tear down your apartment building when you move out.
Posted by oooooooo on November 24, 2010 at 3:33 PM
reverend dr dj riz 21
the neptune should remain forever open dammit..if only because it used to be a landmark theater and programmed some of the most adventurous billings in town back in the days. two full weeks of wim wenders , all 16 hours of berlin alexanderplatz,, and a marathon all day and half the night of the entirety of john waters.
*sigh*
Posted by reverend dr dj riz on November 24, 2010 at 3:56 PM
22
What is going to happen to the other businesses in that building? Or the people living in the apartments?
Posted by Pairs on November 24, 2010 at 4:04 PM
TVDinner 23
NO.
Posted by TVDinner http:// on November 24, 2010 at 4:24 PM
24
Guys, calm down. Landmark doesn't own the building. All that's happening is that they are moving out, and some other company is moving in.
Posted by oooooooo on November 24, 2010 at 4:35 PM
MarkyMark 25
Personally I'm most terrified that eventually Scarecrow Video will end up closing. Between Netflix mail/streaming, Redbox (soon to include streaming), Hulu, iTunes, etc, it doesn't look good for many of these venues. However I'm not surprised that the theaters which are currently closing are located in "parking hell" areas.
Posted by MarkyMark on November 24, 2010 at 7:03 PM
26
Landmark Theatres do not own the building in which the Neptune operates; they lease it. If Landmark falls out, the owner would be able to lease the theater space to another vendor/operator.
Posted by anonymous999999999999 on November 24, 2010 at 8:57 PM
27
You know what is killing theaters for me? The shocking amount of movies being made that I don't want to see. I never thought I'd see the day.
Posted by Walker Percy on November 24, 2010 at 9:09 PM
28
Why doe Lindy West have job?
Posted by Wondering on November 24, 2010 at 9:38 PM
29
It's ironic (and sadly telling) that this discussion is happening only a couple of weeks after the Fox TV show "Glee" did their own Rocky Horror Picture Show episode.
Posted by SMP Belltown on November 25, 2010 at 1:53 AM
30
Breaks my heart to see people commenting about how much they'd miss a particular movie theatre were it to close, only to immediately thereafter cop to the fact that they do most of their movie-watching at home via NetFlix or some similar service. Yes, seeing a film in the theatre is expensive but it's also an experience you won't find at home no matter how sophisticated your "home theatre" system may be. Worse yet: if you're unwilling to throw down $7-10 every now and again to see something on the big screen, the big screen WILL eventually go bye-bye. Use it or lose it, folks.
Posted by Literally on November 25, 2010 at 4:19 AM
31
I'm the blogger who originally wrote that story. I'm now told that the Neptune may have a buyer: http://amydezellar.com/2010/11/26/stg-to…

I guess we'll see.
Posted by Amy DeZellar http://amydezellar.com on November 27, 2010 at 1:16 PM
32
@Amy... that article makes the causality sound like the STG is buying the Neptune because Landmark is moving out, but it is actually the other way around. Landmark never owned the building, and the STG made an aggressive enough bid on the building that the owners decided to sell it to them over renewing Landmark's lease. So in short, STG isn't saving the Neptune, it is kicking the theater out.
Posted by Random LM employee on November 27, 2010 at 11:06 PM
33
Really sorry to hear that. One of the things I love most about Seattle is all the small theatres with character.
Posted by smbl7510 on November 29, 2010 at 5:04 PM

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