Sunday, February 21, 2010

Tarantino Buys the New Beverly

It's been far too long since I've caught a double feature at the New Beverly Cinema, but the theater will always hold a place in my heart for its role in my discovery of the films of John Woo and Jackie Chan. After reporting on the possible demise of my favorite theater in the world a few months back, it sadly came as no surprise that the New Beverly was also in financial trouble.

Fortunately, it has a guardian angel. From CHUD.com:

That was about when I ran into [Quentin Tarantino] at Sundance. He confirmed to me that he was paying the theater's rent and that he was looking in to buying it. Who would have imagined it would have taken years for it to go through? But it has, and now Quentin Tarantino is officially the owner of the New Beverly.

But don't expect the theater to suddenly turn into Tarantinoland (although they have been playing midnights of Reservoir Dogs for years, and recently started doing midnights of Inglorious Basterds). Tarantino has always let Sherman's son, Michael, run the business as he wanted to, with the input of the beautiful Julia Marchese and the slightly less beautiful but very brilliant Phil Blankenship. They, along with Michael, make the New Bev work day in and day out, and Tarantino occasionally steps in to program something special.

And so the New Beverly is safe. And it will be safe for some time to come - "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be there, showing double features in 35mm," Tarantino said.

Best of all, it's only $7 for a double feature. Let's help make this worth Tarantino's investment.

New Beverly Cinema (official site)

18 comments:

Kyle Baker said...

They made a Gremlins 2?

Alex Cora said...

The first Gremlins was the best.

rbnlaw said...

Gremlins 2 was something like Revenge of the Nerds 2. Bore no resemblance to the original. If I remember correctly, Phoebe Cates told them to suck it, and they did.

In other news, they're tearing down the old Balboa in Newport Beach as well. I think the Lido still exists. The days of the single screen "art house" are waning to be sure.

rbnlaw said...

Edit: Phoebe (Mrs. Kevin Kline) Cates was in G2, as was Christopher (Count Dooku)Lee playing a character named Dr. Catheter. Who knew?

Also, did anyone else know that Lee does the voice of Count Dooku on Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon? Cool.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Both Gremlins sucked.

But that's just me.

Nostradamus said...

For some reason, I never saw either one. God knows why, considering the amount of cinema I consumed in the 80's

Orel said...

The first Gremlins is a classic!

Nostradamus said...

OT, but there is a hell of a hockey game going on right now.

Orel said...

Nothing is OT here, you should know that by now.

Nostradamus said...

That's a fair point.

Kyle Baker said...

What is this strange hockey sport you speak of?*

*Kidding...just trying to get a rise out of Neeebs.

Nostradamus said...

Miller is literally saving our American asses.

Eric Karros said...

Yeah, Gremlins was awesome. Maybe it's because of my age at the time, but to me 1984 might be the best overall cinematic year of my lifetime. Gremlins, Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, Breakin', Terminator...

Kyle Baker said...

Even if they had just done Breakin', 1984 would have been a great movie year.

Steve Sax said...

Gremlins and Breakin' were robbed that year for Best Picture

Ben G said...

Now he needs to replace the seats.. i can never make it through the second movie in a double feature because of the 70's springs in the seats bruising my bony ass.

Also.. whoever talked about the Balboa... that theater has been shut down since as early as I can remember.. And that's being 7 years old saying "Mom... mom.. mommy.. mom... why don't... mom... mom hey mom.... ummmm why dont they show movies there ever?" Yes the Lido still exists.

aaaaand... Gremlins 2 rules. I like it BETTER than the first one.

Delino DeShields, Sr said...

That's where I saw the Dolph Lundgren film festival. The best ten dollars and ten hours I ever spent in my life (not including marriage, baby, Giants winning super bowl, etc etc)

Long live New Beverly.

Delino DeShields, Sr said...

Phoebe was in Gremlins 2. She even gave the ironic twist of her famous dad dying in the chimney speech about another weirder tragedy on President's Day.