Update, Monday, June 8th: New Plaza Cinema today announced an 11-week summer engagement at the theater at the Museum of Arts and Design (2 Columbus Circle). Due to construction at its usual location, The Macaulay Honors College, from June through August, New Plaza Cinema will be re-locating to the theater in the Museum of Arts and Design for 11 weekend days: Friday, June 12 and Saturdays from June 20-August 22.
Patrons must purchase tickets online at www.newplazacinema.org; there will be no on-site ticket sales. Tickets for Friday, June 12 are now available, and subsequent weeks’ tickets will be available on the Tuesday prior to the show.
By Carol Tannenhauser
From June 3rd through August 28th, New Plaza Cinema, the art-house theater, will not be showing films at its usual venue, the screening room at Macaulay Honors College, on West 67th Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West.
The reason is “necessary construction at Macaulay,” according to an emailed announcement sent to its subscribers by New Plaza Cinema this week.
But fear not, all you lovers of art-house films. New Plaza Cinema will continue its summer fare at a soon-to-be announced alternative venue, according to a theater official. “New Plaza Cinema hopes to announce a summer pop-up location in the coming days, where they will regularly screen their usual programming,” a representative of the theater told West Side Rag.
New Plaza Cinema is accustomed to moving around. Started in 2018, in the wake of the closure of the immensely popular Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, it traveled around the Upper West Side showing films at the JCC, Symphony Space, the New York Institute of Technology, and a local church, before finding a home in a small theater at Macaulay in 2022.
The announcement assured movie-goers that “Macaulay Honors College is a great host and partner and we’re confident the investment they are making in the infrastructure projects at 35 West 67th Street will benefit us all.” It also stated that New Plaza Cinema will be “bringing back our Virtual Talk Back series this summer celebrating four decades of classic films, hosted by film historians Max Alvarez and Dan Cahill.”
We’ll update this story when the new venue is finalized. You can find out more about New Plaza Cinema in a prior Rag story — HERE.
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We desperately need more movie theaters on the UWS.
Whatever happened to the cinema in the basement of the Gjulf and Western building, or the one under the NY Institute of Technology? Or the original screens at what was (and, according to the sign) the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas?
There is no Gulf and Western Building. It’s Trump Hotel and apartments, and has been for about 30 years. The brand new theater (it was gorgeous) built by the NYIT was wiped out in the water main break flood of January 2020. That flood wiped out everyone’s basement in the radius, including my building where I lost three storage bins of records, papers, and antiquarian books. Sorry for all the bad news, but I am sure you are not as sorry as I am. Insurance refused to pay because the water did not come from inside my building and I did not carry a flood rider, because who carries a flood rider on Broadway in Manhattan? NYIT never rebuilt, but I am not sure why.
I thought the theater in the basement acquired by NY Institute of Technology was flooded during a storm.
Don’t know if it was repaired?
Not a storm. A man made disaster. Water main break. The water main was about 100 years old.
I mean, what happened was that people don’t go to see small, artsy movies in theaters so much anymore. They just wait for them to come to streaming. So the theaters can’t survive.
While I can understand having this opinion if one does not know better, but the truth is that it is a fallacy. NYC has several art house theaters that do great business. Maybe you just have not heard of them. Film Forum, Metrograph, Angelika, The Roxy, The Quad, to name a few notable ones. Your comment reminds me of when people were saying that no one reads paper books anymore. Look what happened there.
Yes, I’ve heard of them, thanks. But it’s also a fact that movies in theaters don’t make as much as they used to, with the exception of “event” type blockbusters and horror. There aren’t as many small, independent theaters as there used to be because the market doesn’t support it anymore.
The market supports them fine. The real estate industry does not. This group formed in the wake of the closing of the Lincoln Plaza Cinema between West 63rd and 64th Streets on Broadway. The theatre sits empty, but the group survives. It has nothing to do with the market place and everything to do with greedy real estate developers.
That’s not true. The independent art house theaters are doing very well! With great curation, they often sellout screenings. The mainstream houses are doing poorly because most of those films go to streaming.
The indie theaters in the Midwest and west coast are flourishing, as well as Boston. Don’t know about the rest of the east coast. Someone just dropped the ball with Lincoln Plaza Cinemas.
Rumor has been that the landlord Milstein just did not want to continue the movie theater after the lease ended. Incredibly that the landlord can afford the vacant space
So frustrating to see the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas space still vacant.
yes Deb. Exactly. wish something could be done to use part of that space on a temp basis. Can the owner be SO impossible to
make a deal with??
We NEED our Art Cinema!!@
Agreed. Has WSR tried to interview the owner about his reason for leaving the 6 screening rooms empty for years?
Agreed. What a travesty. Very popular cinema forced to bounce around in temporary locations when their rightful home sits empty for 8 years.
I am still waiting for the documentary movie “No Other Land” to be shown somewhere. It seems to have been purchased by someone so that it will not be shown.
It’s showing on several streaming services, but if you don’t have a subscription you can still buy or rent on youtube (with subtitles). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-R1wAYKdiw
The excellent No Other Land is now streaming on amazon.
You all are forgetting the excellent Films at Lincoln Center. They have great screening rooms and many of the films people are clamoring to see.
I went frequently when it was in the church at 86th and West End, never at maccauley . would prefer a permanent relocation to that church.
The church is not air conditoned and as best as I recall accessability is limited.
We live much closer to the church but MacCauley is a far superior venue. Since you’ve never been? You should know that it has a nicer screen, better sound, and better seats.
New Plaza has made a valiant effort with great programming and a loyal following in what is essentially a lecture hall. AMC 68th has renovated with comfier seats and occasional indie/art house-type films to supplement standard commercial fare, and Film at Lincoln Center is top notch, but the old Lincoln Plaza is still sorely missed.
I’ve attended film screenings recently at Macauley, with Q&A’s and they have been terrific! They’re well-attended, well-curated, with introductions by film experts and post-film discussions. A real neighborhood gem for those who care about cinema. Committed volunteers keep it going.
If ever there was a local project worth supporting, this is it. Let’s continue to patronize them while they are in their temp location at MAD.
MAD has a wonderful theatre!! This is great news.