The historic Capitol Theatre, in Cleveland鈥檚 Gordon Square neighborhood, will have on July 31. Atlanta-based takes over from Cleveland Cinemas, which has run the theater since its 2009 reopening. The move comes a year after the theater鈥檚 owner, Northwest Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation, launched an advisory committee to look into revitalizing the venue.
In March, Cleveland Cinemas President Jon Forman said the Capitol could use technical upgrades and is challenged by a lack of parking and the fact that it only has three auditoriums.
鈥淭o survive in this day and age in the movie theater business, having six screens is like the bare minimum,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 hope it can be maintained. It will only be maintained, though, if audiences show up.鈥�
Ticket sales have yet to recover to pre-COVID levels, and Forman noted that there are also fewer films being made than in the past.
Akshay Kalra, economic development coordinator of Northwest Neighborhoods CDC, said in March that they were securing at least $100,000 in grants to upgrade the facility. When the advisory committee launched, he noted that the entire cinema industry was in a slump.
"The challenges that the Capitol faces are not unique specifically to the Capitol," he said last year. "So, it's a matter of getting people in the door and getting people to see the movies because when they see a movie at the Capitol, they become very ride or die for the Capitol."
Built in 1921, the theater eventually closed and fell into disrepair, sitting vacant for decades before a $7 million renovation in 2009. About $1.5 million in funding came from the city of Cleveland, which had not been repaid as of March. At the time, Kalra said only that the city had been 鈥済reat partners鈥� in the operation of the theater.
鈥淭hey're very supportive of the effort that we're making to sort of shift the Capitol into a sustainable direction,鈥� he said.
The Capitol opened as a sister to the Allen Theatre. The included the silent film 鈥淭he Greatest Love,鈥� starring Vera Gordon.
