Beyond Oscars glitz, movie theaters face uncertain future
The Peninsula
LOS ANGELES: Maryo Mogannam snuck into the Empire theater in San Francisco with his older cousins to watch "Animal House" when he was 14. He watched most of the James Bond movies at the historic art house and took his wife there on some of their first dates.
The cinema, which had been showing movies since the silent film era, served notice in February that it was permanently closing because of the impact of COVID-19. The marquee is now blank, and cardboard and paper cover the box office window. "It's kind of like losing a friend," said Mogannam, now 57, who owns a retail shipping outlet near the theater, which had been renamed the CineArts at the Empire.More Related News