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Community Corner

Pavilion Theater Under New Ownership

Could there be brighter days ahead for the much-lamented movie house?

Park Slope may once again have a local movie theater that people won’t be too skeeved out to go to.

Former corporate owners Cinedigm recently announced that it has sold the Park Slope Pavilion to new operators.

“We found a local buyer who was interested in making an investment in the theater — refurbishing it — so it just made sense,” said Jill Calcaterra, the Chief Marketing Officer for Cinedigm.

The Morristown, NJ-based digital cinema company had purchased the Pavilion, located on Prospect Park West, in February 2005.

The one-time movie palace, still striking for its 1928 Moorish-style architecture, has fallen into a sad state of disrepair over the last few years. Frustrated moviegoers have long complained of funny smells and stained carpets as well as broken seats and torn upholstery, and persistent rumors of bedbugs have haunted the theater.

Last February, two of the theater managers even for the Pavilion’s sorry state to Park Slope Parents, claiming that they had been requesting repairs from their corporate bosses but received no aid. Cinedigm responded by promising that repairs were on the way.

“We are definitely in the process of making some big changes here,” Calcaterra in February. 

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It looks like those changes include more than just the refurbishment.

A woman working at the box office on Thursday said that the new owners had taken over about a month ago and were already in the process of fixing things up, a happy development noted earlier this week by blog Effed in Park Slope.

The box office attendant said that the Pavilion will remain open during the overhaul, with individual theaters closing as needed to accommodate repairs.

“We are getting new seats, new carpets, new paint,” said a rep for the new owners, which he identified as Park Slope Pavilion 9 LLC. “We’re also seeking in the community right now a perfect match to re-open the cafe.”

In addition to maintaining the current programming, the rep said they intend to eventually screen operas, concerts, art movies,"anything that makes sense to the community."

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