As of 2020, there were 182 commercial movie theaters in New York City with only two of them located in the Bronx — the AMC Bay Plaza Theater 13 and the Concourse Plaza Multiplex Cinemas on 161st Street. However, the general consensus of Bronxites seems to be that the lack of movie theater options in the borough, comparatively speaking, are not missed.
“I don’t think we need movie theaters which is why many are closing throughout the city,” said Roxanne Delgado, who has lived in the Pelham Parkway neighborhood for 20 years. “Now most released movies are streamed.”
Founded in 1997, Netflix popularized movie streaming and changed the industry forever. They generated approximately $31.6 billion in revenue in 2022. Left in the dust, AMC — the largest movie theater chain in the U.S. — raked in little more than $4 billion last year. And while the COVID-19 pandemic hurt movie theater sales across the board, with AMC generating just above $1 billion in a 10-year low, the highest revenue-producing year for the American theater chain over the last decade was $5.4 billion in 2018.
The Whitestone Multiplex Cinemas at 2505 Bruckner Blvd. closed in 2013, as did the American Theater at 1450 East Ave., and the former Garden Theater on Webster Avenue still has its awning despite being closed as a movie house since 1926 — leaving just two active commercial theaters in the borough.
Last May, Peter Gennari and his partner and film curator, Jerry Landi opened the independent movie house, Cinema on the Sound to help mitigate the disparity of theaters in the borough.
“Because movies are communal, it’s much better to watch a film with a crowd rather than by yourself in your home,” said Landi.
And while the theater screens movies during the weekend, with tickets at $10 a pop, they also serve as an art space. Since its opening, “We found that a lot of Bronx-based artists, filmmakers, and creators needed a space to do things for the Bronx and present…
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