NATO OF NJ - NATO NEWS
The Record
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Movie theater set to open in Paterson Press Release
By: Meredith Mandell
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The Fabian 8 Cinema in the upper level of Paterson's Center City mall is 'a tip of the hat to the past,' said theater manager John Halecki.
The Fabian 8 Cinema opens on the upper level of the new Center City mall Friday, and although it's not the same 3,500-seat Fabian Theatre that Paterson millionaire and silent film magnate Jacob Fabian built in 1925, its owners believe the complex pays homage to the spirit of Paterson's robust moviegoing culture.
"We're back with a tip of the hat to the past," said John Halecki, general manager of Community Theaters LLC, pointing out what he calls the "Disneyland/Main Street feel" of the bright, blinking marquee at the theater's front entrance and a clock that declares on its face "Movie Time."
Hearing of the theater's opening sparked a trip down memory lane for many residents, who fondly recalled the bustling movie houses of their youth.
Joe Ruffilo, 68, a lifelong Paterson resident, remembered that when he was 8, he and many of the neighborhood children would scramble over every Saturday to the movie house on the corner of Madison and 21st avenues to watch cartoons and movies such as "The Little Rascals" and "Abbot & Costello" features. They'd spend most of the day there, until the theater manager kicked them out.
The new theater is part of Paterson's downtown renaissance and harks back to cinema's glory days.
"He literally used to go down the aisle and say, 'Your mother called and she has supper waiting for you on the table. Go home!' The theater manager knew everyone," Ruffilo said.
The Fabian closed in 1993 after one final showing of "RoboCop 3," the last movie theater in town to shutter its doors.
Ever since, city officials have tried to woo investors to bring another movie theater into town.
But for most large chains, big-box movie theaters with large parking lots, places like Clifton Commons, seemed like a more palatable location than a crowded, densely populated downtown Paterson.
"There was a shift in Hollywood's distribution mechanism to go to the highways and to go to the multiplexes," said Jack DeStefano, director of the Paterson Museum.
"The Fabian was a great show palace but it wasn't the location the movie houses wanted. They wanted twenty-plexes."
Halecki, of Summit, who, before founding Community Theaters LLC, worked for Clearview Cinemas, said he believes times have changed for the better.
He also said Paterson is undergoing a renaissance with the opening of the mall and the conversion of the old Alexander Hamilton Hotel into condo units
Also in the theater's favor is a national trend showing an upswing in box-office ticket sales. According to boxofficemojo.com, yearly domestic ticket sales jumped from $1.27 billion in 2008 to $1.48 billion in 2009.
"The theater business is actually healthy, and it's probably in the best position it's been in a long time, said Joseph Horvoka, an entertainment analyst for Raymond James, a financial-services firm. He said the trend of converting from showing film to showing digital-format movies and more movies in 3D is bumping up ticket prices and attracting increased attendance.
"It's kind of an exciting time in the industry," he said.
But Steve Birenberg, a Chicago-based media analyst, said in order for a small independent movie house like the Fabian 8 to survive, the question will be: "Is there a large enough population to support it? And is the stand-alone independent going to be able to get the get best, most popular films for their opening weekends?"
Movie theaters share profits from ticket sales, but frequently it is the larger national chains - not the smaller independent theaters - that are in a better position to negotiate profit-increasing deals with the movie studios.
Halecki said, however, there are advantages in operating a small theater.
For one thing, it will be easier getting a handle on what a Paterson audience wants as opposed to having to pick movies for thousands of theaters across the country.
