The Plaza Theater is currently closed – we’ll be back as soon as we can!

Thanks for your support!

Why isn’t the Plaza open?

We get this question frequently, and we want to thank you all for your continued support! It’s been difficult to have the theater closed for this long, but it’s encouraging to know that we still have lots of people eager to come back when the time is right. We really WANT to reopen, but we still need time to make sure it’s financially possible.

A little background will hopefully help explain where things are at for second-run theaters like the Plaza. Prior to Covid, movies were typically released in first-run theaters and played there for a number of weeks. Then second-run theaters like the Plaza would get access to them, and after that they’d go to online streaming services and/or DVD. The window of time when only movie theaters had access to films was critical for us and other second-run theaters.

Most people know that the film industry went through massive changes during the pandemic. Movie studios started bypassing theaters entirely for some of their titles, and put them on streaming services instead. Other movies came out on streaming platforms the same day as they hit theaters. Now customers are back in theaters, and studios (like any business) are figuring out how to be as profitable as they can. Most of them are back to showing movies exclusively in theaters to launch them. That’s really good news!

However, that theater-exclusive window of time has gotten a lot shorter, and it’s not certain whether it will be long enough for second-run theaters to survive. That’s the main reason we haven’t felt comfortable reopening the Plaza – it’s not clear where things will land for second-run theaters.

But we’re watching the industry very closely, and are eager to get back to showing movies (and serving up fresh popcorn!) when it’s possible. In the meantime, thanks again so much for your continued support for the Plaza. When we have more info about our plans, we’ll post it here!