On December 17, 1969, a few hundred feet from the site of the original Ziegfeld Theatre, a new Ziegfeld opened as a single-screen movie house with the New York premiere of Marooned.[1] It was the flagship of the Walter Reade movie theatre chain.[1]
Constructed by Emery Roth & Sons from designs by Irving Gershon[2] it was built on part of the old theatre and was the first new theatre in the Times Square area since Radio City Music Hall was built in 1932.[1] It was one of the last large-scale, single-screen movie palaces built in the United States.[2] The gold and maroon interior was designed by John J. McNamara at a cost of $600,000.[1]
The theatre had 1,152 seats (825 seats in the orchestra section and 306 seats in the tiered rear section).[2]
In 1987, Cineplex Odeon Corporation acquired the Walter Reade Organization and took over operation of the theatre.[2] The theater underwent extensive renovations in the late 1990s. It was a centerpiece site during the 2008 New York Film Festival because of reconstruction work at Lincoln Center that year. During the 2000s, digital projection was installed. The theater became the largest single-screen cinema operating in New York. The screen was 20 feet tall and 52 feet wide,[2] making it the largest non-IMAX screen in New York City.[5]
From 2013 until its closing, the Ziegfeld was managed by Bow Tie Cinemas, on behalf of Cablevision, which owned the theater. The theater was previously part of the Clearview Cinemas chain, which was owned by Cablevision, prior to the chain's sale to Bow Tie; the actual ownership of the Ziegfeld building was excluded from the sale. In an April 2015 interview, Cablevision CEO James L. Dolan said the theater "loses a lot of money" and might be shuttered.[6][7]
Closure
On January 20, 2016, Fisher Brothers (which owned 141 West 54th Street) announced that the Ziegfeld would close shortly due to dwindling attendance and revenue, which caused the operators to lose their lease.[7][8] Eight days later, the Ziegfeld Theatre closed as a large single-screen movie theater with a final showing of the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[9][10] The theater underwent a major renovation and reopened in November 2017 as a luxury event space called the Ziegfeld Ballroom.[11]
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