I hopped down to South Coast Village theater at 3:15 p.m. Friday to see if Regency Theatres was indeed re-opening the theater as claimed on its Web site.

As mentioned in previous blog entries, Edwards closed the theater two months ago, disappointing fans who’d relied on it for independent and foreign movies for 30 years. Not long after though, Regency took over the theater and pledged to re-open it.

When I got there, workers were still putting on the finishing touches. Hooray, the doors are open and there are employees inside!

Larry Parricelli the theater manager shook my hand and welcomed us. (There was another visitor, a woman in her 50s-60s, very bubbly, superexcited the theater is re-opening because she used to live down the street, and no I didn’t get her name because she bounced in and out really fast.) Regency’s head honcho, President Lyndon Golin, came from Calabasas to give a look and he chatted with us, too.

Regency has updated the place quite a bit. The place smells much better. The biggest of the three theaters has brand new, high-backed chairs with cup holders, a vast improvement from the saggy chairs that used to be there. The two smaller theaters have used chairs, though. I told Larry the manager the last time I was at South Coast Village for one of the Flashback Features, the theater played a DVD of “Blue Velvet” and then halfway through the movie the screen went dark and we got refunds. Larry assured me the theater would never use DVDs, and moreover, they’re using new projection equipment. There are a couple of new armchairs in the lobby area, too. Even with the upgrades, the theater isn’t plush like The Block or Bella Terra, but it’s clean and charming in its modest way.

The theater considers its opening yesterday a “soft opening,” and will have a grand opening celebration next weekend, March 30-April 1. There will be free small popcorns then and sodas will cost just $1. There are four movies showing this week: “Into Great Silence” (in the big theater), “Colour Me Kubrick,” “An Unreasonable Man” and “The Dead Girl.” Admission is $9.50 adults, $6.50 students/seniors, and $7 matinees before 5:15 p.m. Popcorn usually costs $3.25 for small, $4 medium, $5.50 large with free refill. Kettle corn is $4.

I didn’t stay to catch the first screening, “Colour Me Kubrick,” but I’m planning to return to see “Into Great Silence,” a documentary about Carthusian monks. You can see the movie schedule at regencymovies.com

Posted in: Movies/Art/Theater/Dance |

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