The Landmark at 57 West is closing for good, Indiewire reports, after the theater company couldn’t agree on terms with the landlord, the Durst Corporation.
The Landmark at 57 West hosted arthouse films in its eight auditoriums, and featured a high-end cocktail bar called JD’s Place.
Located at 57th and Twelfth Avenue – a few blocks from the Upper West Side – the theater reportedly struggled to attract crowds since it opened in the fall of 2017.
Paul Serwitz, the COO of Landmark Theatres, told Deadline that “It was a troubled theater as beautiful as it was. When I got there, we inherited a tough theater that proved really not financially viable because of its rental obligation. Fast forward to these days when the pressure is on everybody, and it was too problematic.”
Serwitz also stated that the company is exploring options further uptown.
I visited the Landmark theater only once. I found that it was too far from the #1 subway for me. I hope the next location is closer to a subway.
It was a very nice little theater but, like another has said, a bit inconvenient.
total bummer, a place for grownups to watch grownup films
It was a haul to get there, especially on a rainy or cold day. But those screens were the best projections I’ve ever seen, plus the reasonably priced bar and comfy seating. Its a shame but no surprise.
Noooooooo. I Love it there the concept was Amazing. And a Lovely Theatre with Very Sophisticated choice of Films!!! More Sadness to add to the already Heartbreak of what’s Happened to Our Incredible City!!!
Such a bummer, this was a great theater. We used to catch a movie and have dinner and drinks up at the bar at Ousia after. Was a perfect date night.
Yes as others said! Such a shame. Loved this theatre, the theater itself as well as each auditorium. The concession stand was cute with normal sized concessions. Felt bespoke. Loved the bar. And the movie selection especially. Particularly during the awards season when all the contenders show there. It was nice to have this especially with Lincoln theater closed. But yeah, Definitely inconvenient.
I really enjoyed the Landmark movie theater. What a shame that it’s closing, I’ll miss it. Not surprised though based on that location. Was very inconvenient to most transportation.
A nice theater with a terrific selection of films but it was a MAJOR schlep even with the crosstown bus. Too bad, hopefully they find a new location that’s more accessible.
No great loss imho. They had horrible audio and despite my repeated contacts with their management, including 1/3 octave snapshots of their frequency response curves (I’m a recording engineer with a spectrum analyzer on my iPhone) they insisted there were no problems. When they first opened I loved the place despite the trek to get there, but I stopped going long ago.
Huge disappointment. Yes, it was a long walk from the train, but the screen and sound quality were terrific and they showed great films. It will be missed.
Beautiful place, excellent bar and food service. Crazy expensive tickets though and opted out of the ticket thing that was ‘see multiple films each week for a monthly fee’ thing
this would be an ideal relocate to the shuttered Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. Win win!
Indeed! But, if Landmark, with a national presence can’t afford it, Lincoln Plaza certainly can’t. And it is still an awful location.
Indeed! But, if Landmark, with a national presence can’t afford it, Lincoln Plaza certainly can’t. And it is still an awful location.
Explain to me how you did this without running pink noise through their speakers
Very simple. I think I still have the screenshots. Eventually I concluded that the problem was primarily, if not totally, in the center channel, which typically carries all the dialog information. The problem, which I still can’t believe they denied existed, was that spoken material sounded hollow and exaggerated, as if it was being spoken through a cardboard tube. Sure enough, the graphs show major peaks in vocal frequencies.
I can’t find my screenshots for some reason but I did find a copy of the letter I sent to their CEO. Here it is:
November 29, 2018
Mr. Ted Mundorff, CEO Landmark Theaters
9100 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, California 90212-3426
Dear Mr. Mundorff,
I am writing to you as a moviegoer who happens to be a recording engineer. There is a problem with the audio in your 57th Street New York theaters (and I suspect elsewhere as well). This is my SEVENTH attempt to speak to someone in authority about the problem. So far I have
• Spoken to someone on your online chat app twice
• Spoken to the manager(s) at the theater twice
• Submitted two descriptions of the problem via your online contact option
All to no avail. So now I’m obliged to resort to Fedex to try to get someone in charge to listen to me.
The problem is that something in your audio chain is not adjusted correctly or is simply not working – frequently the dialog sounds like the actors are speaking into a bucket. To put it in technical terms, it sounds like there is a spike in your system of at least 6 db somewhere around 500-600Hz. I have heard this in many films at your theater complex and it is awful. The worst instance was the other day watching Bohemian Rhapsody, which is a MUSICAL!!
The first time I noticed the problem was months ago (watching the Gilda Radner film) so the problem is obviously not a one-off accident. And I don’t know if it occurs in all the theaters or just some. But what amazes me is that no one hears this! Unbelievable!!! In a state-of-the-art theater complex! (Pardon the exclamation points, but this truly blows my mind.)
In discussing this problem with a friend who has worked in film audio he told me this:
There has always been a mono or Center channel and yes it used mostly for dialog. Do you know what print you were watching? So many audio formats movies are released in now… 5.1, 7.1,11.1 Dolby Atmos, DTS, Sony SDDS, Auro-3D. and it’s up to the projectionist (if there is one around) to make sure everything is set and patched correctly. On top of that each format adheres to different specs. Some are full bandwidth. Some crossover or rolloff at various frequencies. So seems to me someone is asleep at the wheel or it’s time for a calibration.
I would appreciate your looking into this issue and getting back to me – I have a strong feeling that this is not an isolated incident, and it’s particularly astonishing that it should be occurring in a brand new state-of-the-art complex!
P.S. That letter was returned to me unopened.
P.P.S. I forgot to mention that eventually I DID have a conversation with the head of their Tech Dept and he assured me that all the systems had been checked and calibrated and that they were up to spec. But NO ONE was willing to step into a theater with me and LISTEN!!! So that was the end of that, and I never went back. And I can assure you that my ears and my RTA did not fail me. So go figure…
Good selection of movies. When they accepted MoviePass, I visited a lot (despite the loooooong hike from the subway) – but when their agreement with MoviePass ended, I stopped going. Nice seats, good snacks, but their ticket price was one of the highest in town.
The Landmark theater was the best most comfortable movie theater in nyc .. that was a very special place… I will miss going to that movie theater.