The Paris Theater, New York City”™s celebrated art house cinema, is reopening next month after being closed since July for high-tech upgrades.
Netflix, which acquired the West 58th St. theater in 2019, is celebrating its reopening with the “Big & Loud” festival that showcases the venue”™s newly installed Dolby Atmos sound system and 70mm film projection technology. Among the classics being screened in “Big & Loud” are Sir David Lean”™s “Lawrence of Arabia,” Jacques Tati”™s “Playtime,” Stanley Kubrick”™s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and Francis Ford Coppola”™s “Apocalypse Now: Final Cut.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix will use plans to use The Paris to showcase its original movies ”“ it will not book films from other distributors. The theater will also host special events, retrospectives and filmmaker appearances.
The Paris opened in 1948 with a gala ceremony featuring Marlene Dietrich cutting the ribbon. The theater was originally designed to showcase French films, but then became one of the most prestigious art house screens in the city. With more than 500 seats, The Paris is New York”™s last single-screen cinema.
Photo: Tero Koistinen / Wikimedia Commons
