Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome theater, which has been shuttered since the beginning of the pandemic, will not be reopening in 2024, sources confirmed on background. It’s hoped that the Dome and adjacent Arclight Theatres will be ready for a 2025 opening.
The Cinerama Dome and Arclight remained closed even after other theaters reopened after COVID shutdowns and Pacific Theatres filed for bankruptcy in 2021. The Decurion Corporation — the parent company of Pacific Theatres — kept the right to use the Arclight and Pacific brand names at the 14-screen Arclight Hollywood and the Cinerama Dome.
In 2022, the owners, Decurion Corporation, received a liquor license and signaled the intention to change the complex’s name to Cinerama Hollywood.
Decurion subsidiary Pacific Theaters, which had operated the complex before filing for bankruptcy, gave up the other Arclight Theatres locations, most of which have been taken over by other operators. The Culver City location is now run by Amazon, while Regal took over the Pasadena theaters. The Santa Monica multiplex will possibly reopen as a digital art installation.
The news of the 2025 date was first reported by Deadline, which indicated that the company will need more time to complete renovations at the complex.
William Forman built the Hollywood Cinerama Dome in 1963, one of several in the country. The theater opened with the premiere of “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” In 1998, preservationists rallied to keep the dome structure intact after changes to the interior were preserved.
Though the long closure of the Arclight and Cinerama Dome theaters remains a sore spot for Los Angeles moviegoers, there has been cause to celebrate recently with the reopening of Hollywood’s Egpytian Theatre, the Vista in Los Feliz, Vidiots in Eagle Rock and Landmark’s new Sunset Boulevard and Pasadena locations.