Petition Launched To Help Save Hollywood's Cinerama Dome
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Southland movie fans have created a petition to help save the iconic Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard following the news that ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres in the Los Angeles area will not reopen.
The Change.org petition to save the Sunset Boulevard landmark had more than 1,200 signatures as of Tuesday morning.
Filmmaker and actor named Ben Steinberg created the petition and shared the Cinerama Dome's place in movie history.
"The Cinerama Dome is a historic movie theater located in Los Angeles. It was built in 1963 and designed specifically to showcase widescreen motion pictures," his petition states.
"It has been the choice of the greatest filmmakers in the world to showcase their films including Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan and many more. It is one of the LAST remaining Cinerama domes in the world! With the recent news that Arclight Cinemas is closing forever, we cannot allow the Dome to be demolished or changed. We the people (cinephiles) are calling on Amazon, Walt Disney Studios, Apple, Netflix or someone else to save the Dome, and continue the legacy of the Cinerama Dome!"
Following the announcement that the ArcLight and Pacific Theatres will not reopen due to losses suffered during the pandemic, people took to social media using the hashtag #SaveTheDome to show their support for preserving it.
"This was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward," a statement posted to the Pacific Theatres website said Monday.
Pacific Theatres operates some 300 screens in California, including the beloved ArcLight theaters, the historic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood and multiplexes at The Grove and The Americana shopping malls.
"It's heartbreaking," Anthony Duran, an ArcLight fan, said. "This was like a home away from home for me for the past 20 years, and I just found out and it's really sad."
And Duran was not alone in making the trek to the Cinerama Dome to say goodbye.
"We have a lot of good memories here," Maggie Muir, who drove down from Burbank with Drew Sykes, said. "And it's, hopefully, kind of the end of this pandemic, and we were sad to see it go."
The couple said they wanted to be there after the announcement was made the location would not be reopening.
"I've had a movie actually screened at ArcLight before, and I was just really bummed out," Sykes said.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
