Towne Cinema 8 to go dark in ‘temporary closure’
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/06/2022 (1541 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Downtown Winnipeg movie theatre Towne Cinema 8 will close next week for an indefinite intermission.
Patrons and employees were informed Thursday the long-running theatre would go dark July 7 — triggering worries the area was about to lose its sole multiplex.
A spokesperson for owner Landmark Cinemas of Canada insisted, however, the Towne 8 would not be closing its doors for good.
“This is a temporary closure,” the spokesperson said in an email to the Free Press. “We are experiencing staffing challenges at our (Landmark Cinemas 8) Grant Park location and needed to reallocate resources to that location.”
The Towne 8 was the first standalone multiplex in the city, showing movies on its eight large screens. When it opened in August 1981, Winnipeg had several downtown cinemas, including the Metropolitan, Capitol, Walker and Eaton Place Cinema 7 (a multiplex which also opened in 1981). Each of those theatres have since been closed for decades.
In time, other downtown theatres, including the Globe and IMAX at Portage Place, opened and closed. The Towne 8 has operated mostly uninterrupted, aside from surviving what was intended to be a permanent closure in 1995, when Cineplex Odeon did not renew its lease.
A few months later, Landmark Cinemas reopened the theatre, and has continued to operate it for the past 27 years.
The downtown movie theatre business, and the theatre business in general, has faced significant challenges since the multiplex heyday that spurred the Towne 8’s construction more than 40 years ago.
Attendance decreased over time as suburban and mall-based multiplexes ate into downtown ticket sales. All the while, attendance dwindled at theatres across the country. In recent years, the industry has also had to contend with the rise of streaming video options.
Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic led to months-long closures at movie houses across Canada.
While pandemic-related restrictions have been lifted, the staffing concerns at the Grant Park site — the reasons for which Landmark didn’t elaborate on — may illustrate lingering workforce issues.
Indications were Towne 8 employees will be either temporarily laid off or transferred to the Grant Park location. While Landmark said the closure would be temporary, there were concerns Thursday among employees and patrons about a lack of a publicized reopening date.
Its return will likely be anticipated by local moviegoers who appreciate its discount prices and overall vibe, which both feel of another era, exemplified by the central ticket kiosk on the lower level and the colourful 1980s carpet.
Unlike other local multiplexes, the Towne 8’s appearance has managed to avoid overt corporatization, remaining itself throughout decades of movie industry turbulence and upheaval.
ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca
Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University’s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben.
Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University’s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben.
Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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