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Back in 2005, Upper West Siders mourned the closure of landmark cinema Metro Theater at 2626 Broadway by 99th Street.
The venue first debuted in 1933 and, over 70 years after that, owner Albert Bialek decided to shutter the space because what he deemed to be an "obsolete" building couldn't "compete with the bigger multiscreen house," as he said to the New York Times in 2006.
Fast-forward to 2024 and the landmark destination may soon be infused with new life: independent film producer Ira Deutchman and U.S. representative of French film promoter Unifrance have joined forces to create a nonprofit corporation dubbed Upper West Side Cinema Theater that could, potentially, buy the space and resurrect it as the Metro Cinema Center.
Bonus points: according to an official press release, celebrities like Griffin Dunne, Ethan Hawke, Martin Scorsese and John Turturro are on board with the project, which seeks to restore the theater into a five-screen movie house "featuring movie classics, foreign films, independent hits and Blockbuster new releases."
Also on deck: an on-site education center and a café/lounge that will open to the street and welcome both ticket-holders and passerby.
This isn't the first at redeveloping the building. In the past, interested parties have tried to turn it into a gym and even an Alamo Drafthouse, also a cinema.
According to the New York Times, the current proposal by the Upper West Side Cinema Center isn't the only one on the table, although it's certainly the "most fully developed."
For what it's worth, our fingers are crossed.