The Fifth Avenue movie theatre was built in June 1996 by Festival Cinemas, a local theatre chain owned by Leonard Schein. It was the first art-house multiplex in this area — IIRC, the first films it showed were indie favorites like Todd Solondz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse and John Sayles’s Lone Star — and I was one of a number of journalists who toured the theatre before it opened. (FWIW, the first films I reviewed there were Trainspotting and the German farce Maybe … Maybe Not, on page 5 of this PDF file.)
Some years later, Festival — or at least the theatres it ran or the licenses thereto — were bought by Alliance-Atlantis Cinemas, which was partly owned by Famous Players. Then, in June of this year, Famous Players was bought by Cineplex, with the stipulation that Cineplex sell off some of its theatres. And so it came to pass that, today, I received a press release announcing that the Fifth Avenue theatre has been sold — to Festival Cinemas! Yes, Festival Cinemas is back; this summer they re-acquired the Park Theatre, and now they have re-acquired the Fifth Avenue as well.
Could be interesting; could be like old times. (I used to write for one of the two rival publications, both named “Festival” something-or-other, that were distributed for free in the theatres’ lobbies; it’s a long story, but I wonder if the renewed “chain” will have another in-house, or semi-in-house, publication.)
One thing I do know is that some of the prices will be dropping a tad, and that I do like the brisk 20-minute walk across the Burrard Street Bridge, from my apartment to the theatre.
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