The meaning and importance of city size

[Acajack]

So on the cinema metric...

All of Canada's largest cities have downtown first-run cinemas except for Ottawa and Quebec City.

Interestingly, all of the major cities in Western Canada including Victoria and Saskatoon do, except for Regina.

Hamilton also does, and Halifax has an inner city first-run cinema too.

London, ON also does but I don't think K-W does.

[esquire]

Winnipeg has one mainstream first-run cinema left downtown, but it barely meets that qualification. It's an often overlooked 70s-era theatre on the edge of the Exchange District that dates back to when downtown was the place to go for entertainment, but it's pretty tired and worn out these days... I don't think the owners sink very much money into the place. It doesn't hold a candle to the newer cinemas in suburbia. In some respects I'm a little surprised that it's still in business.



30 years ago there were probably about 7 or 8 first run cinemas downtown... now it's just this one.

[lio45]

St. John's does not have a major central library nor a major downtown movie theater?!? Ha! Sherbrooke has always had both (in the latter's case, we used to have many, now there's only one but it's bigger).

(I'm surprised - I was sure St. John's would always have more of these things.)

[SignalHillHiker]

We did back in the day - and some of the buildings still exist but they're mostly for live entertainment or condos. Some like the Paramount and Nickel have been destroyed.

The big black thing to the left of the Basilica was the main one, the old Paramount:

Back to transit - we have a fake Underground map that appears on lots of little things here. I wish it was real lol. It's a decent design.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by esquire

30 years ago there were probably about 7 or 8 first run cinemas downtown... now it's just this one.

That looks one step from a porn emporium.

Another cinema metric: Does a city have a one-or-two-screen repertory or neighbourhood cinema?

Ottawa may not have a downtown multiplex, but it does have the Bytowne and uh, the other one whose name I forget. Most cities seem to have one or two, and bigger cities more. Halifax is about to be a laggard in this, as our only remaining single-screen cinema has just been bought by a developer and faces an uncertain future. (It was previously owned by Cineplex, which was weird in itself.)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Ottawa may not have a downtown multiplex, but it does have the Bytowne and uh, the other one whose name I forget.

The Mayfair. On Bank St. south of Lansdowne Park.

[Echoes]

Miraculously for a city of Saskatoon's size, we've managed to hold on to 2 repertory/neighbourhood cinemas: The Broadway Theatre (Broadway Ave) and Roxy Theatre (20th Street). Their offerings are diversified far beyond just showing films, they also host a variety of live concerts, lectures, special events, etc.

The city's main multi-screen cinema is downtown. There were actually 2 smaller ones in the downtown until about 10 years ago when the new Cineplex Galaxy behemoth opened, closing the 2 older ones. It became the most profitable in the Galaxy chain (but no parking!!), and was expanded to a Scotiabank Theatre/VIP Cinemas a few years ago.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

That looks one step from a porn emporium.

Another cinema metric: Does a city have a one-or-two-screen repertory or neighbourhood cinema?

I'd wager that almost every single city of decent size in the country has an art house or repertory cinema.

Quebec City as I mentioned above does not have a first-run Hollywood cinema downtown but it has a repertory theatre.

Regarding Ottawa-Gatineau interesting that aside from the Bytowne in Ottawa there aren't any cinemas at all in the central urban core of the region. Gatineau hasn't had a downtown first-run cinema in many decades. (Though it does have an Imax-Omnimax at the Museum of History, but that doesn't count.)

One difference to due to being in Quebec is that art house/repertory style movies sometimes play in mutiplexes here due to the fact we have a separate film distribution system from the rest of North America.

Right now the multiplex near my place has three of 9 screens showing Quebec movies. Two of which are more repertory style, and the other is a more mainstream cop/buddy movie. It's not rare for them to show the major movies from France and even award-winning stuff from other countries too.

[esquire]

Winnipeg has the tiny but lively Cinematheque operated by the Winnipeg Film Group, right in the Exchange District.

The Globe Cinema, which was halfway between mainstream first-run venue and arthouse (I think the chain originated in Calgary), operated in the Portage Place Mall until a few years ago. That was a tragic loss for downtown movie-going, as it was a relatively modern (1987) cinema that was pleasant and comfortable, but it was almost ludicrously poorly attended despite offering something no other cinema in Winnipeg offered... heated indoor parking. In its later years, I attended 7:00 screenings there that had no more than 3 or 4 people total in the entire auditorium.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

St. John's does not have a major central library nor a major downtown movie theater?!? Ha! Sherbrooke has always had both (in the latter's case, we used to have many, now there's only one but it's bigger).

(I'm surprised - I was sure St. John's would always have more of these things.)

Gatineau has a library branch downtown. It's the former main branch of the city of Hull. The former city of Gatineau had/has a main library branch in that sector of the city that's actually newer, nicer and bigger. So post-merger that's become the de facto main branch in the city even if it isn't downtown.

There is talk of building a new central library in the central Vieux-Hull district but right now the city is concentrated on building a new arena for our junior hockey team (Olympiques). That won't be located downtown, though. It will be right across the street from that shiny suburban library branch!

[esquire]

Thinking about it more broadly, I wonder why downtown cinemas have suffered so much outside the big 3 cities? No question that the downtown cinemas were largely older without all the razzle dazzle of newer cinemas (huge screens, impressive snack bars, etc.), but still... no one was confident enough in the moviegoing market to invest in those kinds of newer, bigger facilities downtown.

Even when I was a kid in the early 90s, when downtown Winnipeg was already well into its decline phase, downtown cinemas would still occasionally fill up. Barely a decade later and they were all empty.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

Thinking about it more broadly, I wonder why downtown cinemas have suffered so much outside the big 3 cities? No question that the downtown cinemas were largely older without all the razzle dazzle of newer cinemas (huge screens, impressive snack bars, etc.), but still... no one was confident enough in the moviegoing market to invest in those kinds of newer, bigger facilities downtown.

Even when I was a kid in the early 90s, when downtown Winnipeg was already well into its decline phase, downtown cinemas would still occasionally fill up. Barely a decade later and they were all empty.

Downtown Ottawa is arguably quite a bit livelier today than it was back in the days when it had a whole bunch of cinemas showing all the blockbusters.

[lio45]

In Sherbrooke the downtown movie theater and the downtown cafés and restaurants have been feeding on each other in a way that I'm sure benefits all of them greatly. Moviegoers often eat out first, and/or go for a late night dessert and coffee after their movie. They end up spending the whole evening downtown.

I've done it many times, myself. (With friends or gf.) Even when I didn't live downtown.

The movie theater offers free parking, as well (extremely important). It's in a floodplain next to the river, on the other side of the railroad tracks from the main built area of the downtown, so it's kinda tolerable to have surface parking there, in the grand scheme of things.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

In Sherbrooke the downtown movie theater and the downtown cafés and restaurants have been feeding on each other in a way that I'm sure benefits all of them greatly. Moviegoers often eat out first, and/or go for a late night dessert and coffee after their movie. They end up spending the whole evening downtown.

I've done it many times, myself. (With friends or gf.) Even when I didn't live downtown.

The movie theater offers free parking, as well (extremely important). It's in a floodplain next to the river, on the other side of the railroad tracks from the main built area of the downtown, so it's kinda tolerable to have surface parking there, in the grand scheme of things.

That's one piece of the puzzle that we don't have here in Gatineau. That aspect of downtown synergy is totally absent here.

Ironically, in the vicinity of that suburban library branch I was talking about, you do have that synergy going on. In the same building as the library you have the region's main performing arts centre (Maison de la culture), and just down the street is the 9-screen multiplex cinema I was talking about. You also have a CEGEP campus and the city's main sports complex all there too. Plus one of the main BRT transit stations in the city. And a bunch of condos within walking distance. Plus a 5,000-seat amphitheatre to be build there in the next few years. Several cafés and restaurants are already there and more will come. Plus a hotel too I am pretty sure.

[Acajack]

That area also has a federal government office building (about 10 storeys) and a local health centre (CLSC). Not that these do much to animate the area evenings and weekends but they do help the restos, etc. stay busy during the day, so it's a decent place to have one of these businesses since they have clients days, nights and weekends.

[north 42]

Windsor used to have 4 first rate movie theatres DT, but the last one closed up a few years ago, it was on our Main Street. Now the 3 big multiplex theatres here are either on the outskirts of the city, or in a near by suburb.
We still have the Capital Theatre DT, an old vaudeville theatre, which is now home to the Windsor Symphony, but the only time they play movies is when the Windsor Film Festival is on in November!

Our DT department stores closed years ago, unfortunately, but we do still have our main library branch in the core.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by esquire

Thinking about it more broadly, I wonder why downtown cinemas have suffered so much outside the big 3 cities? No question that the downtown cinemas were largely older without all the razzle dazzle of newer cinemas (huge screens, impressive snack bars, etc.), but still... no one was confident enough in the moviegoing market to invest in those kinds of newer, bigger facilities downtown.

Even when I was a kid in the early 90s, when downtown Winnipeg was already well into its decline phase, downtown cinemas would still occasionally fill up. Barely a decade later and they were all empty.

The demographics of cinema attendees have changed? Non-blockbuster movies have been relegated to art house cinemas or Netflix?

If my understanding is correct, the mega-blockbusters comprise a larger percentage of Hollywood revenue than ever before. That has a very specific demographic profile - those under the age of 30. Maybe that going downtown for that purpose just isn't a thing now - if I'm doing the hassle of that, might as well be for an event.

[esquire]

^ It's funny because the suburban theatres still draw good crowds, and people do go downtown here to catch arena events. But hardly anyone goes downtown to watch movies anymore. It has basically disappeared over the course of one, maybe at most two generations.

Although I'm not sure how much you can infer about a city's density or cultural offerings or anything else from downtown theatres given how that business has changed generally in recent years... it may not be the best barometer in that regard.

[SignalHillHiker]

Acajack/Lio, this was shared on my FB timeline when I got home from work. Timely:

Libraries in Newfoundland and Labrador are a provincial responsibility but the province will be negotiating with the municipalities to change this as part of plans for a comprehensive review of cities’ powers and responsibilities. Municipalities NL says cities are presently not allowed to fund day to day running of libraries...

In 2014 Halifax opened a $57m central library downtown including an auditorium, coffee shop and music studio. Inspired by the success of that building and other new libraries that have been built across the country, a group of citizens has formed to campaign for a library in downtown St John’s as well, and the library board and friends of the library both call for this. Several candidates, including incumbent council members have endorsed the idea in principle. A third of the cost of Halifax’s library was paid by the federal government and 22% by the province – it is not clear who would foot the bill for a central library here.

http://www.stjohnsvotes.ca/2017/09/1...s-in-st-johns/

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ It's funny because the suburban theatres still draw good crowds, and people do go downtown here to catch arena events. But hardly anyone goes downtown to watch movies anymore. It has basically disappeared over the course of one, maybe at most two generations.

Although I'm not sure how much you can infer about a city's density or cultural offerings or anything else from downtown theatres given how that business has changed generally in recent years... it may not be the best barometer in that regard.

Point taken, though the truth is that the cities with the most vibrant downtowns in the country all still have downtown cinemas (sometimes more than one) in spite of the metamorphosis of the industry. That can be seen as a strength in their downtowns - they can survive (most) anything or any transformation.