930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: jkeisenh on September 18, 2004, 09:55:00 am
-
Folks,
sad, sad news. according to a friend that works there, Visions is planning on closing their doors for good this coming Thursday. Flat out, the place can't earn enough in a space worth so much. The developers are eyeing the space for retail, so there's very little chance someone else will buy and reopen it.
Not sure we can do anything about it at this point. This will be a huge loss to the DC indie film community.
-
NO!!!!! :( :( :(
That really sucks. DC needs more places like Visions.
-
That is truly awful news....
-
oh that sucks. but i have to admit, i only went here probably 4-6 times a year, tops. how often did other people go?
-
Originally posted by lily1:
oh that sucks. but i have to admit, i only went here probably 4-6 times a year, tops. how often did other people go?
I was there last month for a happy hour. I loved the special events, especially the midnight movie thing. I was a happy girl when they showed "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls."
Since I moved to MoCo last year, I haven't been as much given my close proximity to the AFI Silver, but I did like their space.
-
Originally posted by Random Citizen:
That really sucks. DC needs more places like Visions.
Man. We do need more places like this. Darn DC for being so expensive!
-
Originally posted by lily1:
oh that sucks. but i have to admit, i only went here probably 4-6 times a year, tops. how often did other people go?
Ditto.
-
<img src="http://vash.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Anims/magross.gif" alt=" - " />
-
Originally posted by Random Citizen:
NO!!!!! :( :( :(
That really sucks. DC needs more places like Visions.
Places where hardly anybody goes and the place losses money? Yeah, DC doesnt have plenty of those.
-
<img src="http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RQCJAs8U4eHMeAEuWNCz7!nyyYDwQAHqwbXUcn0RQv7vjpanbt8GCz0CGWOhR8wGKDoTHwzsq3EzWscD0TCHy8ms!QMF!3YJkKxXcGkW*zM/spideybob.gif?dc=4675489523761915270" alt=" - " />
-
Originally posted by Rob_Gee:
Places where hardly anybody goes and the place losses money? Yeah, DC doesnt have plenty of those.
You're right. DC needs more educational facilities first. :roll:
-
also, they're reducing ticket prices to $5 until their (unannounced) closing:
http://www.visionsdc.com/dyno/index.asp (http://www.visionsdc.com/dyno/index.asp)
-
Quite sad -- glad I f-i-n-a-l-l-y got to DONNIE DARKO just last week!
But... for all the coolness of the bar, the hanging out scene, the midnight movies, the kick-the-keg, the unique programming...... it's still hard to get past the fact that:
the auditoriums suck. bad angles, and too-small-screens-relative-to-what-we-get-nowadays.
-
Originally posted by Random Citizen:
Originally posted by Rob_Gee:
Places where hardly anybody goes and the place losses money? Yeah, DC doesnt have plenty of those.
You're right. DC needs more educational facilities first. :roll: [/b]
I have your PJ ticket if your still interested.
-
:eek: That really Sucks! The last time I was at Visions Cinema I was attending a Monthly Plastic Meetup (http://plastic.meetup.com). I saw a film called Boondock Saints on the TV scene. I made a few trips to Visions. It's disappointing that we lost another venue for movies outside the mainstream. I also suspect the opening of the E street Theatre may have taken some their audiences away. It's pathetic because I was gonna use the venue to launch my dvd magazine that's still in works.
-
Originally posted by rich_WDC:
it's still hard to get past the fact that:
the auditoriums suck. bad angles, and too-small-screens-relative-to-what-we-get-nowadays.
you're not going to see most of the stuff they show there anywhere else, except perhaps on your home DVD player. So relative suckiness of the auditoriums wasn't that relevant.
-
I don't know why you people are bitching. Visions was one of the worst theaters in all of DC. Even for a goddamn art house! Terrible screens and terrible sound. I'd rather watch movies in my home theater than waste money on such a crappy place. Hopefully this closing will benefit a superior theater that shows the same type of movies. Landmark's E Street Cinema.
-
what the fux a plastic meetup? :eek:
-
as much as i loved visions, i only went there once in a blue moon.
why?
parking is totally impossible, the theaters are TINY, and it is waaaay too crowded. I didn't like it how in the freezing cold of winter, when the movie let out, they just push you out into the street, can't get back in the lobby because it's sardine-packed with other people.
it does raise an interesting point, though. there is a lot of turnover in some "very desirable" spaces in this town. sometimes, when a restaurant or business leaves, the thing stays vacant for a LONG TIME. My guess, a total guess, is that some landlords are just not being realistic about their rents. probably because they didn't pay realistic values for their property.
-
Originally posted by Rob_Gee:
I have your PJ ticket if your still interested.
I stopped by the box office on Wednesday, thanks.
-
Those bringing up Landmark are somewhat missing the point. Was Visions the best movie theatre in the city? No, but to compare it to the corporate-backed "stadium" theatres around town is a waste of time.
The problem with Visions closing is that it, once again, highlights the fact that DC can't support more than one of anything.
A lot of folks always say, "We need more places like the Metro Café, or [insert other independent arts venue]." Well, that's how I viewed Visions Cinema. Yes, the market has spoken, so to speak, because they couldn't compete, but it's still sad to lose another independent theatre/gathering place.
-
Originally posted by Doctor Doom:
what the fux a plastic meetup? :eek:
Have you been to the website Plastic.com (http://www.plastic.com)? It's were web users of the website meet in person to discuss the various subject discussed on the website. I hope that cleared this up.
I made a couple of trips to Visions. I went their on the weekdays, but I didn't go on the weekends. If the landloards weren't charging and arm and left for rent, this wouldn't be an issue. If Visions was a state of the art alternative to all those stadium seat movie chains, we wouldn't talking about its closure.
-
i did like that they tried to book the directors for some of the films. i got to see lee hirsch speak about his film amandla. i also so this fun film, if you want to call it a film, called "the good old naughty days". it was a collection of pornos from french brothers from the turn of the century! the standard fantasies people have now, were exactly the same circa 1910.
-
every time I went, they weren't very nice
they acted like it was weird that I wanted to buy a ticket
-
Originally posted by Seth Hurwitz:
every time I went, they weren't very nice
they acted like it was weird that I wanted to buy a ticket
Was that because they knew who you were and expected you to be comped or were they just too far to the fartsy side of artsy?
-
no, I meant they were, like, too busy or something
-
What do you expect from a place that played Donnie Darko everry weekend at midnight? what was with that anyway?
I think it's embarassing that a city like DC can't support more places like this, but I guess it just can't.
I only saw a handful of movies here, myself, so I can't get too riled up, though...
I guess I'll always remember it as the place I saw The Brown Bunny.
-
It was nice to have a true independent theater in town. They did neat things like show Woody Allen and serve Chinese food on Christmas day for all the Jews in town. I can't see E Street doing that.
I talked to the guy at the counter last night and he said the bar was making money but they were getting outbid for too many films by E Street and Leows Georgetown. When they opened the only places to see art films were the crappy Janus (remember the pole in the middle of the theater?) and Dupont Loews. Oh well...
-
Does anyone find it strange that they're not announcing the closing, having a goodbye fiesta, or anything at all? Makes me wonder if they're hoping for some sort of last minute reprieve.
-
Originally posted by bellenseb:
Does anyone find it strange that they're not announcing the closing, having a goodbye fiesta, or anything at all? Makes me wonder if they're hoping for some sort of last minute reprieve.
Yes, I found it confusing to hear initial rumors about the closing from staff yet not see it officially announced anywhere!
-
i got this today:
To all of our Friends, Neighbors and Founding Members:
Recently there have been many rumors circulating that Visions bar noir is going to close. Sadly, we must now confirm that the rumors are true.
Visions will be closing its doors this Thursday at midnight after four amazing years of operation. While our financial success in the last year and half was not what we hoped, we are proud to have played an important part in the renaissance of intelligent, independent film in Washington, DC. Our continued artistic success and the support you have shown for our many innovative programs proves that Washington cares about quality, value-added programming. THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF THE VISIONS FAMILY!
To celebrate our dear staff, customers and investors and the special role that Visions has played in the community, we would like to throw one last party to thank everyone whose hard work and commitment to the arts helped us to make a go of it in the first place.
We hope you will join us this Sunday night, September 26, from 6 pm to 2 am, as the Visions community comes together for one final blow-out party at the theater. This party is free and open to the public. In typical Visions style we will be having special events -- we will be selling movie posters, our cool film reel chandeliers, our curtains, and we will even auction our bar noir sign to the highest bidder in order to help cover our final payroll.
Please plan to join us Sunday, share some fond remembrances and say farewell to our unique venue. And again, on behalf of all of us at Visions, thank you!
Sincerely,
Andrew Frank, President
Jonathan Zuck, Vice President
Andrew Mack, Vice President
Liz Matheos, General Manager
The Visions Staff: Samina, Sarah, Adam, Sean, Matt, Tim, Paul, Tony, Jessica, Deysha, Eduardo, Brad, Lauren, Jose, Whitney, Tristan and Angele
-
From today's Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43468-2004Sep22.html)...looks as if the theatre right off the Dupont Metro is in its last gasps as well.
Roll Credits For Spunky Movie House
By Marc Fisher
Thursday, September 23, 2004; Page B01
Six years ago, Washington and its suburbs were a movie house backwater, woefully underscreened by industry standards. We lost the quirky little places that showed independent and foreign flicks -- the Key, the Biograph and the Foundry, all in Georgetown. Loews Cineplex started shuttering its old theaters -- the MacArthur, the Avalon and the Outer Circle.
But things change quickly in show biz, and today, many in the movie industry say Washington is overscreened. An army of suburban multiplexes advanced, including huge complexes such as the Majestic 20 in Silver Spring, the Egyptian 24 at Arundel Mills, the AMC Hoffman Center 22 in Alexandria and the 12-screen Magic Johnson theaters about to open at the old Capital Centre site in Prince George's County.
Nonprofits and national chains alike realized that this affluent, highly educated market craved something beyond blockbusters. In short order, Landmark opened its hugely successful Bethesda Row and E Street complexes, the American Film Institute moved into Silver Spring, and a community group revived the Avalon in Chevy Chase.
But tonight, the little theater that launched the art movie boomlet four years ago falls victim to the success it spurred. Visions, the two-screen theater that was home to a funky restaurant and bar, ethnic film festivals and some of the best people-watching in town, will screen its last movie tonight. After a farewell party Sunday, the theater on Florida Avenue NW just north of Dupont Circle will go dark.
In the past two years alone, Visions' competition soared from 89 movie screens within six miles to 139 screens, a 56 percent increase.
"Every month, we were just increasing our deficit," said Andrew Frank, the entrepreneur behind Sirius Coffee, who joined with childhood friend Andrew Mack and Mack's buddy Jonathan Zuck to start Visions. "After Landmark, AFI and the Avalon came in, we just couldn't get the films people wanted to see. By the end, we were losing $1,000 to $1,500 a day."
If Loews, which last year closed the Janus theaters on Connecticut Avenue NW, also shuts its Dupont 5 theaters, as real estate brokers expect, there will be no movie house between Georgetown and Washington's East End.
Like independent bookstores holding out against the big boxes, Visions tried to be creative. Its lobby bar brought in more than half the revenue. Visions staffers knew movies. Visions connected with embassies, political groups and film buffs from around the globe. Nearly every week brought directors, actors and other speakers.
When Visions showed "Lumumba," about the Congo's first prime minister, Frank Carlucci, the ex-CIA official portrayed in the film as plotting Patrice Lumumba's assassination, came and defended himself in a heated but civil exchange with a knowledgeable, involved audience.
Andy Shallal, the Dupont Circle restaurateur whose Peace Cafe program gathers Jews, Arabs and others for conversation about the Middle East, helped Visions turn the lobby cafe into a beehive of discussion after "Promises," a movie about Palestinian and Israeli children who meet one another.
Other theaters show the hot independent films, but where will the African film festival -- Visions' highest-grossing week -- go?
Visions' passing "might be the end of that kind of independent theater," said Alan Rubin, who ran the Biograph for 29 years before bowing to the Age of the Multiplex. "The chains don't want to bother with festivals and speakers and events. It's too much work."
Real estate broker David Crowley, who has done deals on movie house properties, said the Dupont area can still support a theater if it has another hook, a bar or restaurant that generates revenue when the movies are not hits.
But downtown rents are rising to a point that movies only make sense when city planners make them a priority, giving landlords incentives to lease to theaters, which is what brought the Gallery Place and E Street movie houses to those sites.
"Nothing lasts forever," said Visions' Zuck. "We came along when Washington really needed this type of content. We proved the market for others who came in. And we became a community."
-
Interesting...another story on Visions is on the front of the Style section:
Final Reel to Roll At Washington's Visions Theater
By Desson Thomson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 23, 2004; Page C01
In the face of mounting debt and increasing competition from other movie theaters, Visions Bar Noir will show its final films tonight. The decision to close left the future of the theater's site unclear.
"It's sad," said Visions president Andrew Frank, who opened the theater in May 2000. "We tried for a long time."
When Visions redesigned the old Embassy Theater on Florida Avenue four years ago, Frank said, "we entered a marketplace when there wasn't anything going on. We filled that specialty niche and revived it for a while at a time when the city was underscreened."
But two years later, the humble two-screen theater -- at the crossroads of Washington's Dupont Circle, Kalorama and Adams Morgan neighborhoods -- faced competition from a confluence of new venues, all of them dedicated to Visions' niche of independent and art house movies. Those included Landmark Theatres' multiscreen Bethesda Row and E Street Cinema, Regal Theaters in Rockville, Loews Cineplex Georgetown, the American Film Institute Silver Theatre and the Avalon -- all of them supported by deeper pockets or public money.
"It wasn't a level playing field," said Frank, who (along with the Avalon theater) has complained that chains such as Landmark and Loews often used their national clout to keep distributors from showing films at the small theaters. Denied access to bigger releases, Frank offered more specialized fare, including political documentaries and midnight movies. Visions also opened its two screens to local filmmakers and specialty festivals. Last year Frank revamped the theater's bar, renamed it Bar Noir, and built up a coterie of night patrons. But ultimately his efforts weren't enough.
"We really tried to give the theater a personality and individuality, which you don't usually get in theaters," said Frank, who also owns Sirius Coffee Co. at the Van Ness Metro station. "Bar Noir was a source of revenue. But admissions were dropping off at such a pace we were never able to break even. We had a deficit that was insurmountable." He declined to give specific figures.
The number of screens within a six-mile radius of Visions in 2002 was 89. This year, he said, the total had risen to 139. And since then, the average number of movies opening in Washington on any given weekend has almost doubled to between 10 and 12 releases. This competition for reviews in the print media also affected Visions, which had no advertising budget, Frank said.
Visions' debt made some distributors balk, which occasionally hamstrung its ability to secure films. ThinkFilm, for example, had scheduled to show the movie "Festival Express" recently at Visions, but canceled at the last minute.
"It's a shame to see it go," ThinkFilm's Michael Tuchman said of the theater. "I think it's a great location."
"I feel bad for them," said Ryan Werner, head of acquisitions at Wellspring, an independent distributor in New York, whose "Brown Bunny" became the theater's final film. When he worked for Magnolia Pictures, Werner said, Visions had extremely good ticket sales for such films as "Late Marriage" and "Read My Lips."
It seemed to signal the beginning of the end when Visions film programmer Andrew Menscher quit the organization Aug. 18, citing the theater's financial problems. "Because of the position the theater was in, it became extremely hard for me to perform my job, to get as good a program as was potentially available for Visions," Menscher said yesterday.
Frank, who owns the theater with partners Andrew Mack and Jonathan Zuck, alerted his staff about the closure two weeks ago but did not announce it to the public until yesterday.
The Visions closing "may help us a little bit," said Paul Sanchez, who operates the Avalon and P&G Montgomery Mall cinemas. "I'm sorry to see it happen. We weren't really playing the same films. If Landmark closes, that would help us a lot."
Bob Zich, outgoing chairman of the board of Avalon Theatre, also expressed regret for Visions' demise. "I think [Frank] was offering something unique to the city that I don't think anyone else could."
As for Avalon's business, he said, "I hope we'll be able to pick up some of the slack."
The future of the Visions theater, a $2 million project in the 6,000-square-foot space owned by the Cafritz Co., and said by some to rent for $14,000 a month, remains in question.
"It wouldn't surprise me if another independent came along and reopened the theater," Sanchez said. "I've seen it happen, with the Avalon and the P&G Montgomery Mall," both of which were bought from Loews Cineplex. "Anything's possible."
In the meantime, Visions has announced a farewell party for the public on Sunday, starting at 8 p.m. The free event, which includes a cash bar, "is a way to bring closure" for everybody, said Frank. "It'll be a celebration of four very fun years. To thank my old staff, new staff and to thank the community for allowing Visions to exist in the first place."
-
Just read the transcript of Marc Fisher's webchat and noticed this:
Marc Fisher: That turnstile at the Biograph was one of the city's great wacky institutions. And thanks for the reminder of that odd angle at the MacArthur.
Sad to say, we're going to lose yet another of those big old movie houses. Real estate sources tell me that Loew's Cinema in the building next to Rodman's on Wisconsin Avenue NW will close when its lease runs out within the next year. Loew's has refused to comment on any of these reports.
-
Originally posted by Random Citizen:
If Loews, which last year closed the Janus theaters on Connecticut Avenue NW, also shuts its Dupont 5 theaters, as real estate brokers expect, there will be no movie house between Georgetown and Washington's East End.
this sucks, when I first moved here there were little theaters everywhere, sure they were not very modern, but they were fine, and much more convenient
-
I just walked by Visions and master reporter Arch Campbell was filming there
-
Did he proposition you?
Originally posted by pollard:
I just walked by Visions and master reporter Arch Campbell was filming there
-
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Did he proposition you?
uh no, but I have always wanted to tell him what a horrible reporter he is, but I didnt want to stop listening to the song I had on, so I missed my chance
-
Originally posted by pollard:
uh no, but I have always wanted to tell him what a horrible reporter he is, but I didnt want to stop listening to the song I had on, so I missed my chance
You know who's worse...that Pat guy (Collins?) on NBC4. He always seems to get the main story of the day.
-
It's hard to believe that they allow someone as useless as him on the television. Wonder what he had to do to get the job?
But then again, maybe it's not. Tv reporters in general seem like phony makeup and hairsray wearing airheads trumpeting the corporate drivel to the masses.
Oh wait, I'm starting to sound like a Nader voter again.
Originally posted by pollard:
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Did he proposition you?
uh no, but I have always wanted to tell him what a horrible reporter he is, but I didnt want to stop listening to the song I had on, so I missed my chance [/b]
-
Originally posted by Random Citizen:
You know who's worse...that Pat guy (Collins?) on NBC4. He always seems to get the main story of the day.
Funny, I was talking to somebody else and they said the same thing, he seems drunk most of the time
-
Originally posted by pollard:
Funny, I was talking to somebody else and they said the same thing, he seems drunk most of the time
I can't stand the way he delivers the lines. It's like, "Tuesday........at 7...45...pm...on the....corner of......18th....and Massachusetts..." You just want to say, "Spit it out already!" And then I go turn on NPR and feel better. :)
-
I was going to harp on Pat Collins as well. That guy's delivery is obnoxious.
Two........ homicides today on..... the....... street over ther....e. In.. cold blood. When........ will this.. end?
-
I agree...for those living in the Dupont/Logan/Adams Morgan area this is a bummer. I used to be able to walk to almost any indie movie I wanted to see at Visions, the Janus and Dupont. Now they're gone or going. It was nice just to have "community" type theaters instead of having to schlep to these big multiplexes with no personality you have to drive or metro to.
-
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Wonder what he had to do to get the job?
Most other cities' local newscasts can't afford a culture vulture. But WRC is one of four NBC flagship stations nationwide. The 3 letter callsign proves that they've been around forever.