Editor’s Note: Upper Manhattan and the Bronx are now a ‘cinema desert’

The closure of the Concourse Plaza Multiplex Cinemas on Tuesday had ripple effects beyond the Bronx, which the venue had served for more than 30 years. "With the closure of the Concourse Multiplex Cinemas, this means that from 126th street in Harlem to the AMC Cinema in the Bay Plaza Mall located in Co-op City, there are no movie theaters. This is a cinema desert," said Gregory Hernandez, executive director of the nonprofit group Bronx Independent Cinema Center. That’s a blow to the communal experience of watching movies, especially when New York remains one of the leading movie markets in the world. 

There are still independent movie options in the Bronx, like Cinema on the Sound, a City Island venue operating out of an antique store. Bronx Independent Cinema Center uses temporary venues, but is on the hunt for a permanent home. The nonprofit reached out to the shuttered multiplex to ask for use of a screen for an evening and a donation of theater equipment. The theater’s closing was not a promising sign that there will be any new permanent venues coming soon to this northern section of the city. There’s not even a sign of life at the shuttered Loews Paradise, a city landmark on the Grand Concourse last used for a church until the pandemic. 

Borough President Vanessa Gibson, in a statement, said the multiplex landlord is “committed to installing a new movie theater tenant as soon as possible.” The Regal Cinemas in Union Square closed and reopened after making a deal with its landlord. That shows it’s worth the fight, even for a multiplex, to ensure that the show will go on.