Petition to establish a theater in Hamilton, Ontario at the Center on Barton mall.
 

Establishment of a theater in Hamilton, Ontario at the Center on Barton mall.

In 1998 the previous theater at the old Center mall closed for good. This left the Empire theater at Jackson and Paramount theatres as the major movie viewing location for hamiltonians. The recent developments and changes to Hamilton have left ground for future expansion of several services yet why are entertainment in the form of a theater not one of them?

The city of Hamilton has been expanding and modernizing for much of the 2000's and continued to expand under the Canadian action plan and local development. These developments has seen the city including the East End where the Center is located has made the city a modern attraction and stop-off point for many people.

Here I will be trying to convince not just the City or Companies why a theater should be built at the center mall but also the many local people who live in the residential areas who hopefully will see the reasons to why such a development can benefit everyone.

This group will act as a sort of reasoning place for why this theater should be built but also as sort of a online petition to show the City and many cooperation that we here want to see this happen!

Further info on to the benifits to this can be found on are Facebook page below! Drop a like and make sure to sign for the better of Local entertainment in Hamilton!

https://www.change.org/p/hamiltonian...cklist_promote

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1618608008415549/

This is really weird thing to "petition".

Cineplex would pretty much be the only option to build it so why not directly this specifically to them?

I don't think I can sign this because of the spelling of "Centre."

Also "theatre" is spelled incorrectly.

Dont think this is going to fly.

Not sure what petitioning the city will do. Its not like they can force a private theatre company to build a movie theatre there unless they give them massive subsidies or tax breaks. That wouldn't be in the best interest of the tax payer. Then you'll have a bunch of other private establishments wanting tax breaks because citizen's petitioned for their services in that end of town.

Theres a reason the movie theatre closed up shop at Centre Mall. It wasn't economically viable for Ciniplex. The market has determined the need for movie theatres, and that wasn't at Centre Mall. If there is a business case to make money at a movie theatre in the East End, someone will build it. Right now there isn't.

Cineplex has made it pretty clear that outside of Toronto, their main market is the suburbs. They've ditched every inner city Hamilton cinema that they used to run after the Upper James location closed a few years ago, I can't see why they'd drop the money to build a new one at the Centre. Personally I haven't even been to a movie theatre in almost 10 years now and I probably wouldn't be any more likely to go to one there.

^ If anything Confederation Park Shopping Centre would probably be Hamilton East/Stoney Creek best location for a theatre.

I signed this petition already. Don't get me wrong, I actually love going to the movies at Jackson Square but we definitely need another large movie theatre in the lower city. It really sucks that I'm forced to drive up to Ancaster or Upper Stoney Creek to see a movie with friends at a Cineplex. I actually remember the days of a theatre at Centre Mall and even recall the one at Fiesta Mall. It would be nice to have something like that back again. Something similar to Scotia Bank Cineplex on Richmond Street in Toronto. I guess a boy can dream though...

Only place I can see a movie theatre going in is at the Confederation Park shopping complex, or the new Fifty Road shopping complex.

Your practical options as far as large operators go basically come down to Landmark or Cineplex (and Cineplex’s corporate structure encompasses theatre brands Cineplex Odeon/Cineplex Cinemas/Cineplex VIP, Colossus, Famous Players, Galaxy, Scotiabank Theatre and SilverCity — they haven't had substantial competition since swallowing Famous Players ten years ago).

Centre Mall Cinemas closed the same year the Lime Ridge multiplex was taken offline and shortly after SilverCity Ancaster came online.

Upper James Cinemas was mothballed the same day that SilverCity Hamilton Mountain opened.

I don’t think that the market forces that drove those decisions have changed much if at all — and where they have, probably not enough to tip the balance back to Centre Mall.

Population Change, 1991-2011

Wards 1-5: -6,935
Wards 6-8: +18,917
Wards 9-11: +30,863

You might try making your case to CinéStarz, who took over the downtown Burlington microplex after Encore Cinemas Burlington closed in 2012.

Those market forces also included the old and tired theatres that closed. People like modern! A new modern theatre with stadium seating could be successful.

However, I believe a modern theatre is needed in the core first, before the east end is considered, especially with all the condo development occurring.

Thing is cineplex is in it to make money. They want market research of guaranteed profits. "Could be successful" doesnt cut it for them. If theres a guarantee of success they will build it and reap the profits.

If there was a modern theatre in the core, id hope it wasnt a suburban type with sprawling parking lots.

Can you think of an example of a mid-sized Canadian city with a big modern cinema in its core? I can’t think of one I have seen or visited, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. I don’t think there’s a good chance of it, though. I think the only way a cinema can survive in a downtown nowadays is by cultivating an old-timey atmosphere, and offering films that the bigger suburban theatres don’t. Waterloo and now Kitchener both have cinemas like this, which also offer more mainstream fare in addition to the arthouse-type films. London has a single-screen theatre (the Hyland) which has been operating near their downtown for a few years, I believe successfully. London, too, has a “budget” type of cinema in its downtown mall (part of the Rainbow chain) which seems to have a similar model as Jackson. I can’t think of too many smaller Canadian cities who even still have this, though. We’re fairly lucky to have any cinema downtown at all.

Hopefully the Jackson Square cinema can hold on. I think the best and most realistic development in terms of cinemas in the core would be something with a model similar to that of the Westdale cinema trying to make a go of it somewhere near James North or King West. Avon Theatre on Ottawa would have been great, especially if there really is a demand in the east end for cinema, but I guess that won’t be happening. There was a cinema on Locke Street (the Regent), which is retail now, and I would love to see it turn back into a movie house. But it’s so tiny and that that probably isn’t realistic. Depending on how much the building could be had for, I wonder sometimes, though…

There is a new Cineplex opening in downtown Edmonton as part of their new arena district.

There is also a Cineplex going in the redeveloped Landsdowne district in Ottawa which, while not in the very core, is just about as urban a location as the Shops at The Centre property here in Hamilton.

I consider those cities to be a bit out of our league, but that's interesting, and you're right that Landsdowne Park is in a similar situation to Centre Mall. I guess a big modern cinema in downtown Hamilton is not as far-fetched as I would have thought.

I also amend my earlier comments about the Regent, in case anyone with money might be reading. According to this, it had 600 seats (no lobby, though, evidently), which is almost as much capacity as Westdale. Locke Street could definitely support a small art house-type cinema. Maybe with similar films as what they tend to screen at The Book Shelf in Guelph. There any number of restaurants and bars with whom to partner for cross-promotions.

Maybe I should launch a petition to someone…

Maybe instead of a petition-to-the-universe, it would be pragmatic to put together an investment prospectus for the local equivalent of private real estate developers Katz Group Properties/WAM Development Group or OSEG.

Or just open a microcinema.

Although Edmonton's population is much greater than Hamilton's, their downtown feels like a medium sized city. There's nothing special about it.

I was just poking fun at the title of the thread. But micro cinema! Great idea! Too bad I know nothing about projection or anything else related to running a cinema...

Good point about Edmonton's downtown, NortheastWind. Actually, I would say it has faced similar challenges to ours.

Downtown Edmonton: 11,572 (2009), 1.5% of city population
Downtown Hamilton: 8,512 (2006), 1.7% of city population

I support this if it makes up the podium of a 30-story tower.