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“We came to this place for magic.” On a rainy Sunday afternoon, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal stood in solidarity with more than 100 New Yorkers outside AMC Kips Bay 15. In his best Australian accent,
he recited Nicole Kidman’s iconic AMC Theatres ad in a loving tribute to the neighborhood’s longstanding cultural institution. But despite a record-breaking summer at the box office, the Kips Bay multiplex is expected to close at the end of this year.
“I’m a lifelong resident of Kips Bay, and I came out here to support my favorite theater that I’ve been going to since I was a child,” said Lucy Di Lorenzo, one of the many Gen-Zers who attended the protest.
The site of the Kips Bay AMC, the chain’s second-largest multiplex in Manhattan, was privately purchased by NYU Langone over a year ago. But several city officials at the protest told Variety they didn’t learn about the deal until after it had gone through.
“NYU is a neighbor, and we’ve worked with them in many different capacities, so it was surprising that we had to reach out to them to find out that they were the ones looking to acquire the land behind us,” New York State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez explained after the protest. “It’s not unreasonable to ask NYU to be proactive in engaging with the community.”
The “Save the Kips Bay AMC Theater Rally” was organized by the Eleanor Roosevelt Independent Democrats, a local political club representing several communities across the Lower East Side, East Village and Midtown East. Judith Gross, the group’s president, says her members are “devastated” by the news but remain hopeful they can get through to AMC Theatres and NYU Langone.
“I’m hoping AMC and NYU see what we’ve done here,” Gross said. “This neighborhood is not a campus for NYU and its medical offices. We’re guiding the whole community to protest these takeovers of what little community space we have left.”
Several local businesses have joined Gross’ rallying cry, including Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar, the staple Irish pub located just around the corner from AMC Kips Bay. After promoting the protest on social media, the bar offered a free drink to anyone who came in afterward with a selfie from the rally.
“It’s very important because we have a lot of young people in this neighborhood who love to go to the movie theater,” said Desi Murray, who has owned Paddy Reilly’s for the past three years. “It would be a big loss for the community.”
Paddy Reilly’s is celebrating its 40th year in business. Inside the bar, several locals mourned the potential loss of a community gathering space that’s been around even longer.
“We’ve been here since ’73,” a patron named Cesar told his buddies at the bar. He took a sip of Guinness. “There has always been a theater here.”
As the pub-goers clamored over how surprisingly funny “Resident Evil” was and how great Robert Pattinson’s Batman is, the fate of their favorite local movie theater remains in limbo. It’s a conflict playing out on a much larger scale with the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, which many of Hollywood’s most prominent voices are arguing would diminish opportunities and resources for creatives.
“And right here, the same thing is happening,” Gonzalez explained. “We’re getting a big new partner coming in, potentially kicking this out, limiting options to see the movies in our neighborhood. And all we’re asking for, whether it’s in Hollywood or right here in Pittsburgh, is for everyday people to be included and have our voices heard.”
