Toronto to lose 3 repertory cinemas

Three of Toronto's repertory cinemas, which introduced generations of movie-goers to unusual and foreign films as well as extending the run of mainstream movies,will close at the end of June.

The Revue, the Royal and the Kingsway, all part of the Festival Cinemas group, were owned by Peter McQuillan, who died in 2004.

His family members say they are not able to keep the discount cinemas going under current market conditions.

"We don't have the time, the energy and the financial wherewithal to keep it going,"son Mark McQuillan told theToronto Star.

Two other Festival theatres the Paradise and the Fox will remain open.

However, the shortened time between a film's commercial release and itsrelease on DVD is continuing to squeeze the window in which repertory cinemas can show Hollywood films.

Protest saved theatre from demolition

A community protest and the intervention of the Festival Cinema chain saved the Royal from demolition two decades ago. Built in 1939 in Toronto's Little Italy neighbourhood, it was originally known as the Pylon.

The Revue, built in 1912, is Toronto's oldest standing movie theatre that still shows films.

The independent Bloor Cinema reopened after its ceiling collapsed in 2004, and is still operating.

The Danforth Music Hall, formerly part of the Festival Cinema group, has returned to life as a theatre and iscurrently home tothe stage musical Song and Dance.