Last English-language rep cinema in Montreal to close

Montreal's last English-language repertory cinema, Cinma du Parc, will closeAug. 3 because attendance has declined significantly in the past year,its owner says.

A spokesperson for the Daniel Langlois Group, which owns the theatre, said Wednesday that it had faced stiffer competition recently because other theatres started screening similar films.

The spokesperson said the company hopes to sell it to a group that would be interested in reopening the facility.

'It's really bad for films'

"It's really bad for films, in the sense, apart from mainstream films, we're losing out," said Peter Rist, a professor of film at Concordia University in Montreal.

"I find myself having to travel to Toronto because they're not showing in Montreal.

"Tenyears ago, that wasn't the case."

Repertory cinemas are in trouble across North America because of shrinking box office.

Fewer patrons come out to the cinema now they can see movies on video or DVD so soon after a commercial release.

4 Toronto rep cinemas also closed

Four of the Ontario city's repertory cinemas which introduced generations of movie-goers to unusual and foreign films as well as extending the run of some mainstream movies closed last week.

The Revue, the Royal, the Paradise and the Kingsway all part of the Festival Cinemas group closed after final screenings on June 30.

All four were owned by Peter McQuillan, who died in 2004. The surviving members of his family said they were not able to keep the discount cinemas going because too few people attended now that they could rent non-mainstream films to watch at home.

The family has accepted a sale offer for one mid-town cinema, and a community group is hoping to save another west-end movie house.

The Royal has been bought by Theatre D Digital, which currently operates the neighbourhood Regent Theatre.

Like the Regent, the Royal will be renovated so it can be used as a post-production facility during the day, and there is a possibility it will reopen to show films in the evening.

A community group calling itself Save the Revue met last week, and agreed to put together a proposal to lease back the Revue cinema from its owner.

Save the Revue wants to set up a non-profit corporation to run the cinema, and has begun a fund-raising and membership drive in Toronto's High Park-Roncesvalles neighbourhood to put some money down on a lease, according to Susan Flanagan, organizer of Save the Revue.