Two Regal movie theater locations in the Buffalo Niagara region will close as part of the theater chain's parent company bankruptcy filing last year.
The theater will be renamed the Capitol Theatre in honor of the original Capitol Theatre, which was opened in Niagara Falls in 1926.
The Transit Center Stadium 18 & IMAX in Lancaster and Elmwood Center 16 in North Buffalo will close, according to court documents filed Tuesday in the Cineworld bankruptcy case.
Cineworld, Regal's parent company, is closing 37 other locations across the United States.
In the court documents, Cineworld stated it will end its leases on the closing theaters on Feb. 15.
Earlier this month, Dipson Theaters announced it signed a lease to become the new operator of the Regal Cinema 12 in Niagara Falls, effective Feb. 1.
Regal also was ending its lease at the Niagara Falls site, but the deal with Dipson will keep it open. The theater will be renamed the Capitol Theatre in honor of the original Capitol Theatre, which was opened in Niagara Falls in 1926.
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The three-screen theater was an independent art house for upscale and foreign films before the pandemic.
Last year, Dipson purchased the Transit Drive-In Theatre in Lockport from the family who ran it for 65 years. In October, Dipson closed its Eastern Hills Mall location.
Dipson is a family-run company founded in Batavia in 1939.
Regal is the second-largest cinema chain in the U.S., behind AMC, with over 500 theaters.
Movie theaters have been struggling to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, which closed theaters for months and then forced theater chains to try to lure back viewers while still operating under pandemic-related restrictions. Studios also began releasing some films to streaming sites immediately upon their release, giving viewers alternative ways of seeing new films apart from a trip to the theater.
Natalie Brophy
Reporter
I cover technology and startups for The Buffalo News. A North Tonawanda native, I returned to Buffalo in January 2022 after five years of reporting in Central New York and Wisconsin.
