If you’re going to the Carlton Cinemas this weekend to help to celebrate the return of the downtown art-house multiplex, you’ll probably notice a lot of boarded-up shopfronts on nearby Yonge.
It’s wreckage from the G20 demonstrations last weekend fortunately, the mob turned west on College rather than east on Carlton, sparing the Carlton from any smashed doors or windows.
“We were lucky,” says general manager Chris Ciavaglia. He’s not kidding with just days before the theatre’s grand reopening Wednesday (June 30), more repairs would be the last thing he’d need.
Although, now that I think about it, the Carlton’s doors are just about the only part of the multiplex still in need of restoration. When former owner Cineplex took all the equipment, seats and furnishings when it shuttered the place last December, that gave the theatre’s new owner, Magic Lantern – which also operates the Rainbow Cinemas chain in Toronto and elsewhere – the perfect opportunity to spruce the place up.
When I drop in to check the place out, a couple of days before opening, the place smells a bit like a construction site – there’s still a little sawdust in the air from the renovation of the concession stand – but there’s no hint of that musty, rancid-oil smell that I’ve associated with the Carlton for the last ten or 12 years. Even the carpet is new.
“$1.5 million is what I’m seeing floating around,” Ciavaglia says when I ask for an estimate on the refurbishment costs. I’d wager it’s been worth it.
All nine auditoria have been refurbished, with new projectors, new screens and new seats. The far wall of the main lobby is graced with a lovely mural representing the Carlton’s various eras of operation. The air conditioning works as it’s supposed to, and there’s digital sound in every room, which will finally eliminate the optical-track warble that Carlton regulars came to know and loathe.
Cineplex installed Dolby Digital and DTS systems in four of the larger rooms, but never bothered to upgrade the other five from old-school mono. In the complex’s later years, those systems required constant recalibration, and a never-ending scramble for outdated parts and tools. “I don’t expect that to be a problem anymore,” Ciavaglia says, beaming.
In addition to the 35mm rigs in every auditorium, the Carlton has been renovated with an eye towards digital capability. It’s opening with two digital projectors, but more will come, the better to compete more directly with AMC’s down the hill at Dundas.
That competition strategy extends to mixing some Hollywood programming in with the Carlton’s signature lineup of art-house fare. You can see it in the selection of titles they’ve programmed for the two days of free screenings that reopen the venue: Up In The Air, How To Train Your Dragon, last year’s long-running Departures and more.
Friday, the theatre resumes commercial operations with the Toronto first-run premieres of Tehroun and Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger, as well as Holy Rollers, Sounds Like A Revolution, Disney’s nature documentary Oceans- and M. Night Shyamalan’s big-studio action fantasy The Last Airbender.
You read that right: Paramount’s big summer movie will be playing at the Carlton. It’s the first major-studio picture to premiere there in a very long time, thanks to Magic Lantern’s willingness to go after big titles that might attract curious Carlton regulars – or people who don’t want to pay AMC’s prices.
“We’re in pretty much a free zone here,” Ciavaglia says. “We’ll still have to fight for what we want.”
It’s a fight worth having. The auditoria may be small, but the screens are clean and bright, and the new chairs won’t leave you feeling like an accordion if you sit in the front rows. They’re also higher than the old row seats, so you can see over the head of whoever sits front of you.
And here we are. Seven months ago, I wasn’t exactly weeping over the closure of the Carlton. Now, I’m actually looking forward to watching movies there for the first time in at least a decade. And you should be, too.[rssbreak]
Filmmaker Atom Egoyan will be doing a Q&A after the 6:20pm show of Chloe tonight (Wednesday).
