A former Bethesda movie theater space-turned-gym is now on the market for lease. The K-B Theatres Georgetown Square Twin building at 10400 Old Georgetown Road has sat vacant for over two years, after New York Sports Club moved out. According to the Cinema Treasures website, some structural or architectural remnants of the theater remain inside the 14000-square-foot building, but not having been a member of the gym, I cannot confirm this. The KB chain opened this two-screen cinema on December 21, 1973. Another reminder of the golden age of neighborhood movie theaters, which crumbled to dust by the end of the 1980s.
I used to think their demise was a real estate developer scheme, but it turned out that the biggest theater chains colluded with the major studios to make the profit splits so high for blockbusters, and the commitment of weeks to show them so long, that 1-and 2-screen cinemas like Georgetown Square couldn't remain financially viable and still obtain first-run movies. You had to have enough screens to A) show the movie a sufficient number of times per day to recoup enough money from ticket sales and snack bar concessions, and B) move the blockbuster into a smaller auditorium, if moviegoer interest in that flick began to wane prior to the 4-to-6 week commitment the studios demanded, and thereby have room for the next major release simultaneously.
7 comments:
Yep. KB theaters. That brings back a lot of memories. Blockbuster video too right next door which was smart. That entire center is at least 50 years old. The Camailier/Davis family still has their farm just sitting there across the street nearly engulfed by weeds and unpruned trees. That whole corridor could use a major refreshment.
Decades ago, someone had a party inside the theatre's after they closed. This was my first high school party, and I wasn't even in high school yet. LOL.
Would that not be the perfect spot for a Montgomery County Community Center?
The Davis-Camilier property across from Walter Johnson was approved for development more than 20 years - the approval should have expired after 20 years, but the developer has been given extensions. The development will never be built so long as the family is involved.
The county should take the property by eminent domain for public use - as much needed athletic fields and a park.
1:01 - No, the government should not do that. That's their property and they can do whatever they want with it. Is it out of place at this stage? Yes, but so what? How would you like it if they took your property?
My late father, Ronald K. Goldman, owned KB Theatres and your analysis is pretty spot on. In the old days movie theatre chains were family run enterprises. Eventually multiplexes became a standard with their stadium seating, superior sound systems, etc . . . Multiplexes (at least in 1992 when dad sold to Cineplex) cost a minimum of $20 million to construct (and that does not include the real estate). Dad had to sell because Regal (a public company with practically endless capital) made it known that it was going to enter the DC market. It would have crushed dad. The only reason dad’s company lasted as long as it did was because the other mega chains use to respect the territory of legacy movie theatre chains. For example, Redstone had been like a father mentor to dad and he could have easily seized the DC market but would never have done that to dad. Now all of the theatre chains are owned by large public companies.
7:31: It's great to hear from a family member from one of the greatest theater chains. Aside from this one, I remember seeing movies at the MacArthur and Congressional, Montgomery Mall and Baronet West. I believe there was also a K-B cinema in Mazza Gallerie for a few years that predated the AMC cineplex that later opened upstairs. I recently wrote about The Cinema in NW DC because the space is up for lease again. I imagine there are even less of the kind of personal relationships among the chain owners today, now that some are even under foreign ownership from the U.K., Mexico, etc. It's somewhat humorous that with all of the money and power behind the big chains, there were technical problems with sound and projection, and even with climate control, after the mighty Regal took over the United Artists Bethesda 10 that would never have happened at a K-B theater in my experience. Regal Rockville was the first theater I went to where management was ok with there being literal holes in the seat cushions!
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