Long Beach Movie Theater to Reopen with 3-D Feature

The movie projectors will be rolling once again in Long Beach starting Friday – and one will show films in 3-D.

Long Beach Cinema 4 has been closed since mid-April and came close to being shut down as the city’s only movie theater. A large retailer made a lucrative offer to lease the busy spot at East Park Avenue and Long Beach Boulevard, but the theater’s owners turned it down after a public outcry, said co-owner Seth Pilevsky.

Pilevsky said that he signed a confidentiality agreement so he was forbidden from revealing the retailer’s name. “We were close to a deal, which was almost finalized,” he said.

The four-screen theater has operated from the same location for about 10 years.

Pilevsky said he received much feedback from the community pleading with him to keep the movie theater in Long Beach.

“We were actually made an offer we could not refuse to lease the spot and if we weren’t local people, we would never have re-opened the theater,” said Pilevsky, who is from Nassau County. “But there is that emotional element. The outcry from the community was crazy.”

He said the theater’s owners used the roughly two months the theater has been closed to complete minor repairs, and one of the screens will now be able to show 3-D movies. Other improvements included a paint job to the exterior, upgraded movie projectors and other equipment, but Pilevsky would not say how much was spent on the theater’s improvements.

To show appreciation for the community’s support, a free movie pass good for a year will be handed out on Friday to each patron of the theater.

Pilevsky is a part of Philips International, a real estate company that owns more than 150 properties along the East Coast but only one movie theater.

“We were very close to getting rid of the theater,” he said. “But we wouldn’t have re-opened it if it wasn’t profitable.”

Building Commissioner Scott Kemins said the work the theater completed over the last two months did not require any permits or variances.

“There were some cleaning, painting and general housekeeping issues, nothing that required any permits,” said Kemins.

Kemins said he was pleased the theater will re-open in Long Beach.

“I think it’s great to have a movie theater in Long Beach, especially for the kids and the people who don’t drive,” said Kemins, who added that the closest one was in Rockville Centre. “It’s great they are going to stay in town. It’s great for the business community. This way our residents could eat in restaurants here and then go to a movie.”