Concourse Plaza Multiplex Cinemas didn’t get a Hollywood ending so much as a Bronx goodbye.
The South Bronx picture house permanently shuttered on Tuesday night after over 30 years, leaving a borough of 1.4 million with just one surviving movie theater.
In some ways, the closure echoes the broader disinvestment that has historically plagued the area. But Tuesday night was mostly a loving celebration by local movie lovers.
Tiffany Vick, 33, lives nearby and grew up going to Concourse Plaza Multiplex, which opened in 1991. She brought her 9-year-old son Royale to a final screening of “Garfield” and proudly took his picture in the same spot where she used to pose with friends. She fondly recalled watching the dance movie “You Got Served” twice when it was released in 2004.
“I’m just happy I made it for the last show, I wasn’t sure if I was going to remember,” she said as Royale happily zoomed around the entrance on a scooter. “It just feels like home because it’s so close. You see familiar people when you come here from the neighborhood. It’s nice, it’s local.”
AMC Bay Plaza Cinema 13, by Co-op City on the other side of the Bronx, is now the borough’s last movie theater. Vick said many people have been drawn there, instead, over the years.
Concourse Plaza Multiplex was part of Showcase Cinemas, which said the closure was “due to a business decision” in an announcement last month. A representative for the chain said the decision came after a “failure to come to terms with a new lease agreement.” Their College Point, Queens, location also closed earlier this month.
“The Bronx is too big to just have one movie theater, so hopefully they’ll make another movie theater somewhere,” Michael Bridgeforth, 56, said as he exited a “Garfield” showing.
The multiplex is tucked away in the corner of Concourse Plaza mall, in the basement below a hibachi grill buffet. On Tuesday night, moviegoers snapped pictures of the huge multi-level foyer and placed final popcorn orders at a central concession stand with a half-empty candy display. The name of the cinema glowed in blue neon above the box office, where fleece blankets were on sale for $12. Nearby, kids raced each other on arcade motorbikes parked by posters for summer releases like “A Quiet Place: Day One” and “Inside Out 2” — movies they’ll have to go elsewhere to see.
“It’s really unfortunate,” employee Andre Gibbs, 23, said as he sold the tickets before a final staff party.
He said the cinema was special because of the “inviting” crowds and inexpensive prices — $8.75 for a general ticket on the last night — though he admitted working there could be “hectic” at times.
“But I think it’s very rewarding, you know, to be a part of the theater experience,” he said. “Whatever they turn this place into, it brings a lot of memories, as well.”
It was just before midnight when Chris Muriel, 25, left the last-ever show, a screening of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” He and others paused to take in the eerily empty foyer, where the only signs of life were a lone security guard and the hum of the soda machines.
“I mean, this is my childhood, this is where I grew up, it’s almost like home,” Muriel said. “To have that taken away from us is pretty heartbreaking.”
He estimated he’d been to at least 40 movies at the theater over the years.
“All my friends were like, ‘Oh, we should go, we should go,’” Muriel said. “I just wanted to come by myself because I just felt like I had to. It’s just a part of your life. You have to be there to witness the end.”
