Netflix to Keep New York City’s Paris Theater Open

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Netflix has announced that it will keep the New York City’s Paris Theater open through a lease agreement.

The venue, one of the oldest art movie houses in the United States and the last single-screen theater in New York, was shuttered earlier this year. It was re-opened earlier this month for a run of “Marriage Story” by New York filmmaker Noah Baumbach.

announced Monday a lease agreement to keep the theater open. The streaming giant said it plans to use the theater for special events, screenings and theatrical releases of its films. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.

“After 71 years, the Paris Theatre has an enduring legacy, and remains the destination for a one-of-a kind movie-going experience,”  said Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer. “We are incredibly proud to preserve this historic New York institution so it can continue to be a cinematic home for film lovers.”

The Paris is Netflix’s second venture into exhibition. The company has been in talks since April to buy the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood from American Cinematheque in what would be the first movie theater acquisition for the streaming giant.

The Paris Theatre was opened in 1948, when Marlene Dietrich cut the ribbon. It showed “La Symphonie Pastorale,” which ran for eight months; Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet,” which ran for almost an entire year from 1968-1969; Claude Lelouch’s “A Man And A Woman”; and Marcello Mastroianni’s comedy “Divorce Italian Style,” which played for over a year. The theater closed in August after a run of Ron Howard’s “Pavarotti.”

The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.