First off, I'm really happy about the rebirth of the Academy Theatre. I went here when I was in high school. The restoration (lobby) is wonderful. The price is amazingly inexpensive (they could raise it to $5 and it would still be a steal). The babysitting is a terrific idea (tho the original theatre had a great cry room with a glass wall). Now...the disappointment--i realize the financial need to have mulitple auditoriums just to turn a profit. However, this practice of taking a beautiful one-screen showhouse and chopping it up into bland, shoebox auditoriums was a bad idea in the 70s. I wish they had really "restored" the place with the one screen. They could have done just as well with innovative bookings and other features (using it for corporate rentals, concerts, jazz offerings, student film showing daily, etc.). All of the nit picking aside, they've done a terrific job, multiple screens and all. At least it's not a Nickel Ads warehouse anymore.
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