The West End Cinema, an independent movie theater that operated for four years until closing in March, will reopen July 17 as part of Landmark Theatres, the cinema chain announced Monday.
West End, which screened independent films and second-run studio releases, is a good programming fit for Landmark, which specializes in Oscar bait, foreign films, and documentaries. There will be some noticable changes to West End’s subterranean complex, though. The three tiny screening rooms will be combined into two larger theaters, and the concession area will be expanded to include alcoholic beverage service.
Reopening West End Cinema will give Landmark an even bigger presence in DC’s movie-theater arms race. Besides the longstanding E Street Cinema in Penn Quarter, it will operate a six-screen complex at JBG’s Atlantic Plumbing development off U St., Northwest, and is planning a ten-screen theater at the planned Capitol Point development on New York Avenue, Northeast. Landmark also owns the eight-screen Bethesda Row Cinema.
Other movie theaters under development include a ten-screen Angelika Film Center location at Union Market and a 16-screen Showplace Icon multiplex near Washington Navy Yard.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
