The Southampton Playhouse, a 1932 movie show advanced and fixture of Hamptons summers, is getting a major makeover led by actual property billionaire Aby Rosen and his son, Charlie.
The duo are heading a gaggle that’s modernizing the Hill Road web site, which will likely be run by a brand new not-for-profit group and resume its year-round mission of serving moviegoers. A 161-seat Imax auditorium will likely be added to the combination – the one Imax display screen inside 40 miles – and programming will vary from broad Hollywood titles to specialty movies.
Barring any setbacks with development, a gap is deliberate within the first quarter of 2025, with full operation focused for subsequent summer time.
The geography of the Hamptons, a area on the East Finish of Lengthy Island about 100 miles east of New York Metropolis, provides additional efficiency to the theatrical movie expertise. That grew to become significantly evident throughout Covid, which shuttered theaters throughout New York state for almost a yr. Regal Cinemas, which was working the Southampton web site, opted to not reopen it when it was going by means of chapter on the again facet of the pandemic.
The house remained dormant till Rosen, who has had a residence within the city for 30 years, teamed together with his son to accumulate the property for $8 million. Rosen, an avid artwork collector, is called an investor in industrial properties, together with New York landmarks just like the Chrysler and Seagram buildings.
Two key backers of the redevelopment venture are Alex Black and Jack Heller. Black based and runs Lyrical Media, a manufacturing and finance firm whose upcoming initiatives embody Michael Sarnoski’s The Loss of life of Robin Hood, starring Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer. Lyrical can be a producer with A24 on Adam Wingard’s motion thriller Onslaught.
Heller is a filmmaker and the principal of Assemble Media, a manufacturing and IP firm creating and producing initiatives throughout movie, TV and publishing. Heller has manufacturing credit on 30 movie and TV initiatives and has directed two function movies.
In an interview with Deadline, Black stated the tenet of the revamp is to protect and enhance a longtime gathering place. “We actually need this to really feel like an anchor for the group,” he stated. “All of us bear in mind seeing movies right here once we have been younger and feeling that shared expertise. We wish that to proceed to flourish.”
Talks are underway with the Hamptons Movie Competition, held each October in varied websites within the space, about making Southampton part of the footprint.
One of many auditoriums has versatile seating, which can permit it for use for stay occasions, with music, talks and comedy all potentialities. There may also be newly landscaped outside house for pop-up screenings of films or stay sporting occasions. Given Imax’s capabilities, the purpose can be to have that theater made out there to highschool teams and different audiences for documentaries and different instructional fare.
“I’m personally very excited as a result of I stay down the street from Southampton Playhouse, I understand how passionate folks in that group are about motion pictures and the humanities, and I feel this will likely be a particular place the place folks actually need to collect and have a good time cinema,” Imax CEO Wealthy Gelfond stated in a press release supplied to Deadline.
Additionally becoming a member of the board of the theater are Sims Lansing, founder and managing companion of fairness funding fund Lansing Administration; and James Nederlander, president of the Nederlander Theater.
Extra board members will likely be added and an advisory board can be being shaped.
