Rialto Theatre Remodel
 

Heard that the Rialto Theatre was going to be renovated to add a restaurant and add reclining sears. Hopefully they will combine some of the theatres to allow larger screens

They have some of these fancy theaters in the DC area. They are quite a bit more expensive than the regular movie theaters in that area. These are already pricey.

I wonder where they will find the room? Back parking lot??

A remodel of Rialto is good news. Well overdue in my opinion.

JGVillages....where did you hear this news about the Rialto?

We heard this a few weeks ago from an usher at the theater at LSL. I thought August (it's not done yet) was the projected month for the remodel but apparently not...since movies are still being shown. IF they're making a restaurant where you can watch and eat....we had one in a small midwestern town. It was nice to catch supper and view the movie while you ate. It had tables and chairs----nothing fancy---not sure how it's done in other cities.

All of our local movie theaters in NJ had converted to recliner seating before we moved permanently to The Villages. Every Tuesday, movies were $5.00 all day long in the theater closest to our home which was about 2 miles away. The recliner seating is wonderful. I really hope the Rialto is going to be renovated. Agree with the person up thread who said hoping they combine a couple of the small theaters to make one large theater with a large screen.

Usher from Old Mill

We have those "fancy" theaters here. AMC has all of those features and they are cheaper than TV.

Good news, rialto is a dump

Many years ago, my son and I went to see "Unforgiven" with Clint Eastwood in a theater in Manhattan. One person brought in a pasta dinner.

My son remarked, this is the true meaning of a spaghetti western. :1rotfl:

I’d say that’s a huge exaggeration.

The theater is clean and well maintained and the staff is friendly. Sure it was built before this new era of luxury theaters but it is FAR from being a dump.

:ho: You are 100 percent correct. Thank you. Very refreshing on this site.:popcorn:

The new era of luxury theaters are not really what I pine for. I remember seeing the Godfather in 1974 in Savannah at a theater that was huge, well over a 1,000 seats and this was in the suburbs. They had 3 theaters and we thought that was a lot of choices.

I can remember seeing the first Alien in 1979 at a theater in Denver. It was a huge place downtown with hundreds of seats and it had sensorama, when the space ship came across the screen our seats rumbled. It was just a single screen.

Growing up in St. Petersburg I had the fortune of going to The Florida Theater. It was beautiful inside with lighted statues, fancy rugs and marble floors and three balconies with a concession stand on each floor. In the 60's it was 35 cents for children and then $1.25 for adults. In the summer on Saturday mornings for 6 RC bottle caps and 35 cents there would be about 1000 kids ready to go inside and raise hell. We would see some old black & white Keystone Cops and whatever else they put on the screen, but we loved it. Buy a box of candy corn and if the number inside matched the winner of the race on the screen you got a prize, unfortunately the place would end up with more candy corn on the floor than was eaten.

The Florida Theater opened in 1926 and was the first air-conditioned theater in St. Pete. It's capacity was 2,500 and cost $1 million to build. It was located at 5th St. and 1st Ave. South. In 1956 Elvis performed three sold out shows in one day. The last film to be shown at the Florida Theater was Clint Eastwood's "For a Few Dollars More" in 1967. Then the theater was purchased by a bank for $225,000 and a auction was held and about 400 people bid on the theater's artifacts. The wrecking ball came and finished the job in 1968.

http://photos.cinematreasures.org/pr...jpg?1310330790

A couple of blocks away on Central Avenue stood The State Theater. I can remember the first time I drove a car to see a movie, it was "In Harm's Way" at the State Theater. It was the working man's theater, nothing fancy, but it survived and is still around today as a live show venue.

https://statetheatreconcerts.com/wp-...state-meta.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CHoB-m0IKg4/maxresdefault.jpg

Stadium seating is a must.

We were just there yesterday....forgot to ask when (if) the reno is going to take place. The theater is NOT a dump but the seating is a bit different if you've become accustomed to the stadium seating. We saw one post on the screen that made me wonder "IF" an Imax would be added.