Former Rialto Theater moving to sebastopol

[lili22]

Former Rialto theater moving to Sebastopol
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120428/ARTICLES/120429484/1033/news?p=all&tc=pgall&tc=ar

By CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 7:15 p.m.

Almost two years after Ky Boyd surrendered the lease to his Rialto Cinemas Lakeside independent-film theater in Santa Rosa and vowed to find another venue, he is purchasing the Sebastopol Cinemas.

“We're going to present a full spectrum of cinema” at what will become the reborn Rialto Cinemas in downtown Sebastopol, Boyd said.

The nine-screen theater will offer the sorts of art, foreign, classic and documentary films he showed for a decade on five screens in the theater on Santa Rosa's Summerfield Road, across from Howarth Park. He'll add mainstream and family movies in the league of “Moneyball,” “The Help” and “The Ides of March.”

“We're going to curate it the same way we curated it before,” he said. “We're just going to have a broader palette of colors, if you will.”

The 900-seat Sebastopol Cinemas was built in 1995 by Dave Corkill's Petaluma-based Cinema West theater chain. Corkill said he is selling the Sebastopol operation to focus on “building new, large theaters in larger communities.”

A relatively small theater such as Sebastopol's is “better suited to smaller operators who can pay more attention to them,” Corkill said.

Boyd plans to close the Sebastopol theater from Tuesday through Thursday and make some initial improvements to the building. He plans additional upgrades this summer and fall to the multiplex on McKinley Street near Sebastopol's police station

He noted that many Sebastopol residents patronized his former theater in east Santa Rosa.

“Some people will now be closer to us, some will be a little farther away than they were,” he said.

Boyd had to vacate the Summerfield Road location in August of 2010 when the lease expired and property owner Lynn Duggan awarded it to the Santa Rosa Entertainment Group owned by Sonoma County's Tocchini family. The firm operates a chain of California movie houses that include Santa Rosa's Roxy Stadium 14, the Airport Stadium 12 near Windsor and Healdsburg's Raven Film Center.

The Tocchinis upgraded the Summerfield Road theaters and reopened them in November of 2010 as the rebranded Summerfield Cinemas. The venue has continued to run mostly independent, art and foreign films.

Joe Luis of Santa Rosa Entertainment Group said he's not sure that the Summerfield Cinemas will feel much impact from the opening of a similar theater 10 miles away in Sebastopol.

Since vacating the Summerfield Road location 20 months ago, Boyd has operated the mobile Rialto Cinemas. It has brought to downtown Santa Rosa's 6th Street Playhouse occasional films, performances of London's National Theatre Live and the Sonoma County Jewish Film Festival.

The Jewish Community Center contracted with Boyd's company to screen live performances of the Metropolitan Opera of New York City at the Jackson Theater at Sonoma Country Day School.

“One of the interesting things is that Dave (Corkill) approached us,”Boyd said.

He was attending the Toronto International Film Festival last year when Corkill phoned to propose that they become partners in the Sebastopol Cinemas.

Both Boyd and Corkill said separately that they decided it made better sense for Cinema West to sell and move on, and for Rialto Cinemas to develop the Sebastopol theater into an operation more actively tailored to the community.

“We played independents, but it hasn't been our focus,” Corkill said. “It is their (Rialto's) focus.”

Rialto Cinemas already has scheduled some special screenings in Sebastopol. The theater will show encore performances of La Traviata from the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Series on May 9 and 12.

The radio show, This American Life, will show on May 10, and the documentary “Wagner's Dream” on May 14.

Boyd removed the Rialto marquee from the Summerfield theater in August of 2010. “It got a little dark there for a while,” he said, “but we've found the light at the end of the tunnel.”

[Barry]

Rialto Cinemas Announces New Home Read Chris Smith's article in the Press Democrat HERE Rialto Cinemas™ Proprietor Ky Boyd announced Sunday, April 29th that Rialto Cinemas has purchased Sebastopol Cinemas from Dave Corkill. Ky Boyd remarked, "We are thrilled to have found a new home and we can't wait to return to our core business of bringing the best films in the world to Sonoma County. Additionally, we are delighted to come off the road and have a permanent home in Sebastopol's vital downtown to continue bringing unique events like London's National Theatre Live, The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD as well as many of the special events that Rialto Cinemas has been home to throughout our history. We look forward to meeting our new neighbors and seeing all our movie-going friends again as well as our loyal National Theatre and Metropolitan Opera patrons." Cinema West owner Dave Corkill stated "For ten years Rialto Cinemas was one of the nation's top 50 art houses and I think Sebastopol is really going to embrace them." Since 2000 the Jewish Community Center, Sonoma County (JCC) has presented its annual Sonoma County Jewish Film Festival at Rialto Cinemas venues. JCC Executive Director Beth Goodman stated "I remember the transformation Ky and his team achieved at the old Lakeside and I can't wait to see what they do in Sebastopol. We are thrilled to be bringing our 2012 film festival to their new location." Rialto Cinemas will continue its role of presenting the best in independent, foreign, documentary and classic films as well as adding top quality mainstream and family films Sebastopol audiences are accustomed to as part of its film programming. In addition to movies, special big screen presentations will start immediately. Rialto Cinemas will be presenting encore performances of La Traviata from The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series, on Wednesday, May 9th and again on Saturday, May 12th. The very successful radio show, This American Life, returns to the big screen on Thursday, May 10th with an all new edition of "This American Life Live! Things You Can't Do On The Radio" featuring exclusive content that will not be featured in the popular public radio broadcasts. On Monday, May 14th the new documentary "Wagner's Dream," which premieres this week at the Tribecca Film Festival, will screen. Shot over five years, Susan Froemke's documentary captures the unprecedented challenges of bringing Robert Lepage's electrifying production of The Metropolitan Opera's new Ring Cycle to life. "Wagner's Dream" will be followed by encore presentations of all four Ring Cycle operas between May 16th and 30th. June will bring The Met Opera Summer Encores as well as the return of National Theatre Live with encore presentations of Danny Boyles' acclaimed new production of Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller and the National Theatre's newest Broadway import, One Man Two Guvnors for which star James Corden is being talked about as a potential Tony Award nominee. Voted Sonoma County's Best Movie Theatre for eleven consecutive years by the readers of the North Bay Bohemian, Rialto Cinemas was the first movie theatre in Sonoma County to receive an Indy (now a Boho) award for enhancing the cultural life of the county. Rialto Cinemas and Proprietor Ky J. Boyd, have been honored by the Sonoma County Commission on Human Rights, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Rosa City Council for their commitment to presenting a diverse array of programming and being a vital community asset.

[John Eder]

I am elated that the Rialto is back- it has been a struggle for me to avoid patronizing the rip-off Summerfield Cinemas while it has been dormant. To have the Rialto locating in Sebastopol is a dream come true- it doesn't get any better.

I encourage all of you to give your strongest support to the new Rialto to insure its success. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, etc. We have a true treasure right here in our back yard, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Ky Boyd has worked many years to establish and sustain our ability to see world-class film in Sonoma County. Now it is our turn to show our gratitude for his efforts.

Who knows, if we all do our part, perhaps Santa Rosa will have another "all movies $3.00 all the time" theater in the near future, complete with crappy seats and sticky floors...

[Tarotkatee]

Hurrah! we now have a great theater
what a bonus for Sebastopol...
thanks

tarotkatee

I am elated that the Rialto is back- it has been a struggle for me to avoid patronizing the rip-off Summerfield Cinemas while it has been dormant. To have the Rialto locating in Sebastopol is a dream come true- it doesn't get any better.

I encourage all of you to give your strongest support to the new Rialto to insure its success. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, etc. We have a true treasure right here in our back yard, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Ky Boyd has worked many years to establish and sustain our ability to see world-class film in Sonoma County. Now it is our turn to show our gratitude for his efforts.

Who knows, if we all do our part, perhaps Santa Rosa will have another "all movies $3.00 all the time" theater in the near future, complete with crappy seats and sticky floors...

[meherc]

Gee, I love the $3 movie theatre. I'd never see a movie if it wasn't there -can't afford those $10-12 movie theatres even if their floors are not sticky.

Hurrah! we now have a great theater
what a bonus for Sebastopol...
thanks

tarotkatee