Community members and politicians are rallying to save the beloved AMC movie theater in Manhattan’s Kips Bay after word recently got out that the theater is closing following NYU Langone Health’s purchase of the retail strip where it’s located.
AMC recently confirmed it will be closing its AMC Kips Bay 15 movie theater by the end of this year, with one year remaining on its lease, after the property owner exercised its right to terminate the lease early, Variety reported.
Assemblymember Keith Powers, in a video on X, subsequently said elected officials had confirmed NYU Langone had purchased the two-story retail strip, on Second Ave. between 30th and 32nd Sts., which also includes a large Fairway supermarket on its basement level.
The potential loss of the movieplex — a major entertainment venue serving not just Kips Bay, but Murray Hill, Midtown East and beyond — has galvanized the community. A petition by Save Kips Bay and another on change.org to keep the movie complex have garnered a combined total of 15,000 signatures, with a rally planned for noon Sunday.
Janet Handal, president of the Waterside Plaza Tenants Association, called the AMC “a wonderful theater. It was our weekend activity,” she said. “I remember the first movie I went to after COVID was ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at the IMAX there.” She admitted, though that she’s hasn’t been there often since then, reflecting the wider post-pandemic moviegoing trend.
The community outcry comes amid plunging attendance at cinemas in the age of streaming movies: A recent Pew poll found less than half of Americans reported visiting a movie theater in the past year. Meanwhile, another East Side movie house a bit farther uptown, Angelica’s Cinema 123, is for sale as a development site, though no closing date has been set, the Real Deal reported in April.
Councilmember Virginia Maloney, whose district includes the theater, will be leading the rally, along with Assemblymember Keith Powers, state Senator Kristen Gonzalez and others. She said the elected officials are currently “in conversation” with NYU about the future of the site. If they’re unable to save the theater, political leaders are hoping at least part of the site will be developed into something the entire community can use.
“AMC has been a part of the Kips Bay neighborhood since 1999, so multiple decades,” Maloney said. “It’s a movie theater, but it’s also a place where families, young people, seniors are gathering.
“This is a huge loss for that neighborhood fabric that is getting harder and harder to find,” she said. “Too many of these community anchors and shared spaces across New York, we’re losing them.”
Advocates, who acknowledge they may not be able to save the theater, say the fight is also about trying to keep Kips Bay from being gobbled up by institutional sprawl. NYU Langone Hospital, just one block to the east on what’s known as “Hospital Alley,” has been progressively increasing its footprint in the area, converting nearby buildings to satellite medical facilities.
“Whether it’s the AMC, another theater or another community anchor,” Maloney said, “the elected officials who represent AMC are really seeking to find a way to make sure that any proposal is still supporting the Kips Bay community and the people that live there.”
The councilwoman added that, if NYU is seeking any rezoning or landscaping changes, local politicians want to be involved in that planning.
NYU Langone Health did not respond to a request for comment.
Maloney noted the site has “two contracts,” with another one for the Fairway, “which is the primary grocery store for the area. That strip is so defined by those two services,” she said. The supermarket’s lease is not expiring soon.
At the same time, Maloney said, “NYU’s an incredibly important healthcare institution” for the city.
“We’re asking NYU to work with us, to listen to what the community is saying, and to help find a path forward to keep Kips Bay a neighborhood where people can live, gather and belong,” Maloney said. “Successful neighborhoods need a mix of uses.”
However, she did note, “A city can’t force a private property owner to keep AMC as a tenant.”