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There’s something poetically tragic about one of Hollywood’s most unique and popular theaters, one that has long stood as the embodiment of film-going at its most awe-inspiring, having to close its doors and showing no signs that it will ever open them up again. Before the start of the 2020s decade, the Cinerama Dome, located on the city’s famous Sunset Boulevard, was one of the most ideal places where one could go and see the latest cinematic release on the big screen. In fact, it was built specifically to showcase (then) new cutting-edge technology intended to move the art of cinema further ahead than it already was; the Cinerama Dome is named after the Cinerama widescreen film format that was introduced in the 1950s and made certain features feel larger and more epic in size and scope, and upon its opening in November of 1963, one of the theater’s primary purposes was to exhibit Cinerama films as they were originally designed: as stunningly wide as possible. Even after the Cinerama film format began to fade from popularity, the Cinerama Dome still made a respectable effort to update to the times and gives its attendees the best possible film-viewing experience imaginable, and in spite of whatever ups and downs it may have dealt with throughout the next few decades, it managed to do just that without showing any signs of stopping for any longer than a briefly temporary period.
That, unfortunately, began to change in March 2020, when the Cinerama Dome, like just about every other theater in the United States, was forced into closure as a result of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. While this was initially viewed as a temporary measure (with many expecting it to reopen along with all the others), the theater’s parent company Pacific Theaters announced in April 2021 that it wouldn’t be reopening any of its locations – the Cinerama Dome included. While hopes for the theater’s fate to change were raised upon the announcement that the Decurion Corporation would acquire the theater, with the intention of renaming it Cinerama Hollywood, delay after delay has prevented it from reopening as originally desired. As of April of 2025, the Cinerama Dome’s fate remains uncertain; Decurion has expressed no desire to sell the complex to another company, so there does appear to be an impression that it still wants to hold onto the property for at least a little bit longer. Keeping the property is not the same as allowing it be fully operational though, as the theater’s ongoing closure demonstrates, so whether or not the day the Cinerama Dome reopens will occur any time soon remains up in the air for the time being. If there is one thing working in the theater’s favor though, it’s the fact that, despite all that has happened over the past five years, it still has dedicated admirers willing to whatever it takes to get their favorite film-viewing venue back up and running again. How eager are they? They’ve managed to put together a petition signed by roughly 30,000 individuals calling for the Cinerama Dome to be open once again.
To find the person behind this small but devoted movement, one needs to look no further than Ben Steinberg, the cinephile who got the petition started in the first place and was responsible for collecting a good bulk of its 30,000 signatures. Having made it his mission to get both the Cinerama Dome and the ArcLight Cinemas, another Hollywood theater that had been shut down in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, back to their former glory, Steinberg crafted his petition just over a month ago and has used the time since to gather support, ultimately collecting tens of thousands of signatures that prove how much people want to see these venues up and running once more. On Sunday, April 13th, Steinberg and many of his fellow Cinerama Dome admirers met in front of the theater for a group photo intended to further reinforce their commitment to reopening it. “It’s not reopening this year, because I spoke with the property manager, Steinberg claims while discussing the current state of the Cinerama Dome. “I was on site and he had keys and I asked him about it and he told me there’s no plans to open.” Such news has not done enough to fully diminish Steinberg’s spirits, as he’s been hard at work on social media to draw attention to his cause and find as many supporters as possible; when asked about why he’s so adamant about getting the Cinerama Dome reopened, Steinberg’s answer was simple but still meaningful: “It was just one of my favorite places in the world”.
Another Cinerama Dome supporter, actor Larry Blum, expressed similar sentiments as he talked about how he first saw the 1979 film “Hair” at the theater, an experience that marked the start of a life-long appreciation for the venue, and lamented the ongoing closure that has affected it, referring to the closed theater as “an eyesore” that pales in comparison to how it appeared in the years before the pandemic. Like Steinberg, Blum had a fairly straightforward explanation as to why he joined so many others for the photo-op: in his words, “it deserves to be among the Chinese Theater and the Pantages in Hollywood – all the beautiful theater architecture that makes Los Angeles unique”. Gunzi Merchant, a film researcher who’s also expressed support for the Cinerama Dome’s reopening, made a similar comment when discussing the theater’s relation to some of the other famed film-going venues in Hollywood; “We have a lot of amazing movie palaces like the Chinese Theater and the Egyptian,” Merchant claims, “but this is from a different era, the early ’60s. What’s inside is so unique and not replicated anywhere else.” Then there’s Jessica Brown, who’s among the newer of the Cinerama Dome’s admirers having only moved to the Los Angeles area in early 2020 and seeing Damien Chazelle’s “First Man” there just before the theater was closed by the pandemic. When asked about why she wants to see the Cinerama Dome reopened, Brown spoke from personal experience and detailed her concerns that what happened where she used to live could very easily happen to one of Hollywood’s most revered film-going venues. “I lived up in the North Bay area, and one of the movie theaters closed down, it became a Dick’s Sporting Goods,” Brown claims, “and I don’t want to see that happen here”.
Is the Cinerama Dome fated for a similar future? Not if Steinberg and his fellow supporters have any say about it. Steinberg in particular is incredible hopeful that filmmakers and film fans alike can be as loud as possible about letting people know that they do not wish to see the Cinerama Dome come to a definitive end, and even as other theaters (many of them owned by national theater chain AMC) fill the void and serve as the source of major premieres, many still cling to whatever hope they still have that one day, the Cinerama Dome will again let people inside and allow them to see whatever cinematic feature they have to offer on the biggest screen available.
To find the person behind this small but devoted movement, one needs to look no further than Ben Steinberg, the cinephile who got the petition started in the first place and was responsible for collecting a good bulk of its 30,000 signatures. Having made it his mission to get both the Cinerama Dome and the ArcLight Cinemas, another Hollywood theater that had been shut down in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, back to their former glory, Steinberg crafted his petition just over a month ago and has used the time since to gather support, ultimately collecting tens of thousands of signatures that prove how much people want to see these venues up and running once more. On Sunday, April 13th, Steinberg and many of his fellow Cinerama Dome admirers met in front of the theater for a group photo intended to further reinforce their commitment to reopening it. “It’s not reopening this year, because I spoke with the property manager, Steinberg claims while discussing the current state of the Cinerama Dome. “I was on site and he had keys and I asked him about it and he told me there’s no plans to open.” Such news has not done enough to fully diminish Steinberg’s spirits, as he’s been hard at work on social media to draw attention to his cause and find as many supporters as possible; when asked about why he’s so adamant about getting the Cinerama Dome reopened, Steinberg’s answer was simple but still meaningful: “It was just one of my favorite places in the world”.
Another Cinerama Dome supporter, actor Larry Blum, expressed similar sentiments as he talked about how he first saw the 1979 film “Hair” at the theater, an experience that marked the start of a life-long appreciation for the venue, and lamented the ongoing closure that has affected it, referring to the closed theater as “an eyesore” that pales in comparison to how it appeared in the years before the pandemic. Like Steinberg, Blum had a fairly straightforward explanation as to why he joined so many others for the photo-op: in his words, “it deserves to be among the Chinese Theater and the Pantages in Hollywood – all the beautiful theater architecture that makes Los Angeles unique”. Gunzi Merchant, a film researcher who’s also expressed support for the Cinerama Dome’s reopening, made a similar comment when discussing the theater’s relation to some of the other famed film-going venues in Hollywood; “We have a lot of amazing movie palaces like the Chinese Theater and the Egyptian,” Merchant claims, “but this is from a different era, the early ’60s. What’s inside is so unique and not replicated anywhere else.” Then there’s Jessica Brown, who’s among the newer of the Cinerama Dome’s admirers having only moved to the Los Angeles area in early 2020 and seeing Damien Chazelle’s “First Man” there just before the theater was closed by the pandemic. When asked about why she wants to see the Cinerama Dome reopened, Brown spoke from personal experience and detailed her concerns that what happened where she used to live could very easily happen to one of Hollywood’s most revered film-going venues. “I lived up in the North Bay area, and one of the movie theaters closed down, it became a Dick’s Sporting Goods,” Brown claims, “and I don’t want to see that happen here”.
Is the Cinerama Dome fated for a similar future? Not if Steinberg and his fellow supporters have any say about it. Steinberg in particular is incredible hopeful that filmmakers and film fans alike can be as loud as possible about letting people know that they do not wish to see the Cinerama Dome come to a definitive end, and even as other theaters (many of them owned by national theater chain AMC) fill the void and serve as the source of major premieres, many still cling to whatever hope they still have that one day, the Cinerama Dome will again let people inside and allow them to see whatever cinematic feature they have to offer on the biggest screen available.
