JOHNSTOWN - A source of local entertainment for area residents - the Johnstown Movie Plex - has closed.
The theater at the Johnstown Mall has shut down as part of a larger corporate move involving Cinema North Corp., the theater's parent company in Rutland, Vt.
"The Cinema North Corp. is ceasing operations globally," mall owner Michael Wachs said Thursday from his Philadelphia office. "That, of course, affects the Johnstown operation, which has been in place for seven or eight years."
Wachs said he would like to see if he can bring in another movie company to fill the void.
"They [Johnstown Movie Plex] have been a magnificent tenant," said Wachs, president of Johnstown Comrie Associates. "We hope to have a new operation soon."
The Johnstown Movie Plex showed first-run movies at the malls.
The closure leaves Fulton County without a movie theater. The nearest theater is the Emerald Cinema in Amsterdam.
Fulton County Regional Chamber of Commerce President Wally Hart said today the Glove Performing Arts Center in downtown Gloversville, which has shown movies in the past, may be able to fill some of the void. He said rental fees for movies can be expensive.
"We'll see what happens," Hart said. "It might be an opportunity for the Glove."
Johnstown Mayor Sarah Slingerland said the movie theater at the mall will be missed.
"I'm disappointed that the theater company is not going to be providing family services," the mayor said. "But I'm confident that the mall owner, who has been a terrific land owner, will find something suitable to go in that space."
Two phone lines are listed for Johnstown Movie Plex, and neither was being answered late this week.
The Web site for Cinema North Corp. was down this week and no one is returning calls from the company's Rutland, Vt., headquarters.
Cinema North Corp. operates seven multiplexes in New York and one in Rutland. Calls to some of the other of the company's cinemas were not answered or had a message saying the theater was "temporarily" closed.
Johnstown Movie Plex has been the site of some controversy over the years because police have alleged loitering and disorderly conduct by youths.
Johnstown police Sgt. Jamie Allen said today there has been only "occasional" problems at the mall, and not necessarily just at the movie theater, but in the mall parking lot in general.
