Worcester Is Largest U.S. City Without A Movie Theater

WORCESTER, MA — Among the 123 or so cities in the U.S. with populations above 200,000 people, Worcester is the only one without its own movie theater.

Residents in places like Hialeah, Fla. (population: 223,109) and Amarillo, Texas (population: 200,393) all have access to a theater within their city limits. But residents of Worcester (population: 206,518) can't see best picture nominees like "Belfast" or big budget fare like the upcoming "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" — whose production shut down Main Street last summer — without a drive to Millbury, Marlborough, West Boylston and beyond.

We verified this unfortunate fact by cross-referencing Google Maps and Fandango with the list of U.S. cities sorted by population, per the 2020 Census.

This week, construction crews began demolishing the hulk of the former Showcase Cinema along Brooks Street in Greendale. The multiplex shut down when the COVID-19 contagion broke out, and the owners confirmed the permanent closure in June. The last theater in Worcester before that was the Bijou at the Worcester Center Galleria. It shut down in 2004, a decade before the Galleria was torn down.

That doesn't mean Worcester movie lovers are out of luck. There are residents showing films nearby, just not (yet) in a traditional movie theater.

Andy Grigorov founded cinema-worcester in 2018 to show foreign, independent and cult films in a pop-up format. He hosts screenings at various locations across the city. Admission is much less than at the big chain theaters.

"Our goal is to build enough support to have a physical location in the city," he said.

RELATED: How A Worcester Actor Became Meryl Streep In 'Don't Look Up'

The pandemic hindered the project's momentum, he said. Grigorov had to end in-person screenings after March 2020, although cinema-worcester did hold streaming events in the intervening months. He began live screenings again last summer.

Grigorov looks to venues like the Luna Theater in Lowell, a 100-seat cinema inside an old mill as an example for Worcester. But spaces like that are becoming increasingly hard to find in a gentrifying city, he said.

"Financially, it would be challenging just the way market is with real estate to purchase a location," he said. "I think the timing would be great."

Worcester's other main cinematic resource is Cinema 320. Videographer Steve Sandberg founded the popup in the 1980s in a classroom at Clark University. It ended there in 2018, but came back last fall in a newly renovated space at the WCUW studio along Main Street.

Cinema 320 is on a winter hiatus, but will be back this spring, Sandberg said. Asked why Worcester doesn't have its own theater for less mainstream movies — Cinema 320 often shows foreign films and documentaries — like other small cities, he surmised it's because of the city's location to Boston. Worcester hasn't broken out of that city's cultural orbit enough to support its own thing, he said.

"Easy accessibility to Boston from Worcester siphons off that innate energy," he said.

Sandberg also cited the rise of streaming options as a drain on the local cinema scene. Some parts in the best picture-nominated "Don't Look Up" were filmed in Worcester (including one at an office building near where the Bijou once stood), but the movie has only been available on Netflix outside a short theatrical run before Christmas.

The biggest nearby theater option is the Blackstone Valley 14 Cinema de Lux in Millbury — a relatively short drive down Route 146, but still not within the city limits.

The Elm Draught House Cinema, also in Millbury, offers a much less corporate movie experience with a curated selection of second-run films (more recently the new "West Side Story" and "The French Dispatch) in a 1930s-era, 300-seat theater — and tickets are only $6. The theater also serves wine and beer, and features stand-up comedy and sports events.

The small West Boylston Cinema offers some first-run moviesat lower prices: $9 for adults, $6 for matinées, bargain nights, kids and seniors. Holy Cross also hosts the Seelos Film Series twice per year. The fall series, which featured movies ranging from "Parasite" to "Wonder Woman: 1984," was only open to Holy Cross students and staff, a change from the past when it was open to the public.

When he's not screening in Worcester, Grigorov takes a road trip to the nonprofit Amherst Cinema, or to theaters in the Boston area like The Brattle. Sandberg also heads to Boston for a theater experience, but also sometimes to the independent Dedham Community Theater.

Even with economic forces and the pull of Beantown, both Sandberg and Grigorov were optimistic that Worcester could support its own theater. Sandberg even alluded to a film series that ushered in the era of CGI-driven megaplex blockbusters.

"We could say Worcester lost a dinosaur [with the Showcase closure], a brontosaurus. But maybe we will gain some little agile velociraptors: a smaller theater that offers the theatrical experience to people who want to seek it out," he said.

Movies In Worcester

cinema-worcester

• March 11 — "Flee," showing at the Park View Room.
• March 18 — 2022 Oscar-nominated animated shorts, showing at the Park View Room.
• Sept. 19 - 24 — Central Mass Jazz Festival documentary showings.

Cinema 320 at Clark University

• Films returning this spring, check website for updates.