Robert Redford Sundance Cinemas Announces Deal with Rivertowns Square

Paul Richardson, president and CEO of Robert Redford Sundance Cinema Company, in conjunction with Martin Berger, Principal and Managing Member of Saber Dobbs Ferry LLC, announced today at on the River that the small artistic theater company would lease space for an eight-screen cinema in the complex that will most likely be constructed on the Akzo Nobel site off of the Saw Mill River Parkway.

"We call this a 'hybrid theater,'" Richardson explained. "We'll show high-quality Hollywood films along with more artistic and independent films." He used the recently-released "Hunger Games" movie as an example. 

"It's a film geared to kids and teens, but adults want to see it too. Our theater will provide a comfortable grown-up ambiance for that. The blockbuster films would have to provide some sort of cultural zeitgeist for us to show them."

The Rivertowns Square theater would be the first on the East Coast. Richardson is currently operating four in other parts of the country. One is under construction; the one in Dobbs Ferry would be the fifth.

Richardson said he grappled with whether to open a theater in Manhattan before coming to the suburbs—"But we couldn't find a space big enough. And Rivertowns Square has the added benefit of having restaurants and adequate parking."

The company aims to show many independent films—such as those showcased at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals—but also screen more esoteric movies, especially those produced by local artists. He hopes to hold film festivals that showcase local talent.

Ticket pricing would be competitive with other high-end theaters in the area. Entrance to independent films would be the same as that for Hollywood movies. "I even wish we could charge more for those; otherwise it ghetto-izes them—makes them seem less worthy," he said.

The theater would provide drinks and appetizer-style food in addition to regular movie theater concessions. "We really want to give it a grown-up feel," he said.

The theater—along with every establishment in Rivertowns Square—is slated to open in 2014.

Changes to the plan, which will be announced (albeit scratchily by Berger, who is afflicted by laryngitis) include: downsizing the supermarket to 20,000 square feet—it was originally going to be 70,000—and "changing peak traffic hours due to the addition of the theater, which will drive more night than daytime traffic," Berger said. 

Other establishments in the current plan for Rivertowns Square include: 15,000 square feet of restaurants, 15,000 square feet of retail space and a 120-room hotel.

Berger said the hotel would be from a branded company, which he hopes to announce in the next 30 days.

Tonight's regular Dobbs Ferry Board of Trustees meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. Please post comments on this development below this article.