Lincoln Plaza Cinemas To Close, Reports Say

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, a renowned art house theater on the Upper West Side, will close in January, according to multiple reports. The theater's operators, married couple Dan and Toby Talbot, were unable to negotiate a lease extension with longtime landlord Milstein Properties, Deadline Hollywood first reported.

An official closing date for Lincoln Plaza Cinemas is unknown, but Toby Talbot told Deadline that a "formal sendoff" is being planned for Jan. 21. The theater will be shut down for renovations and later reopened as a cinema, but could be operated by a different tenant, a Milstein properties spokesman told the New York Times.

"We are long-term members of this community and have played a central role in nurturing this special theater," the spokesman told the Times in a statement. "At the completion of this work, we expect to reopen the space as a cinema that will maintain its cultural legacy far into the future."

The Talbots opened the six-screen theater in 1981 on Broadway between West 62nd and 63rd streets and served as tastemakers of the New York City film scene, Deadline Hollywood reported. Before opening Lincoln Plaza Cinemas the Talbots operated the New Yorker Theater, Manhattan’s Cinema Studio and Metro Theater through the 60s, 70s and 80s. The couple, who have been married for 68 years, founded New Yorker Films which has distributed more than 400 films, Deadline Hollywood reported.

At Lincoln Plaza Cinemas the Talbots had the ability to screen movies that weren't guaranteed to be box office hits.

"We often will play a film that we know has no, quote, commercial value, but we admire it and respect it and would like to share it with our audience," Toby Talbot told the New York Times.

A petition to save Lincoln Plaza Cinemas has garnered more than 2,300 signatures as of this writing. The petition was started by author Jeremiah Moss of "Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul," and implores landlord Howard Milstein to preserve the theater and retain the Talbots as operators.

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