Humber Cinema Back In Business Tomorrow

November 17, 2011 by Sean Patrick Kelly

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Humber Cinema ad for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1

It was less than two months ago when it seemed like the Humber Cinema had closed down for good. At least, that's what manager Rui Pereira thought at the time when I e-mailed him about the sudden reclosure of the theatre in late September.

There wasn't as much media coverage about the reclosure as there was about the reopening. I suppose that while it may be a big deal when an old classic movie theatre reopens, it is not really too newsworthy if the same theatre closes again. I managed to find two articles that talked the reclosure – one from The Town Crier and another from The Grid. Both articles attributed the reclosure to either outstanding rent or the sudden need for renovations. My best guess would be that both probably paid a factor in some way.

However, the Humber wouldn't stay shuttered for long. The first sign that the problems that resulted in the Humber's reclosure were resolved came on October 8 (a mere five days after I posted my obituary for the theatre) when Rui Pereira tweeted “Perhaps not everything SUCKS in Toronto – so watch for more surprises in the West End!” A couple weeks after that hint, it was officially announced that the Humber will be back in business on October 18 with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1.

The Kingsway Movies website was updated to once again feature the Humber and a new Facebook page was even created for the cinema.

I've been covering the status of the Humber Cinema for more than six months now (this being my seventh post on the subject). I am definitely rooting for the theatre to succeed, mostly because of my personal history with the theatre. A lot of time and money was spent in attempting to restore the theatre after it was abandoned in 2003 and it would have been a real shame if the reclosure was permanent.

I have to admit that in my observations, the Humber hasn't been particularly embraced since it reopened. It might be the fact that I went to mostly matinees, but many of the films I went to only had a single digit turnout. In fact, the best turnout I witnessed at the Humber was for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2 (which was also the only night screening I went to). I'm sure that Breaking Dawn, Part 1 has a good chance at attracting similar crowds to Harry Potter, so hopefully it will do good business for the Humber (even though I probably won't personally go see it).

I will conclude my wishing the Humber the best in its second ressurection and here's hoping that the theatre stays open longer this time.