The Concourse Plaza Multiplex Cinemas is closing its doors on Tuesday after more than 30 years in business, leaving the Bronx with just one movie theater.
Bronx resident Maggie Carrasquillo was at the theater on a recent Monday night to enjoy one last movie there: “The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” She recalled going to the multiplex as a child.
“I came with my cousins and my aunt to see ‘Selena.’ I was so excited,” said Carrasquillo. “The loss of this is like, the loss of the memories, the loss of like, the Bronx.”
Cesar Ortiz, pictured with his family
Cesar Ortiz, a Bronx resident who has been going to the Concourse Plaza Multiplex since 1999, said he now enjoys watching movies and playing arcade games in the lobby with his kids.
“It’s heartbreaking for the kids,” he said. “It keeps people entertained. A little family night, you know. People need that.”
The theater opened in 1991 and debuted with the films “Home Alone” and “Thelma and Louise.”
The parent company of the theater, Showcase Cinemas, attributes the closing to a “business decision.” In Queens, the company already closed the College Point Multiplex Cinemas in Whitestone in early May, and plans to close the Jamaica Multiplex Cinemas in June.
The string of closures mirrors a national trend that was set in motion even before the pandemic shut down movie theaters: Americans are increasingly watching movies from their couches.
According to the National Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit organization overseen by the National Association of Theater Owners, the United States lost more than 5% of movie screens between 2019 and 2022.
City Councilmember Althea Stevens, who represents the area and grew up going to the multiplex, said the closing is also a lesson to the community on the importance of supporting local businesses.
“My daughter called me and was like, ‘Mom, they closed the movie theater.’ And I was like, ‘when's the last time you've been to the movies there?” she said.
Her daughter said it had been “a while.”
“I think a lot of people are like, ‘We took for granted what we had in our community,’” Stevens said.
The theater is located in a shopping center on 161st Street in the Concourse section of the Bronx, which had a poverty rate of 34.6% 2022, nearly double the citywide rate of 18.3%, according to the NYU Furman Center, which studies urban policy.
Rossmery Dais, the chair of the Municipal Services Committee for Community Board 4, said losing this movie theater is one more blow to a borough already plagued by divestment.
“The fact that that's taken away, unfortunately, it's a reminder that, we're last on the totem pole. And we feel sometimes that other folks feel like we're not worthy. We’re not worthy of nice things.”
Constance Scott, who has lived in the Bronx her whole life, expressed disappointment that her borough is losing one more communal space.
“I just hate that in the Bronx, they're constantly taking away things from the kids. There's no more third spaces anymore,” said Scott “This was like a third space. You have school, home, and then you have other places you can hang out with your friends,” she said.
Starting Wednesday, neighborhood residents who want to see a movie in the Bronx will have to go to AMC Bay Plaza Cinema 13 near Co-op City, which is almost 10 miles away.
Carrasquillo said the Concourse Plaza Multiplex is located within walking distance from her apartment, while the AMC location is inconvenient.
“If I was going on public transportation, I would have to take two buses to get to it,” she said.
