Bring in the new
Marking the true passing of time, the site of the much-beloved Kino Moskwa in Mokotow last week became home to the city center's first multiplex cinema.
A relic from the communist past, but cherished by many Warsaw inhabitants, Kino Moskwa closed its doors a few years ago. In the last year, multiplex operator Silver Screen Cinemas has been busy building a new eight-screen cinema as part of the Europlex office and retail building on ulica Pulawska.
That long-awaited new cinema finally opened its doors last Friday, marking the first completion of Silver Screen Cinema's venture.
"It's our first project in Warsaw, in Poland and in the world," said Frank Stark, general director of the company, which is a subsidiary of California-based Pacific Theaters.
With the multiple screens, a cafeteria, bar, internet cafe, and a conference room, the new Silver Screen development occupies 5,000 square meters of space in the new 22,500-square-meter Europlex building.
The Silver Screen venture marks Pacific Theaters' first move into Europe. So far, the company has concentrated exclusively on building the theater at Europlex but in summer it plans to open two new theaters in Lodz and Gdynia. "We decided to invest in Poland not only because of its positive macroeconomic indicators, but because the movie-going audience here has very specific tastes," Stark said.
To satisfy those tastes, Izabela Duda, film-program director at Silver Screen Cinemas, said that the cinema would try to show a wide variety of films. "Everyone will be able to find something for himself," she said. Krzysztof Domanski, a 49-year-old physician who last week was passing by the new building, said that he would be up for seeing the "The Sixth Sense" when the new cinema opened. Domanski, who regularly visits the Medical Library located next to the new complex, said that Silver Screen should provide a much-needed diversion.
"Sometimes when I am sitting in that little reading room in the library, the first thing I want to do is to get out of here," Domanski said. "Until now there hasn't been any place nearby to escape to or to have a cup of tea.
"And a cinema, I couldn't even think about that," he said. "The closest cinema, Luna, was too far."
According to Stark, Silver Screen wanted to create an entertainment venue that would suit everybody, which is why the theater tried to distinguish itself from Warsaw's two other multiplexes.
Silver Screen's eight theaters, for example, are all of a different size. While the smallest theater seats just 30 people, the largest one can accommodate 400. In total, about 1,400 people can watch films simultaneously.
And while five of the movie theaters are open to the public, three are reserved for VIPs.
"The three 'Platinum Theaters' are completely different," Duda said. "We compare them to first class on an airplane."
The black leather armchairs with private tables help create the ideal atmosphere for private screenings, Duda said. Additionally, these "platinum" theaters have separate entrances, a cloakroom, a bar and waiters serving food and drinks throughout film showings. Such extravagance does not come cheap, however. Tickets for the Platinum Theaters run zl. 32 each, while regular tickets cost zl. 12-zl. 20.
While Silver Screen is likely to attract the hordes of crowds present at every Warsaw theater on the weekends, many in the city said the new, fancy cinema cannot replace Kino Moskwa in their hearts.
"Yes, I know, Moskwa was ugly with the Stalinist sculptures on its facade. It was also the coldest cinema in Warsaw during the winter time, but I liked it very much," said 55-year-old Krystyna Gajewska, who was waiting for a bus by the multiplex last Thursday. "I don't care about all these modern architectural solutions. I spent my youth there."
