Cinerama Dome Among ArcLight, Pacific Theaters To Close Due To Pandemic Losses

ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters said late Monday they are ceasing operations, closing all of their roughly 300 screens mostly found in California.

None has inspired more distress among Hollywood notables than the Cinerama Dome on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard.

"After shutting our doors more than a year ago," the company said in a statement, "today we must share the difficult and sad news that Pacific will not be reopening its ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters locations."

"This was not the outcome anyone wanted," the statement continues, "but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward."

The Cinerama Dome's concrete geodesic dome was built to house the wide, curved screen required for single-lens Cinerama. It opened in 1963 with the premiere of Stanley Kramer's extravagantly wide-screen comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World — with its swinging hook-and-ladder finale.

The Dome has since hosted dozens of Hollywood premieres, including Shrek 2, for which it was painted green and fitted out with tubular ears. It has also figured in movies and television shows including Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.