I was taken aback, as I’m sure many readers were, by John Shuff’s recent blog on this site about the closing of the great Mizner Park 8 movie theater. I wanted to find out more about this surprising closure, which, as Shuff pointed out, occurred at the height of the movie awards season.
A Google search for “Mizner cinema closing” yielded nothing of relevance aside from Shuff’s blog; it appears we scooped this story, but what exactly did we scoop? And why isn’t the closing of such a popular and longstanding cinema, located in one of Palm Beach County’s premiere high-end shopping and entertainment centers, receiving more attention?
A phone call to management at Frank Theaters, which recently acquired the Mizner Park 8 from its previous owner, Sunrise Cinemas, proved futile. The representative with whom I spoke could not reveal any details about the Mizner Park 8, which only made the closing appear even more mysterious than it already seemed.
A few phone calls later, Chris Molho, general manager at Mizner Park, solved the mystery: The theater will be closed for renovations and is slated to reopen sometime this fall. As to rumors mentioned in Shuff’s blog that the park’s owner, General Growth, did not receive a rent payment for the theater, Molho could not confirm or deny any private conversations between the tenant and the landlord.
It will be disappointing to go without a Mizner Park movie theater for a good eight months or more, but Boca Raton filmgoers should look for the silver lining: The Mizner Park 8 is not out of business for good; in fact, it may return better than ever. In the meantime, the Regal Shadowood in West Boca andLiving Room Theatres at FAU will continue to pick up the art-house slack.
