Times Cinema will no longer show movies on a regular basis, focusing instead on events

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
The Times Cinema at 5906 W. Vliet St. in 2001.
The Times Cinema at 5906 W. Vliet St. in 2001.
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The Times Cinema will no longer show a regular schedule of movies, the Washington Heights theater announced on social media Friday.

After shutting down for the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Times, 5906 W. Vliet St., reopened in April 2022 with a mix of second-run and classic movies, often grouped around a theme.

The last movie to have a limited run at the Times was "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour," which screened at the theater Jan. 26-Feb. 1.

"Going forward, we will be utilizing the venue to hold special public or private events in place of regularly scheduled repertory films," the theater said in a Friday Facebook post. "To everyone who has come to the Times, THANK YOU for your support and patience."

According to the theater's website, the Times' sole movie bookings going forward are three screenings in its Friday Night Freak Show series presented by WMSE-FM (91.7): the 1985 hip-hop movie "Krush Groove" on Feb. 16, Martin Scorsese's "GoodFellas" on March 15, and the John Waters/Johnny Depp comedy "Cry-Baby" on April 19.

Opened in 1935, the Times has gone through tons of changes over the years, shifting back and forth from first-run to second-run movies with a mix of repertory programming — the industry term for its latest format.

The Times is the fifth Milwaukee-area movie theater to go dark in the past sixth months. The Landmark Downer Theatre closed its doors in September, the same month that Marcus Theatres shuttered its Southgate, Saukville and Showtime cinemas.

The Times is owned by Neighborhood Theater Group, which also owns the Avalon Theater in Bay View and the Rosebud Cinema in Wauwatosa. NTG has been working to reopen the latter, which has been shuttered since the start of the pandemic.

RELATED: Milwaukee-area movie theaters that closed over the past decade, from the Downer to Fox-Bay

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's Times Cinema pulls away from movies, shifts to events