Quad Cinema Reopens In Greenwich Village Friday

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY – A new and improved Quad Cinema opens its doors in Greenwich Village on Friday, two years after the local movie theater closed for renovations.

Quad, which launched in 1972 as NYC's first multiplex theater, is back Friday after a multi-million dollar renovation and technical upgrade, thanks to real estate developer and film lover Charles Cohen. Cohen purchased the theater in 2014 and this week announced Quad's new and improved design.

“Not only was the Quad New York's first multi-screen cinema it was also a true neighborhood theater, drawing Village audiences with its sophisticated art-house fare," Cohen said in a statement. "The new Quad will preserve both the welcoming, communal atmosphere and the cultural cachet of the original theater while updating—and upgrading—the moviegoing experience for contemporary cinephiles.

According to a statement from the theater, the Quad will be "anchored by four jewel-box theaters that have the feel of intimate screening rooms, conceived to counter the impersonality of today's cavernous, multiplex auditoriums." The theater says its updated facilities are capable of screening films in 35mm and 16mm, as well as 4K digital and 3-D projection.

One of the theater's four screens will be devoted to screening retrospectives year-round, starting with the work of Lina Wertmüller, whose films were screened at the Quad in the 1970s. Also set to screen during the theater's opening week are "A Quiet Passion," an Emily Dickinson biopic and "Maurizio Cattelan: Be Right Back," a documentary about the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. The Quad says another recurring program will invite famous New Yorkers to choose and screen the films they've always wanted to see.

You can buy tickets to see a flick at the theater, located at 34 W. 13th St., here.

Image via Wikimedia Commons.