A Second Multiplex Theatre to Open in Williamsburg

Joining Nitehawk Theatre, which opened at Metropolitan Avenue and Berry Street last year, new multiplex movie theatre Williamsburg Cinemas will open its doors at Driggs Avenue and Grand Street by June, said owner Harvey Elgart.

The new multiplex will have seven screens, with almost 1,000 seats. According to Elgart, who has been planning this project for over six years and has worked as a projectionist mainly in Brooklyn cinemas for over two decades, “all the screens [in this new multiplex] will be equipped with the latest state-of-the-art digital sound and screens.” Each auditorium will have stadium seating and will range in capacity from 90 to 250 seats.

Asked why the neighborhood needs two movie multiplexes, Elgart replied, “my theatre is much larger compared to Nitehawk, who has only three screens, and their largest auditorium holds only 90 seats, and that is what our smallest room will hold.” In addition, while the Nitehawk screens mostly art-house and other indie films, Elgart plans to screen films ranging from art house indie types to mainstream blockbusters.  Currently, if Williamsburgers want to catch more mainstream films, they must trek to Union Square in Manhattan.

Several area residents and business owners agreed that the new venue will become an asset to the neighborhood. For example, Margaret Kozlowska, who owns Margo’s Patisserie Café at Driggs Avenue and Fillmore Street, welcomed the additional foot traffic it will bring to her café. As she is also a resident of the area, she also welcomed the new multiplex on a personal level, stating that “it is much more convenient than [Regal Union Square Stadium 14 in] Union Square, and I really like the fact it will bring more variety to the neighborhood.”

Not everyone, however, is as excited about the idea. Song Ly, one of the managers of the Japanese restaurant Samurai Mama next to the Williamsburg Cinemas site, said that while the benefits the multiplex will bring to local businesses are clear, she is not a fan of the process of gentrification that she says is ruining the “spirit of Williamsburg at a break-neck pace.” She is concerned that the introduction of a new multiplex of this scale will add to the pace of the gentrification of the neighborhood.

Some residents along the area are also concerned about the noise and crowd the new venue will could bring. “I'm concerned that it will add a lot of noise to the street,” said James DiGiovanna, a resident of Fillmore Street, which runs perpendicular to Driggs Avenue and is currently one of the quieter streets in Williamsburg. “Fillmore was pretty quiet when I first moved here…I don't see the theater helping that.”