{"id":351136,"date":"2026-09-19T15:06:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T15:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/351136\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T15:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T15:06:29","slug":"nyc-east-siders-rallying-to-save-kips-bay-amc-theater-amid-surge-in-at-home-streaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/351136\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC East Siders rallying to save Kips Bay AMC theater amid surge in at-home streaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Community members and politicians are rallying to save the beloved AMC movie theater in Manhattan\u2019s Kips Bay after word recently got out that the theater is closing following NYU Langone Health\u2019s purchase of the retail strip where it\u2019s located.<\/p>\n

AMC recently confirmed it will be closing its AMC Kips Bay 15 movie theater by the end of this year, with one year remaining on its lease, after the property owner exercised its right to terminate the lease early, Variety reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Assemblymember Keith Powers, in a video on X<\/a>, subsequently said elected officials had confirmed NYU Langone had purchased the two-story retail strip, on Second Ave. between 30th and 32nd Sts., which also includes a large Fairway supermarket on its basement level.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Councilman Keith Powers speaks on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

The potential loss of the movieplex \u2014 a major entertainment venue serving not just Kips Bay, but Murray Hill, Midtown East and beyond \u2014 has galvanized the community. A petition<\/a> by Save Kips Bay and another on change.org<\/a> to keep the movie complex have garnered a combined total of 15,000 signatures, with a rally planned for noon Sunday.<\/p>\n

Janet Handal, president of the Waterside Plaza Tenants Association, called the AMC \u201ca wonderful theater. It was our weekend activity,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember the first movie I went to after COVID was \u2018Top Gun: Maverick\u2019 at the IMAX there.\u201d She admitted, though that she\u2019s hasn\u2019t been there often since then, reflecting the wider post-pandemic moviegoing trend.<\/p>\n

The community outcry comes amid plunging attendance<\/a> at cinemas in the age of streaming movies: A recent Pew poll found less than half of Americans reported visiting a movie theater in the past year. Meanwhile, another East Side movie house a bit farther uptown, Angelica\u2019s Cinema 123, is for sale as a development site, though no closing date has been set, the Real Deal reported in April.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe AMC Kips Bay 15 movie theater in Manhattan is pictured on Aug. 17, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Councilmember Virginia Maloney, whose district includes the theater, will be leading the rally, along with Assemblymember Keith Powers, state Senator Kristen Gonzalez and others. She said the elected officials are currently \u201cin conversation\u201d with NYU about the future of the site. If they\u2019re unable to save the theater, political leaders are hoping at least part of the site will be developed into something the entire community can use.<\/p>\n

\u201cAMC has been a part of the Kips Bay neighborhood since 1999, so multiple decades,\u201d Maloney said. \u201cIt\u2019s a movie theater, but it\u2019s also a place where families, young people, seniors are gathering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge loss for that neighborhood fabric that is getting harder and harder to find,\u201d she said. \u201cToo many of these community anchors and shared spaces across New York, we\u2019re losing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates, who acknowledge they may not be able to save the theater, say the fight is also about trying to keep Kips Bay from being gobbled up by institutional sprawl. NYU Langone Hospital, just one block to the east on what\u2019s known as \u201cHospital Alley,\u201d has been progressively increasing its footprint in the area, converting nearby buildings to satellite medical facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s the AMC, another theater or another community anchor,\u201d Maloney said, \u201cthe elected officials who represent AMC are really seeking to find a way to make sure that any proposal is still supporting the Kips Bay community and the people that live there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Councilwoman Virginia Maloney speaks during a press conference at Lenox Hill Hospital Tuesday, July 21, 2026 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

The councilwoman added that, if NYU is seeking any rezoning or landscaping changes, local politicians want to be involved in that planning.<\/p>\n

NYU Langone Health did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Maloney noted the site has \u201ctwo contracts,\u201d with another one for the Fairway, \u201cwhich is the primary grocery store for the area. That strip is so defined by those two services,\u201d she said. The supermarket\u2019s lease is not expiring soon.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Maloney said, \u201cNYU\u2019s an incredibly important healthcare institution\u201d for the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re asking NYU to work with us, to listen to what the community is saying, and to help find a path forward to keep Kips Bay a neighborhood where people can live, gather and belong,\u201d Maloney said. \u201cSuccessful neighborhoods need a mix of uses.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, she did note, \u201cA city can\u2019t force a private property owner to keep AMC as a tenant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Community members and politicians are rallying to save the beloved AMC movie theater in Manhattan\u2019s Kips Bay after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[131177,115962,23878,75,2346,89899,131180,131179,35338,9,11,10,7866,90167,131178,55012],"class_list":["post-351136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-amc-kips-bay-15","tag-east-side","tag-kips-bay","tag-manhattan","tag-midtown-east","tag-movie-theater","tag-movie-viewing-trends","tag-moviegoing-decline","tag-murray-hill","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-nyc-real-estate","tag-nyu-langone-health","tag-streaming-video","tag-virginia-maloney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}