Westwood's movie future bleak

Kevin Roderick • August 1 2009 1:44 PM

Today's L.A. Times follows on our Thursday night news about the Festival theater closing and adds a triple whammy of bad news for Westwood: Mann is giving up its leases on the Village and Bruin theaters, and the Majestic Crest is for sale. The Festival won't be missed, but the Village and the Bruin date from the origins of Westwood Village and are still popular for premieres — though not among UCLA students. "We've lost a staggering number of important theaters," Ross Melnick, co-founder of the Cinema Treasures website, says in the story. "The idea of the Village closing and being lost is nearly unfathomable."

More follows: Today's LAT Op-Ed page has Richard Schickel adding his thoughts to the many already expressed on LACMA's film program, and the Home section leads the Hot Property column with the moldy news about Esa-Pekka Salonen's home being on sale — the Times' own online story about that carries a July 17 date.

More: Arts & culture | Hollywood | Los Angeles Times | Westside

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