BAM slams cinemas
Brooklyn Acad arthouse fires off legal threat
At issue is the exclusivity to films typically claimed by exhibs.
The nonprofit Brooklyn Academy of Music recently sent City Cinemas a letter threatening legal action after City said it would not open two Sony Pictures Classics releases at its Angelika Film Center that are scheduled to simultaneously bow at BAM's Rose Cinemas.
City Cinema's decision endangers BAM's ability to get product from distributors, who may not want to pass up a run at downtown Manhattan's premier arthouse for a Brooklyn screen date.
In the letter, which was sent by the New York law firm Wilkie Farr & Gallagher, the nonprofit BAM notes that Manhattan theaters typically demand exclusive rights to a film only within a 20-block radius.
Right now, the Angelika plays films day and date with Gotham theaters in Murray Hill, midtown and the Upper East and West sides. In the letter to City Cinemas CEO Robert Smerling, BAM president Harvey Lichtenstein characterizes the Angelika's attempt to extend its exclusivity across the East River into Brooklyn "excessive."
When it opens this Friday, the four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas will be the first in Brooklyn dedicated to screening independent and foreign-lingo pics. BAM is planning to open Walter Salles' "Central Station" on Nov. 20 and John Boorman's "The General" on Dec. 18, the same dates that the SPC pics were skedded to debut at the Angelika.
City Cinemas could not be reached for comment.
