BY SCOTT STIFFLER | After six-years of screening first-run films and serving as one of the venues for the annual Tribeca Film Festival, Cinépolis Chelsea announced this week that its lights will dim and its doors will close on Sunday, January 8. Visitors to the chain’s website, Chelsea location page (click here to visit), will find this message:

Dear valued guests,

We regret to inform you that Cinepolis Chelsea will be permanently closing on January 8, 2023. Tickets and gift cards may be subject to refunds. Please visit cinepolisusa.com/contact-us to submit a request for review. Our customer service team will reach out as soon as possible. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this has caused. Cinepolis has loved being part of the Chelsea community over the last 6 years, and we will miss sharing the big screen with you. 

Located at 260 West 23rd Street (btw. 7th & 8th Aves.), the cinema has been home to participatory screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show as well as a popular longtime screening series hosted by NYC-based drag queen Hedda Lettuce. As of January 5, the cinema was offering the following films: Avatar: The Way of Water, Babylon, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Wildcat, and The Whale.

No explanation for Cinépolis Chelsea’s closure was given. Its absence will leave the SVA Theatre as the neighborhood’s lone film screening venue. Owned and operated by the School of Visual Arts, it’s mostly used for the school’s private events but has regularly served as one of the screening venues for the annual Tribeca Film Festival. The SVA Theatre’s 333 West 23rd Street location puts it in visual range of the soon-to-close Cinépolis Chelsea.

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