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SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The historic Castro Theater reopened Friday following a $41 million renovation project. The venue, which has served as a landmark movie palace for a century, will now showcase both film and live musical performances.
The several-year renovation was designed to make the theater viable for another 100 years. The project balanced the restoration of historic architectural elements with the installation of modern technology and flexible infrastructure to support a wider variety of events.
The 100-year-old movie palace underwent a comprehensive restoration of its interior features. Visitors will find the original artwork, murals, proscenium and chandelier have been cleaned and preserved. The project also included the installation of the world’s largest digital organ.
To accommodate the shift toward live music, the theater now features brand new seating. These seats are designed to be removable, allowing the venue to create standing room for musical performances and other live events.
David Perry of Another Planet Entertainment explained that the changes were necessary for the theater’s long-term survival. He noted that the traditional model of relying solely on film screenings is no longer viable for a theater of this size.
“People don’t go to the movies like they used to,” Perry said. “So the idea of a 1400 seat venue only supporting itself on film, it’s just untenable. So the fact that we can now book concerts, other events, even special events, I’m hoping people come and do weddings and birthdays here. This makes this space not only as important as it always was, culturally, but self-sustaining financially.”
Friday marks the first public event at the venue in more than two years. The reopening features a screening of the film “Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” with proceeds benefiting the Castro Community Benefit District.
Singer Sam Smith is scheduled to begin a 20-night residency at the Castro Theater starting Tuesday.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.
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Dan Kerman
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