The empty parking lot at Cinemagic movie theater in Westbrook in August of 2020, before it re-opened. Photo by Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
The Cinemagic movie theater chain announced Wednesday that it would be closing all its locations, including three in Maine, until sometime in the spring.
A news release announcing the closing did not give any reasons or say when in the spring the chain might reopen. Zachary Adam, the marketing director for Cinemagic, declined to give more details on the closing. The release described the temporary closing as an “intermission” until spring.
Based in Bedford, New Hampshire, Cinemagic has multiple-screen locations in Saco, Westbrook and South Portland. The chain also has three theaters in New Hampshire and two in Massachusetts. It is not clear whether all the Maine theaters were open when the decision to close was made.
Cinemagic was among the Maine movie theaters that reopened last summer after being closed since March because of the pandemic. At the time, many theater operators worried they would not get enough customers to make staying open financially viable – both because of COVID-19 worries and restrictions and because Hollywood was not turning out new films that might attract audiences.
On Wednesday, Cinemagic’s website showed it had been screening recently released films, including “News of the World” with Tom Hanks, “The Marksman” with Liam Neeson and “Supernova” with Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci.
Some Maine theaters that reopened last summer have stayed open, while some did not reopen and others reopened but later closed, including Nickelodeon Cinemas in Portland and Regal Cinemas in Brunswick and Augusta.
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