Can AMC Kips Bay 15 Be Saved? Politicians and Activists Mobilize to Keep Beloved Movie Theater

New York State Assemblymember Keith Powers and other lawmakers have reached out to NYU Langone to find out if the multiplex can be preserved.

New Yorkers are mobilizing to save a beloved movie theater after AMC announced last week that it would be forced to close its Kips Bay multiplex at the end of the year. A Change.org petition has gathered nearly 7,740 signatures and a separate online petition has amassed nearly 3,740 names.

Government officials have also joined the fight. Last week, seven lawmakers including Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, and New York State Assemblymember Keith Powers sent a letter to the building’s landlord, NYU Langone, asking to maintain open lines of communication about the future of the movie theater as well as a Fairway supermarket. There are reports that NYU Langone plans to use the AMC Kips Bay 15 space for medical offices.

“We hope to work with you on a plan that allows existing community amenities to coexist with medical uses,” the letter reads.

But will the public pressure be enough to preserve the theater or will AMC Kips Bay 15 go the way of other New York City cinemas such as the Ziegfeld, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, and the Regal UA Court Street Theater that have shuttered, leaving another moviegoing void?

“I will not project success or failure,” Powers told IndieWire. “I will say that this community is deeply motivated to keep the lights on. I’ve heard from thousands and thousands of New Yorkers about their love for this theater.”

Powers notes that finding out who owned the property took some digging and the organization SaveKipsBay has a page documenting the many outstanding questions that remain about the future of the complex. It notes that while the complex was “marketed for medical use” in a 2024 brochure, “no rezoning application has been publicly filed that we have been able to identify” and the “the City’s tax roll had not yet been updated to reflect the sale.” A spokesperson for NYU Langone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Organizers note that Manhattan’s East Side has suffered a wave of cinema closures including the 86th Street location of City Cinemas in May 2019, the Second Ave. location of the Beekman Theatre in September 2019, and the 62nd Street location of the CMX Cinebistro Lenox Hill in October 2018. The Third Ave. location of Cinema 123 by Angelika is currently looking for a buyer. Though the AMC Kips Bay 15 closure is more bad news for movie lovers in the neighborhood, there are theaters across town in nearby Times Square. But Powers argued that’s poor consolation.

“There’s the convenience factor,” he said. “Right now, families and senior citizens and teenagers can walk down the block and enjoy ‘The Odyssey’ or ‘Spider-Man’ and not have to travel across town to busier and more congested theaters. They deserve to have access to a nice theater where they can have a night off.”

Powers has his own fond memories of AMC Kips Bay’s multiplex. “I spent 30 years watching many of my favorite movies from one of their recliner seats,” Powers said. “And I’d run into friends and neighbors. It was a true community hub.”