According to sources plush multiplexes have flourished throughout the city over the last decade, Rex Theatre stood out as a bastion for the bygone years of single screen cinema in the Central Business District. Meanwhile with over 80 years of history etched into its walls, Rex Theatre on Brigade Road will darken its screens for the last time on December 31.
Anil Kapur joint managing director of Rex theatre said "There is one acre of land here and the theatre occupies very little space. Even if we refurbish it, the cost would be too high and it is not feasible". Furthermore as per latest report the news of the theatre's closure follows several other iconic single-screens in the erstwhile cantonment area, most of which were either shut down or converted into commercial spaces or multiplexes.
Accordingly Empire and Liberty theatres rolled down their shutters in the 1970s, BRV was converted into a military canteen in the late 1980s, Imperial, which was also owned by the Kapur’s, closed in the 1990s, Blu Moon and Blu Diamond bit the dust in 1994, Galaxy theatre shut down in 2002 to make way for a commercial space, Plaza was razed in 2005 for the metro rail, Symphony is now Fame Shankarnag, a multiplex, and Lido has become INOX and Rex will soon join that group. Moreover in a joint venture between Kapur Investments and the Prestige Group, the old theatre will be turned into a multiplex with four screens, as well as shops and restaurants.
