SIFF buys iconic downtown Seattle Cinerama with plans to reopen it this year

SEATTLE - Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) has purchased the shuttered downtown Cinerama location with plans to reopen the iconic theater. 

The downtown Seattle movie theater (on 4th Avenue, in the Belltown neighborhood) opened back in 1963, but went into disrepair in the late 1990s and was in danger of being demolished. It was purchased, renovated and restored by philanthropist Paul G. Allen.

However, the venue closed in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

It has remained closed since. 

SIFF said it will reopen the theater later this year under a new name.

"We are so pleased about SIFF’s acquisition of the theater," said Jody Allen, executor of the Allen Estate. "They are the ideal mission-driven organization to now shepherd this very special place, bring more film and movie lovers to downtown Seattle, and steward the venue and its role in our community for years to come."

SIFF has a long history of acquiring historic Seattle theaters including the Uptown Theater, which they reopened in 2011 as SIFF Cinema Uptown, and the historic Egyptian Theater in Capitol Hill, acquired in 2014 as SIFF Cinema Egyptian.

The Cinerama will become the fourth venue run by SIFF.