borrowed $5.4 million from Truist Bank to buy a 45.72 percent interest in the mall at Interstate 10 and Loop 410.The Bijou is located inside Wonderland of the Americas mall. Wonderland is the largest property in the suburban city of about 3,000 residents and has been owned by Crossroads Mall Partners Ltd. Last year, in an unusual deal, Balcones Heights council members agreed to acquire an ownership stake in the mall. The theater was one of the bigger tenants at Wonderland, which opened in 1961 as the area’s biggest indoor mall. Santikos renovated it in 2019, adding new luxury recliners and updating the lobby and concessions. The Wonderland theater opened as the Crossroads 6 Theatre in 1987 and took on the Bijou name in the early 2000s. Santikos also recently finished refurbishing its IMAX auditorium at the Palladium and expects to announce more theater remodels later this year, Brooks said. The company still operates its Park North and Stone Oak locations. Hit hard by the pandemic, Alamo Drafthouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization last year and proposed selling some assets, including acreage near La Cantera Parkway and Loop 1604 where it had planned to build a theater. The company took over two former Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas locations, in New Braunfels and at Westlakes near Loop 410 and Highway 151, and began operating them this year.
Santikos shown more independent films at its Embassy and Palladium theaters, and they’ve performed well, Brooks said. Santikos plans to show independent and foreign films at its 10 remaining local theaters under a program dubbed “Bijou Series,” which will begin this summer. “The Bijou has been my number one theater during the pandemic mostly because of how chill and relaxing it is (and empty which is of course the problem here),” another wrote. EVERY theater offers the same fare - the Bijou was the exception.
BIJOU MOVIES SAN ANTONIO MOVIE
“This was the ONLY arthouse/independent movie theater in the city. So many memories since the late 80’s, mid-90’s & onward,” one Twitter user wrote. “While we’re sad to announce its closing, we’re excited for the future of Santikos.”įor years, the Bijou hosted Texas Public Radio’s Cinema Tuesday series.Ĭinephiles took to social media to mourn the theater’s closure, recalling the independent and classic films they saw there and lamenting declining attendance at the Bijou. “The Bijou theater has been part of the Santikos family since December 1987, and over the past 35 years it has become revered as our art house,” Brooks said. Santikos’ Northwest theater at 7600 Interstate 10 West is close by. It then re-opened - but initially only on weekends. The Bijou was closed for about a year during the pandemic. It also hosts a quirky mix of events, including the Balcones Heights Jazz Festival, the horror-themed Monster Con and the Wonderland UFO Festival. Once a major shopping destination, Wonderland is now a blend of medical offices, mom-and-pop businesses and discount stores. The Bijou theater at Wonderland of the Americas has closed. As with “CODA,” operators also are facing mounting competition from streaming services.Īt the same time, Santikos’ lease for the six-screen Bijou at the struggling Northwest Side mall was coming up for renewal. Even after theaters reopened, some moviegoers have been reluctant to return to their seats. Cinemas were closed and film production halted for months. The theater industry as a whole was hit hard by the pandemic. Apple bought the film at Sundance Film Festival for a record $25 million. It played at Santikos theaters for just one week before opening on Apple TV+, taking the movie’s audiences out of theaters, Brooks said.
“CODA,” which recently won an Oscar for best picture, is an example of the new reality. Beyond that, the “art-film dynamic is changing,” said Andrew Brooks, Santikos’ executive director of marketing and sales.
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