The troubled Sundance Cinemas project at 40th and Walnut streets is likely dead now that the two companies that were planning a series of independent movie theaters across the country have called off their joint venture. The bankruptcy of General Cinemas Co. -ÿwhich was providing the lion's share of the funding for the joint project with Robert Redford's Sundance organization - has thrown the entire project into disarray. University administrators announced the theater in the fall of 1998 to great fanfare, promising that it would revitalize the entire 40th Street corridor and make it a prime destination spot for Philadelphians. Penn Executive Vice President John Fry said on Wednesday that he had been informed by Sundance officials that they would no longer be able to fund the project, and that the University had seized control over it and is actively looking for a new operator. He emphasized that the situation was out of Penn's control. Admitting that this was a large setback for the administration's grand plans for 40th Street, Fry said he expected to find a new company to run what will likely be a scaled-back version of the original plan. He did not rule out the possibility that Redford and Sundance would continue to be involved in some way, and he said Penn is still moving forward with its other 40th Street-related plans. The innovative theater complex at 40th Street - which Penn hoped would be the first Sundance Cinema to open - was expected to house about eight movie screens, a restaurant, a tapas bar, an outdoor cafe, a town-hall component and a lecture hall. Officials broke ground on the Philadelphia complex - now about 50 percent complete - in the summer of 1999. Construction has been moving at a snail's pace since then, with both design issues and material shortages marring the process. Regardless, officials had said recently they expected the completed cinema to open soon after Christmas - nine months later than originally planned. Now, Fry said he could not give a timetable for when the project would be completed. General Cinema's bankruptcy is part of an industry-wide problem. The nation has seen a glut of movie screens in recent years as nearly every exhibitor has built huge upscale megaplexes. The theaters have not been as profitable as expected and have cannibalized the business of smaller theaters. According to some estimates, 25 percent of the nation's movie screens are now under the control of companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Read tomorrow's Daily Pennsylvanian for more on this story.
