Statement of Support from Castro Theatre owners

The Castro Theatre has presented film for 100 years and will continue to present film. Film alone has not sustained the Theatre for some time and the theatre has been struggling when just showing film since the 1970s. This was unfortunately represented in the 10 days of the 100th anniversary when the 1,400 seat Theatre had on average attendance of less than 100 per showing. Because of the low attendance for film and the theatre’s inability to financially sustain itself in its current form, we entered into an agreement with Another Planet Entertainment (APE) to help restore and modernize the theatre, enhance programming and address years of deferred maintenance. We formed this agreement with a tremendous amount of thought and care to ensure that we found the best group to be the stewards of the theatre. We know that APE will be able to revive the theatre, preserve its legacy and continue important programming to the LGBTQ+ and film communities. We fully support the proposed changes by APE that allow the theatre to have versatile programming and upgraded seat configurations which will hopefully help stave off the fate of so many other theaters of this era that have closed, been developed into other occupancies or converted to retail shops.

Recently, groups have come forward that claim an affiliation with the Castro Theatre or propose changes that they think are best. While we appreciate their love for the theatre we strongly disagree and oppose the wildly restrictive guidelines that groups such as the Castro Theatre Conservancy are trying to impose. Their approach, while well intentioned, is extremely misguided and will further restrict and limit the diverse programming needed for the theatre to remain operational. Surprisingly, many of these groups who claim to know what’s best for the theatre failed to participate in or support the recent 100th anniversary events.