Claremont Village Movie Theater Reopening: What's New Inside

On Friday, October 2, the five screens at 450 W. Second St. came back on with Digger, Verity, Primetime, Heart of the Beast and The History of Concrete. Regency Theatres opened its Director's Cut Claremont quietly. Company president Lyndon Golin told the Claremont Courier that the team wanted to "get our staff trained and bugs out before we do a big push." A wider opening and a community open house are planned for the following week.

The building is the same one where the Laemmle Claremont 5 ran for nearly two decades. The theater inside it is a different one. It has fewer seats, all of them recliners, and its programming is built to pull from two audiences at once. Its owners are clear that it depends on the same thing that decided the old theater's fate: tickets sold on ordinary nights.

Eight Months, and Four Years Before That

The Laemmle Claremont 5 held its final screenings in late January 2026. The Daily Bulletin reported the last shows as Thursday night after 19 years. The Student Life gave the date as January 28 and the run as 18 years. From there, the Village went a little more than eight months without a movie screen.

Those eight months were only the last stretch of a much longer uncertainty. The building came close to leaving the movie business more than once:

1. December 2021. The Courier reported that Rancho Cucamonga-based Win Fund Investment LLC was the proposed buyer. Its plans called for an organic market with outdoor dining, two upstairs restaurants and a rooftop bar.
2. November 2022. Laemmle made a public "vote with your feet" appeal, and a wave of community support followed.
3. January 2023. Greg Laemmle said Win Fund could not complete the purchase after an escrow lasting more than a year, and the deal was canceled. The theater stayed open.
4. December 4, 2024. The property went to auction and did not sell because bids did not approach the reserve. The Courier later put that reserve at about $4 million.
5. March 2025. Laemmle staff started the Rewind Cinema Club and nostalgia screenings to bring in younger moviegoers.
6. November 19, 2025. The sale to Regency Theatres closed.

The 2021 proposal matters because it shows what the corner could have become. A market, restaurants and a rooftop bar would have filled the same space on Second Street and added to the Village's evening trade. The screens would have been gone for good. The Courier's coverage of the sale tied Laemmle's decision to weak attendance after the pandemic and to moviegoers heading to the AMC in Montclair. The building ended up with a theater operator because one was willing to take that risk on.

A Smaller Room on Purpose

Regency did not simply reopen the Laemmle. Golin described a full refresh. "We've pretty much touched every surface," he told the Courier.

"We have reduced the seating capacity a lot because of the size of the chairs, but you have to do it. So it's really a nice little boutique theater and very comfortable." — Lyndon Golin, Regency Theatres president, in the Claremont Courier

Every seat is now a recliner, the same format moviegoers know from the larger theater in Montclair. Regency's Claremont showtime page lists reserved seating and luxury electric recliners. The screens were replaced and the picture and sound were reworked. "We've gone through it and gotten the pictures brighter, the sound better," Golin said.

Fewer seats change how a night out works. When a room holds fewer people, a popular showing fills up sooner. Reserved seating means buying ahead online replaces walking up on a whim. In January, the Daily Bulletin reported that the overhaul would add tables and more food options. No Claremont-specific concessions menu has been published yet. The same report expected a May reopening, and the actual date ended up being October 2.

What the Week Looks Like Now

"Director's Cut" is Regency's name for a split program. Golin called it "a combination of specialty films and the more sophisticated commercial films," modeled on the chain's Director's Cut location in Laguna Niguel. Claremont is the chain's 15th location, and a 16th in Buena Park is due in November.

The announced pricing gives the week a pattern:

All of these deals land early in the week, on the nights that are hardest to fill. Weekends usually take care of themselves. A theater survives on whether the seats on a Tuesday and a Wednesday are occupied. Laemmle's 2025 Rewind Cinema Club was aimed at the same problem, using older films to bring people in. Flashback Wednesdays pick up that idea under the new owner.

Golin did not oversell it. "It's always a gamble," he said. He pointed to how the community rallied during the earlier escrow, and to the five Claremont Colleges, as reasons it "looks on paper like there'll be support for the theater." He declined to say how much Regency spent on the renovation, calling it only "substantial."

Building an Evening Around It

The theater sits in the western part of the Village, a short walk from the Packing House. The Packing House directory lists Eureka!, Gus's BBQ, Crepes de Paris, Iron & Kin, Packing House Wines, Whisper House and Mozwell among its food and drink tenants. Mozwell, a cocktail bar and kitchen at 590 W. First St., is a natural stop before or after a late showing.

The Packing House also has a newer tenant. IN Sake Museum, in Unit #209, advertised its grand opening for Sunday, June 28. It posts hours of 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday, and it is closed Mondays. That makes it an early-evening option on most nights the theater runs.

Restaurant hours change with the seasons, and the published directories are not dated. Check a restaurant's hours before planning dinner around a showtime.

The rest of the fall calendar gives the theater some busy weekends to start with:

• Saturday, October 24, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The 44th annual Village Venture Arts & Crafts Festival, which the Claremont Chamber advertises with more than 400 booths, food, music and a costume parade. A matinee or early evening showing fits well after a day at the booths.
• Saturday, November 7, 4:30 to 8 p.m. The monthly Village Art Walk, held on the first Saturday of each month. The November date starts with a sensory-friendly viewing from 4:30 to 5 p.m. The Art Walk ends at 8 p.m., which leaves time for a later film.
• Every Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Claremont Farmers & Artisans Market on Harvard Avenue between First Street and Bonita Avenue, rain or shine.

Before October 2, these evenings in the Village ended at the restaurant. On the nights when Tuesday pricing or a Flashback Wednesday falls on a free evening, the theater is again one more stop within walking distance.

Ticket times and current showings are on Regency's Claremont page. Regency has not yet announced the date of the community open house.

A reopened theater, the new Packing House tenants and the restaurants between them are all part of what a Village home is near. If you are thinking about how that shapes your property's story when it comes to market, Concierge Realty Group can walk the Village with you and talk through presentation, timing and preparation. Schedule a Consultation.