Next fall, University Square will no longer exist. And in the absence of University Square Theatres, 62 University Square, students will have to find alternative movie venues to get their film fix.
The theatres will close the week of May 8, according to manager Andrew Malingowski. He said tearing down internal walls and removing equipment will take a week, after which the theatres will be set for demolition. Malingowski said the theatres will be history by May 15 at the latest.
Although it is unclear when the entire mall will be torn down, owner Executive Management Inc. hopes to begin by June 1, according to city spokesperson George Twigg.
With University Square Theatres gone next year, other theatres hope to pick up some residual business. Ralph Russo, Cultural Arts Director at Memorial Union Theatre, said the Union hopes to attract student film fans.
He encouraged former University Square patrons to come over to the play circle more often and see the movie time series.\ Russo said the Union shows ""a couple hundred"" movies per year.
Still, students concerned about finding alternative movie theatres are not happy about the May demolition of University Square. Johanne Vertil, a UW-Madison freshman, does not have a car and would have to take a bus to East or West Towne Malls to see a big budget movie. She said the highly popular University Square Theatres provide a weekend alternative to party-weary students.
""The University Theatre is an alternate place for people to go who aren't trying to drink,"" Vertil said. ""I'm not going to drive all the way out to one of the malls just to see a movie. It's out of the way.""
The owner of University Square Theatres has been looking for another campus property to develop, but ""the city didn't really think it was all that important,"" said Manager Malingowski.
No other campus-area theatres currently run mainstream Hollywood movies, such as ""Silent Hill"" and ""Scary Movie 4."" There are smaller theatres such as Orpheum Theatre, 216 State St., and Memorial Union, but none cater to the broad audience of University Square.
""As far as blockbusters and main stream film, there's really no facilities set up for it,"" Malingowski said. ""We're hoping for a public outcry.""\
