Good news, Mt. Lebanon and Dormont,
It looks like the dormant Denis Theatre is coming back after being threatened with demolition! It was closed in 2004 but is scheduled to come back as a three-screen cinema. The primary function ill be as an art house, showing independent, foreign language and documentary films. They will also show mainstream movies too in order to appeal to as broad an audience as possible.
I'd only been to the Denis a couple of times with a friend of mine who resides in Mt. Lebanon. Had I known about Yelp back then, I'd have given the place only one star. Not only had it fallen into disrepair, it was the most uncomfortable, claustrophobic theatre I'd ever been in. It was very poorly divided up into four small screening rooms years ago. The upstairs screening rooms were especially bad. Upon learning that their movie was playing up there, people would ask for their money back. I sat up there once and was squirming to get out.
I give it four stars for the huge renovation effort underway. Let's hope that it turns out to be a first-rate cinema again. If you would like to help in the restoration effort, you may be interested to know that the Denis Theatre Foundation will be showing movies outdoors prior to the re-opening. http://www.denistheater.org/ read more
