On December 17, 1969, a few hundred feet from the site of the original Ziegfeld Theatre, a new Ziegfeld opened as a single-screen movie house with the New York premiere of
Marooned. It was the flagship of the
Walter Reade movie theatre chain. The gold and maroon interior was designed by
John J. McNamara at a cost of $600,000. From then it was often used for world premieres and big-event press screenings, such as the November 1977 opening of
Close Encounters of the Third Kind. From 2013 until its closing, the Ziegfeld was managed by
Bow Tie Cinemas, on behalf of
Cablevision, which owned the theater. The theater was previously part of the
Clearview Cinemas chain, which was owned by Cablevision, prior to the chain's sale to Bow Tie; the actual ownership of the Ziegfeld building was excluded from the sale. In an April 2015 interview, Cablevision CEO
James L. Dolan said the theater "loses a lot of money" and might be shuttered. Eight days later, the Ziegfeld Theatre closed as a large single-screen movie theater with a final showing of the film
Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The theater underwent a major renovation and reopened in November 2017 as a luxury event space called the Ziegfeld Ballroom. ==See also==