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Built during the silent film era, the Egyptian rolled out
Hollywood's first red carpet for the premiere of "Robin Hood"
starring Douglas Fairbanks in 1922. Netflix said it spent $70
million to restore the theater, preserving its original Egyptian
Revival design in the courtyard and inside the building while
adding updated sound and projection equipment. "If you had seen
the theater over the last couple of years before we were able to
get in and do this work, you'd see it was showing every bit of
its 100 years," Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in an
interview. "To be able to bring it back, and it's a beautiful
movie house, is just an incredible point of pride for us."
Netflix will hold premieres of its films and other special
events at the theater on weekdays starting with a screening of
David Fincher's "The Killer" on Thursday. On weekends, the
Egyptian will show classic films selected by the American
Cinemateque, a nonprofit group that had purchased the theater in
1986 but struggled with upkeep of the century-old building.
"Even though we had spent considerable money renovating it, it
still was not what we really dreamt it could be," American
Cinematheque Chairman Rick Nicita said. Now, "it's a brand new
old movie palace, if that's not a contradiction in terms,"
Nicita added. "I can't wait now to see a movie here."
(Reporting by Omar Younis; Additional reporting and writing by
Lisa Richwine; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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