Toronto’s Revue Cinema, oldest operating theatre in city, faces closure over tensions with landlord

Toronto’s oldest operating movie theatre is facing an uncertain future, with operators of The Revue Cinema in the city’s west end saying that they might be forced to close the business as soon as June 30.

On Thursday, the Revue Film Society, the not-for-profit organization that operates the single-screen cinema on Roncesvalles Avenue, held an emergency meeting after negotiations for the renewal of their commercial lease broke down with their long-term landlord.

“We have not been served a written eviction notice, but we have been told by our landlord and his representative that he will have us out on July 1,” Grant Oyston, chair of the Revue Film Society, said in an interview Thursday. “We’ve had the same landlord for 17 years now, operating on five-year commercial leases. We had every reason to believe the lease would be renewed at the end of this month, and with three days left on the current term, he threatened to kick us out. We’ve had films booked, events like weddings. It’s a huge shock.”

The tensions stem from a series of disagreements between the Revue and landlord Danny Mullin. The 96-year-old real estate investor purchased the property, located on a prime stretch of real estate, in 2007. A resident of the community, Mullin then handed the building’s operations over to the film society, a federally incorporated organization that essentially acts as a board, with 10 volunteer members.

“No one is planning to evict anyone – I just want the board out of there. I’ve said that everyone who works there can keep their jobs if they want to work for me,” Mullin said in an interview Thursday. “I’ve been good to them, giving them everything that they’ve wanted, and they haven’t done anything since. All I want now is to get rid of the board. We’ll take over Monday morning, nothing changes.”

Oyston, however, calls Mullin’s offer of employment for staff “disingenuous.”

“He had someone come in and say, ‘Write your email here if you want to work for Danny come Monday.’ None of our staff are interested or willing to do that without the board, which is responsible for the finances, the employment of staff, and general operations.”

If the Revue’s operators are not able to reach a new lease agreement with Mullin, the film society will be forced to remove all the equipment it has acquired over the years, including the digital projector that the Revue purchased in 2012, a critical piece of exhibition infrastructure.

“The business license is in our name, we own the equipment, we oversee the programming, we have the relationships with the distributors,” Oyston said. “We view this as a hostile takeover from Danny, but he won’t be able to seamlessly take over a cinema.”

As part of the negotiation process, Mullin requested a requested a hike in the rent from $10,000 a month to $15,000.

“He’s requested various amounts during negotiating, and $15,000 came up over the past few days, which we have agreed to,” Oyston said. “But he’s refused to accept our cheques.”

“I’ve been in the neighbourhood for 65 years, and I know everyone. If they don’t want to work for me, then fine we’ll continue on,” Mullin said when asked about new lease terms. “I want the board gone.”

The Revue, which has been operating since 1912, is a survivor of the era when dozens of small movie theatres operated in neighbourhoods across Toronto.

After weathering all manner of industry disruptions, including the darkest days of the pandemic that forced theatres across North America to shutter for more than a year, the Revue has bounced back with a well-regarded slate of screenings, both of new and retrospective titles, under programming director Serena Whitney.