Movieland Cinemas' future uncertain as independent Coram theater closes

Movieland Cinemas, an independent theater and longtime community landmark in Coram, has closed its doors, the owner said.

Michael Dostaler, who has owned the theater since May 2022, said the theater on Route 112 in the Pine Plaza shopping center suffered from a lack of patrons and was losing money.

"Obviously, we're sorry that we had to close but ... we can't sustain a business that's losing money." 

General manager Nicole Rapp, 27, who grew up in Selden just minutes from the theater, announced the theater's closure on Sept. 7 via Facebook. 

Rapp, who has worked at Movieland Cinemas for the past decade, hopes the closure will be just “temporary," although Dostaler said he does not have plans to reopen.

“What made us special was the unique entertainment, the affordable tickets, and the customer service that people were able to get,” Rapp said. “We would remember people’s names and orders and what movie they saw the last time they came."

Jordan Desner, who owned the theater for 15 years before Dostaler, said he hopes it will reopen eventually.

According to the website Cinema Treasures, a guide to movie theaters, Movieland Cinemas opened as the Pine Cinema in 1973.

"COVID really killed the industry. Once Disney started going to the streaming, that hurt us, that hurt the industry a lot," Desner said.

Long Island’s independent cinemas — a mix of mom-and-pops and smaller chains — were already struggling against a tide of streaming content when the pandemic forced them to close their doors in March 2020. Many returned to business later that year, but some went permanently dark, including the Squire Cinemas in Great Neck, the Franklin Square Cinemas, the Merrick Cinemas V and the Herricks Cinemas 4. The total number of movie screens in the United States shrank to 39,007 last year, a drop of about 5% from 2019 figures, according to the National Cinema Foundation. 

Many local businesses survived thanks to the help of federal COVID grants.

Movieland Cinemas was granted $55,512 through the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020 and $764,710 through the federal Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, federal records show. Desner, who was then the owner, declined to comment on the grants. 

Kareem Nugdalla, president of the Coram Civic Association, said Movieland Cinemas was a “point of pride” for the community and said many local businesses have suffered low foot traffic because of crime rates in the hamlet. 

The group is doing a community survey, which so far indicates "that people are scared to shop in our own shopping centers,” said Nugdalla, who recalled visiting Movieland Cinemas on a near weekly basis as a kid. “To lose it is unimaginable.”

Dostaler and Desner said crime was not an issue for customers while they owned the theater.

Suffolk police could not immediately provide crime statistics for the movie theater's address.

Several locals lamented the theater's closure in hundreds of comments on Facebook, where Rapp initially posted the announcement. 

Karina Martel, 28, of Centereach, told Newsday her husband took her and their two young sons for a “last family day” before he was deployed earlier this summer. 

“Since then I’ve taken the boys there every few weeks to keep the tradition until their daddy gets home,” she said. “We found it during an interesting transition in our life and it really helped my boys with this adjustment. It brought them joy and excitement every time we walked through the doors. We’ll definitely miss it.”

With Rafer Guzman

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.