Here's what's going on with the 5 Milwaukee movie theaters that are still closed due to the pandemic

Fifteen months ago, all of the Milwaukee area's movie theaters went dark. 

One by one, the lights have come back up. But not everywhere.

Of the 20 movie theaters in the Milwaukee area, five have yet to reopen. When will they come back? 

With what may be the summer's biggest movie, "F9: The Fast Saga," opening Friday, here's where things stand with those five theaters: Marcus Theatres' Showtime Cinema, the Times and Rosebud cinemas, the Oriental Theatre, and Fox-Bay Cinema Grill. 

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Showtime Cinema 

Will it reopen?: Yes, on June 25.  

Marcus Theatres' last shuttered venue in the area, the Showtime Cinema in Franklin, reopens in time for "F9." And it's doing so with a new format: as a first-run theater. 

Because the former budget theater doesn't have all the creature comforts that other Marcus venues have, like DreamLounger recliners, ticket prices will be lower at the Showtime: $8.50, $6.50 for matinees, Mari Randa, Marcus Theatres' director of marketing and communications, said via email.  

With the Showtime's revival, all 11 Milwaukee-area Marcus Theatres will be back in business. 

Times Cinema and Rosebud Cinema 

Will they reopen?: Yes, in August.

For the past couple of months, the Times and Rosebud cinemas have had messages on their marquees, thanking members of Wisconsin's delegation in Washington for their support of programs helping bail out struggling entertainment venues. 

Last week, a new message went up at both neighborhood theaters: "Re-Opening Soon." 

"We're in the process of doing everything we need to do to get it back," said Lee Barczak, who with his wife, Jane Schilz, owns Neighborhood Theater Group. NTG owns the Times and Rosebud, and the Avalon Theater.

The Avalon, which operates in tandem with the Mistral restaurant, reopened last August. The Times and Rosebud will both reopen by mid-August, Barczak confirmed. 

Part of the delay is ongoing renovations at the Rosebud, which will have fewer, more spread-out seats, including new couches — if they're not delayed by supply-chain issues. Both theaters will have revamped menus as well. 

"The bigger issue is going to be hiring," Barczak said. "As we've advertised for certain jobs, there's not as many people applying for jobs as we had hoped there'd be. So there's a little concern there." 

The Avalon is operating at full capacity, Barczak said, but is trying to space out seating when attendance allows it. 

Oriental Theatre 

Will it reopen?: Yes, in August.

The Oriental was the first Milwaukee movie theater to close its doors in the pandemic. 

After a couple of weeks, Milwaukee Film, the nonprofit organization that runs the 94-year-old East Side movie palace, decided to put the downtime to productive use, ramping up renovation plans for the theater, including repairing the main auditorium's ornate ceiling and 420-seat balcony.

That work is still going on, but it's expected to be completed by August. Among the items still on the to-do list: installing the 1925 Kimball organ in the main theater.  

Fox-Bay Cinema Grill 

Will it reopen? It's unclear. 

Fox-Bay was the first Milwaukee-area movie theater to reopen after everything shut down at the start of the pandemic. Before it began showing movies again on May 29, 2020, the Whitefish Bay dine-in theater had been selling food for carryout or delivery for two months. 

But less than four months after it reopened, the Fox-Bay abruptly closed; at the time, Fox-Bay's owner, Roman Kelly, said the theater had shut down because of a couple of confirmed COVID-19 cases, a reality a lot of businesses were contending with last fall.

But within days, the theater's website was scrubbed and the movie titles were removed from the marquee. The theater never reopened.

The owner of the theater building, New Land Enterprises, reportedly has been looking for an operator for the cinema; email questions sent to New Land weren't returned. 

In a brief interview Monday, Kelly said the closing has been "really tough." 

"I don't know what the future is at this point," he said. 

The Fox-Bay wasn't the only Wisconsin theater to go dark and stay that way.

George Rouman, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, and the owner of Rouman Cinema in Rhinelander, said that four of the organization's member theaters have closed since the pandemic hit. Many of those that survived have cut back on hours and days of operation. 

They've also been waiting — and waiting — for financial support from the federal Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, signed into law in December but which has dragged its feet on issuing $16.1 billion in grants to independent theaters and entertainment venues. 

This month, the national NATO organization joined with other entertainment industry groups in calling on the U.S. Small Business Administration to immediately releases the funding or risk more closings.

"If SBA doesn’t urgently issue funding while addressing interagency challenges, small businesses that have done everything they could to scrape by and hold on will close due to no fault of their own," NATO said in a statement June 10.  

The lack of that funding, coupled with the question of whether movie audiences will come back, has made what's usually the busiest season of the year an increasingly anxious time.  

"The fear of even surviving is very real," Rouman said. 

Contact Chris Foran at chris.foran@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cforan12.