Martin Scorsese Urges Italy’s President and Prime Minister to Save Rome Cinemas From Being Turned Into Malls and Hotels: It’s ‘Utterly Unacceptable’
variety.comNick Vivarelli International Correspondent Martin Scorsese, Jane Campion and Wes Anderson are among the signees of an appeal to stave off the impending threat that a substantial portion of Rome’s movie theaters could be converted into shopping centers and supermarkets under proposed regional legislation.
Alarm over the future of the Eternal City’s cinemas was prompted last month after asset management companies Colliers Global Investors and Wrm Capital won a Rome real estate bankruptcy auction and acquired nine movie theaters for a reported €50 million ($52 million).
Some of these venues, such as the city’s central Cinema Adriano multiplex, are fully operational, while others have long been shuttered.
The person behind the fund is believed to be Italian-British financier Raffaele Mincione. Meanwhile, a new regional piece of legislation is being drafted — and is up for approval this week — that would remove norms that currently prevent Rome movie theaters from being converted into any other type of business besides being a cultural space.
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