The Cinerama Dome Is Set to Reopen in 2028

For years, the Cinerama Dome has stood on Sunset Boulevard as one of Hollywood's most recognizable landmarks — and one of its saddest ones, dark and empty since the pandemic forced its closure. That's finally about to change.

A Landmark That's Been Dark for Years

The Cinerama Dome opened on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood in November 1963 and quickly became a cultural fixture, celebrated for a geodesic design distinctive enough to earn it official protected status as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument by the late 1990s.

Built specifically to showcase widescreen Cinerama films, the Dome was part of a broader design movement that briefly aimed to construct similar theaters around the world. But the theater went dark in 2020 alongside the rest of the ArcLight Cinemas chain, which shut its doors permanently the following year.

Despite periodic reopening announcements that repeatedly stalled in the years since, the Dome sat empty far longer than most fans ever expected.

Sony and Alamo Drafthouse Step In

The wait now finally has an end date. Sony Pictures Entertainment, which owns Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, has announced plans to restore the Cinerama Dome and reopen it in early 2028. Alamo Drafthouse will take over operation of both the massive, 86-foot-wide curved dome theater and the adjacent 14-screen multiplex next door — the same complex previously run by ArcLight Cinemas before its collapse.

Sony's involvement traces back to 2024, when the studio began investing directly in movie exhibition by acquiring Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas outright. That acquisition has now positioned Sony to take on one of Hollywood's most symbolically significant restoration projects, rather than leaving the Dome's fate to smaller operators the way earlier, unsuccessful reopening attempts had.

What Will — and Won't — Change

The project is being framed as a careful restoration rather than a full reinvention. Plans call for preserving the Dome's distinctive geodesic exterior and its large signature logo, both of which have defined the Hollywood skyline since the theater first opened. Inside, though, the Dome will diverge from Alamo Drafthouse's typical format: unlike most of the chain's locations, the Dome itself won't include in-theater dining.

The neighboring 14-screen complex will, matching Alamo's standard approach — though the chain has faced some pushback recently over its shift toward in-seat phone-based ordering in its dining theaters.

Renovation work is expected to begin within weeks and continue through early 2028, giving the project roughly a year and a half of construction before the doors reopen to the public.

Why This Matters to Hollywood

The reopening carries weight well beyond one theater's return. In announcing the plan, Sony leadership emphasized that no other moviegoing destination anywhere carries the same level of affection and cultural history as the Cinerama Dome.

Company executives described the announcement as a meaningful moment not just for Sony, but for the broader film industry and for Los Angeles itself.

That framing arrives at a notable moment for theatrical exhibition more broadly. Alamo Drafthouse leadership pointed to strong recent box office trends as evidence that audiences still want the shared, big-screen experience — a claim that carries extra weight given how uncertain the future of theatrical moviegoing looked in the years right after the pandemic, when landmark venues like the Dome went dark and, in some cases, stayed that way far longer than anyone anticipated.

What Comes Next

With construction slated to start soon and a targeted reopening in early 2028, the Cinerama Dome's restoration is likely to remain a closely watched story throughout the process — not just for longtime fans nostalgic for its distinctive curved screen, but for an industry looking for reassurance that grand, purpose-built movie palaces still have a place in how people choose to watch films.