One of downtown Providence’s largest entertainment sites is expected to close its doors this winter.
Showcase Cinemas at Providence Place Mall will shut down by Jan. 31, 2026, after its parent company, National Amusements, chose not to renew the movie theater’s lease.
The departure comes amid financial struggles for Providence Place. The mall entered receivership in October 2024 after private lenders alleged that the owner, Brookfield Properties, defaulted on a $305 million loan issued in 2011. In October 2024, the mall still owed approximately $259 million.
In a Sept. 19 motion, court-appointed receiver Mark Russo asked the Providence County Superior Court for permission to end the lease ahead of schedule and begin searching for a new operator. Russo also requested to retain the movie theater’s equipment and furniture while they conduct the search.
Russo did not respond to The Herald’s requests for comment.
Showcase opened its doors in April 2000, about eight months after Providence Place began welcoming shoppers. The 16‑screen complex, complete with an IMAX auditorium, became a go‑to destination for many Brown students looking for an accessible walk downtown, especially because the large cinema possesses a broader selection than Avon Cinema on Thayer Street.
“I was heartbroken,” said Carter Via ’28, who regularly visited Showcase with friends during his first year at Brown. “We had a lot of fun watching all the films, and we still kind of reference the films that we watched there to this day. So I would say it was pretty formative during the freshman experience for us.”
“There’s just something different about going in person and watching (a movie) with a collection of strangers all in one room,” Via added.
Providence Place, once a jewel of the Rhode Island retail experience, has seen a steady decline in foot traffic and anchor tenants in recent years.
Theaters nationwide have also faced financial headwinds, as streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have influenced consumer behavior. A September survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 75% of U.S. adults have streamed a new release at home rather than in a theater over the past year.
Still, students say the Showcase experience is difficult to replicate.
“It’s been there my whole life,” said Zacharia Posternak ’28, who grew up close to Providence.
Posternak added that theaters help keep audiences more engaged during the viewing experience. “When you watch something at home, it’s so much easier to gloss over and not catch the fine details,” he said.
Andrew Kim ’27, a member of Brown Motion Pictures and the Ivy Film Festival programming team, said he saw the “Demon Slayer” movie at Showcase two times this fall.
“The first time I watched it, I was sitting in the IMAX screening, and it was huge,” Kim said. “I felt (that) I was immersed in the movie. … I was with all my friends, and it was so good that I had to go a second time.”
“To see this place close is very sad,” he added.
Kim said he hopes a smaller or locally owned operator eventually takes over the space. While “big theater companies” like AMC Theatres are “relatively good,” Kim added, he likes the Avon because it “doesn’t feel very corporate.”
A new operator has not yet been named. But for some students, the theater’s closure feels like one more sign of how shared rituals are giving way to convenience.
“It almost is reflective of the advancement in technology,” Via said. Losing “the cinema is one part of that larger whole of losing these in-person experiences, now that there’s a lot of technology available to us.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated quotes from Carter Via, Zacharia Posternak and Andrew Kim. The article has been updated to accurately reflect Via’s sentiments on watching films in his first year and on technology advancements, Posternak’s thoughts on Showcase Cinemas and Kim’s preferences for the theater’s next operator. The Herald regrets these errors.
