For five weeks this summer, the marquee on Brand Boulevard did something it hadn't done since 1991: it advertised a movie. Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" opened at the Alex Theatre on July 17, drew crowds strong enough to earn a two-week extension, and closed out its run on August 20. As of this month, the screen has gone quiet again, and the venue has returned to the mix of concerts, comedy, and community bookings that filled its calendar for the past three decades.
That's the part the press releases and the local TV segments covered in July. What they didn't spell out, because it wasn't yet clear, is what happens next. The Alex is a single-screen movie palace with a packed roster of resident companies, and the return of first-run film is a bet the venue places one booking at a time, not a new weekly habit. If you're the kind of Glendale resident who wants to catch the next big release on that screen, the smart move isn't to wait for another announcement. It's to check the calendar yourself, because there's no schedule guaranteeing there will be another one.
A Movie Palace That Skipped a Generation of Movies
The Alex opened in 1925 as a vaudeville and movie house, built with the kind of Greek and Egyptian Revival architecture and Art Deco neon spire that made 1920s picture palaces feel like events in themselves. It ran first-run films through Hollywood's golden decades, then fell into decline in the 1980s. In 1992, the Glendale Redevelopment Agency put roughly $6.2 million into restoring it, and it reopened on New Year's Eve 1993 as a performing arts center rather than a cinema. For the next three decades, it hosted the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, touring comedy, dance, and film festivals, but not first-run studio releases. The last one to play there before this summer was "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," in 1991.
That's a 35-year gap, and it's the number every outlet covering this story led with. What's easy to miss in that framing is that the Alex didn't sit dark for 35 years. It ran a full performing arts season nearly every one of them. The reopening wasn't a venue coming back to life. It was a working, city-owned venue choosing to add something back that it had deliberately let go.
What It Took to Get Back on Screen
Getting a 101-year-old auditorium ready for a modern theatrical release wasn't a matter of just booking a print. Artistic director Miles Williams, who took over the Alex after the pandemic, invested in new 35mm and 70mm film projection systems and upgraded audio, then brought in IMAX projectionist Taylor Umphenour to build a custom projection booth. The first phase also included acoustic paneling to control sound bouncing off the theater's largely hard flooring. A second phase, adding carpeting to further tame the acoustics, hasn't happened yet.
The payoff was immediate. The Alex became the highest-grossing U.S. theater presenting "The Odyssey" in 70mm during its opening run, and according to Williams, the venue represents around 40 percent of all 70mm screening seats in Los Angeles. With a seating capacity of around 1,400, that's a meaningful share of a format that's become a draw in its own right for a generation of moviegoers who, as Williams put it, have "really decided to truly embrace the analog world, including watching movies on film." The film itself wasn't a modest one. By early August, "The Odyssey" had crossed $900 million worldwide and roughly $400 million domestically, three weeks into release.
Williams has done this kind of revival before. Before Glendale, he oversaw the restoration and management of the Orpheum downtown, the United Theater at the Ace Hotel downtown, and the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. He's spent more than three decades in event management, and by his own account, the idea for bringing movies back to the Alex came almost immediately after he arrived.
"When I got to Glendale, almost everyone I met told me that they used to come see the movies here when they were kids."
That's the case for revival: nostalgia with a fan base already built in. It's also, notably, an anecdote about affection for the building, not a commitment to a release calendar.
One Screen, Five Tenants, and a Hope, Not a Promise
Here's the mechanism that separates the Alex from an AMC or an Arclight. A multiplex hedges. If one screen underperforms, six others are still running. The Alex has one screen, and that screen already belongs to five resident companies: the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, the Glendale Youth Orchestra, the Alex Film Society, and the Musical Theatre Guild. Every night the Alex commits to a first-run studio release, it's a night that isn't available for a chorus concert, a youth orchestra recital, or a touring production.
That's not a criticism of the decision. It's the reason Williams' own language about the future is careful. Asked whether more films are coming, he told ABC7 he "hopes it is the first of many films to play at the theater." Hope is doing real work in that sentence. It's not a season announcement. The city's own press release described the comeback as "the beginning of a renewed commitment to cinematic programming," which is a statement of direction, not a fixed calendar. Combine that with a second phase of acoustic renovation that hasn't started yet, and the honest read is that the Alex is testing whether first-run film earns a regular place alongside its existing five tenants, not confirming that it has.
For a resident who wants to catch whatever comes next on that screen, the practical implication is simple: don't wait for the next press release. Check thealex.com directly before making plans, the way you'd check before assuming a favorite restaurant is open on a Monday.
What This Means for Your Next Night on Brand Boulevard
If you're planning an evening downtown this fall, "The Odyssey" is already gone, its run ended August 20 after that extension, so build your night around what's actually on the calendar rather than what made headlines in July. The Alex sits at 216 North Brand Boulevard, close enough to the Americana at Brand that a pre-show walk through the plaza is an easy add before whatever's playing that night, film or otherwise.
For dinner beforehand, the block and its immediate surroundings cover a wide range without requiring a drive. Cavi Sushi, on Brand, does modern rolls and sashimi in a sleek room built for a date-night pace. Epique Restaurant serves Armenian cuisine in a dining room styled after the streets of Yerevan, with a wine list built to match. Panda Inn carries decades of Chinese-American tradition under the same name. Iki Toro focuses on fresh fish, robata grill dishes, and a full bar with a Japanese whiskey selection, for a slower, cocktail-forward evening.
Downtown Glendale runs on more than one clock, and that's worth keeping in mind beyond just theater nights. The Glendale Gateway Certified Farmers Market sets up at 801 North Brand Boulevard every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., a completely different rhythm from the evening arts calendar a few blocks away, and a reminder that this stretch of the city rewards residents who check what's actually happening that week rather than defaulting to habit. If you want the fuller rundown of how the boulevard fills out across a normal week, we mapped that separately in A Week on Brand Boulevard.
The headline from July was that the Alex played a movie for the first time since 1991. The more useful thing to know right now is that it's a working bet, tested one booking at a time against a full performing arts calendar, and the way to catch the next one is to watch for it yourself.
Stories like this are part of what makes Glendale worth paying attention to beyond a single listing or a single season. Thomas Atamian + Associates tracks the details that shape daily life across La Cañada, Pasadena, and Glendale because that's the texture that makes a neighborhood feel like home long after the moving boxes are gone. If you're thinking about your next move in the Verdugo or San Gabriel Valley, request a confidential consultation and let's talk about what fits.
