The Bruin West Theater Re-Opening In October

EXCLUSIVE: The Bruin Theater in the Westwood neighborhood of LA is coming back with a hopeful re-opening of mid-October thanks to Toronto, Canada based exhibitor Rui Pereira.

Pereira recently signed a lease with the Martyn Skouras family (descendants of Spyros Panagiotis Skouras, the President of 20th Century Fox) who owns the Bruin.

The 1937 born Bruin Theatre closed in July 2024 alongside its historic brethren The Village after Regency Theaters’ lease ended.

Pereira is longtime theater owner in Canada, having operated the Kingsway Theatre for 18 years, and prior to that the 1948-erected Humber Cinema, a former Odeon property, which closed in 2019.

Pereira tells Deadline that the theater is in very good shape. He’s bringing back the 70MM and 35MM projectors and doing some upgrades to the digital projectors. Seats are in good working shape in addition to the screen. His mission is to keep the theater’s originality intact ala his previous properties. “I want to keep the essence of the theater, I don’t want to erase its history or gloss it over,” says Pereira. The one hope down the road is potentially add two screening rooms to the upstairs (15-seat theater venues). He’s already been approached by studios for potential premieres and screenings; hence there’s a chance we could see doors open prior to mid-October for special events. Before the venue opens, you’ll see the marquee lit up at some point with ads for Warner Bros’ Practical Magic 2.

There was buzz for quite some time that Jason Reitman and his filmmaker group were making a go at the Bruin after purchasing The Village, which is set to undergo further restorations. However, we hear that the Bruin wasn’t for sale.

Nonetheless with the Bruin’s expected re-opening, following our news of Sony reviving and re-opening the Cinerama Dome and Arclight for 2028, it’s a good time for cinemas in the City of Angels.