On February 28, after 20 years of being a community staple for first dates, Super Tuesday regulars, and movie fanatics alike, CWTheaters (previously called CinemaWorld) was forced to shut its doors for good. The decline of the theater began in July of 2025, when the small theater company that owns CWTheaters, Starr, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, due to a steadily decreasing customer base after the COVID-19 pandemic. It seemed the theater was doing everything in its power to prevent shutting its doors for good – funds were reorganized, and staff condensed to a skeleton crew. But the efforts weren’t enough. It wasn’t until February 23 that all Lincoln CWTheaters employees – including the general manager – were notified that the theater would be shutting down permanently that weekend. With only five days’ notice for the closure of the theater, dozens of hardworking people – many of whom had been loyally working there for years – were left suddenly without jobs.
However, it wasn’t just the employees who were hurt by the theater’s closure. Shortly after the theater made its public announcement, hundreds of locals headed to see a film on CWTheaters’ silver screen one last time. Patrons gathered in the auditoriums and posed for photos – popcorn in hand – to commemorate the end of an era. All the while, over a hundred former employees joined a Facebook group dedicated to the CWTheaters’ legacy and proceeded to relish in memories of the theater by sharing stories about their time spent working there. A controversial “create joy” photo wall was reflected on by former CWTheaters employee, Jim Halloran, in a post saying, “…I remember when I had this wall go up, the company was trying to force a create joy culture that was so contrived. Every time I walked by it, I wanted to rip those letters off the wall. Little did I know years later, on the last day, there would be generations of staff huddled around it recalling times gone by. Today was the first time I smiled looking at this wall. You all created a real culture that many companies try to manufacture with so much time and money…” Another former employee, Daisy Childs Bonilla, credits CWTheaters in a post for introducing her to her lifelong best friend.
Overall, the public’s reaction made it clear that CWTheaters was more than just a cinema; it was a place for community, art, and nostalgia to join together and create something special. I believe one of the things that contributed to making CWTheaters so special was the fact that it was one of the few movie theaters in RI not owned by a large chain. The smallness of the company made the theater feel intimate and one-of-a-kind, allowing it to have its own image in a sea of cookie-cutter cinemas such as Apple Cinemas and Showcase Cinemas. Because of this, CWTheaters was able to host unique events such as Sing-a-long and Pajama Showings, and Kid’s Fest in the summer.
While saddening, this closure is only one in a line of recent theaters around RI. Within the last six years, RI has seen multiple movie theaters shut down, such as East Providence 10 on Newport Ave in East Providence, Showcase Cinemas on Route 6 in Seekonk, Showcase Cinemas in the Providence Place Mall (however, this location was quickly bought out by Apple Cinemas), and now, CWTheaters in the Lincoln Mall. With theaters closing doors left and right around here, could we be looking towards the end of movie theaters in RI?
The rise of streaming may be to blame for more and more of these movie theaters being forced to close down. Blockbusters that would have attracted crowds in the past, are now being released directly onto streaming services. A data analysis by Pew Research Center that came out on March 6 of this year reported that only half of Americans said they went to see a movie in theaters in the past year – about a 20% decrease from pre-COVID reports.
To put it simply: people aren’t going to the movies like they used to. Most Americans are choosing to consume film from the comfort of their couch, leaving the tradition and event of seeing a movie on the big screen in the past. However, there appears to be a bright side to the data: the younger generations are still the largest percentage of people seeing movies in theaters. There is a newfound appreciation for third-spaces, like movie theaters, because of this recent scarcity. With reactions to the closures of movie theaters being so sentimental, there might still be hope for in-person cinema in the future.
Sources
fb.com/groups/3876407342660298
pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/06/as-the-academy-awards-approach-a-look-at-moviegoing-habits-in-the-united-states/