Paramount Pictures is reopening the Bay Theater in Pacific Palisades as a luxury dine-in cinema, taking over the lease from Netflix at the fire-damaged Palisades Village shopping center.
The Skydance-owned studio plans to upgrade the theater with new projection systems and in-seat food and drink service, the Los Angeles Times first reported Oct. 13. The theater has been closed since the January 2025 Palisades fire.
The Lot, a La Jolla-based luxury dine-in theater chain with four California locations, will operate the venue. Paramount plans to screen first-run movies from all studios, not just its own.
Rick Caruso, founder and executive chairman of the real estate firm Caruso, which owns Palisades Village, said the theater is expected to reopen later this year. He declined to share terms of the long-term lease. Paramount declined to comment on the size of its investment.
Caruso called the theater's return "a great signal for all of L.A.," adding that the comeback would be "much greater than the setback" of the January 2025 fire.
The deal grew out of a lunch Caruso had last year with David Ellison, chief executive of Skydance, while Ellison was still working to acquire Paramount. The two discussed Ellison's belief in the importance of movie theaters to the industry.
Ellison said in a statement that Paramount was proud to help bring the Bay Theater back to life as a gathering place for the Pacific Palisades community.
Netflix had leased the Bay Theater since 2021, using it for special events, classic-film screenings and showcases of its original movies. Caruso described Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos as "incredible stewards" of the theater.
The theater has sat dark since the fire.
Palisades Village itself reopened Aug. 15 after more than $100 million in renovations to address fire damage and potential contaminants. About 70% of shops and restaurants were back in business at reopening, with roughly one-third new tenants.
According to Corinne Verdery, chief executive of Caruso's real estate company, 99% of the mall was leased, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. Opening day drew more than three times the foot traffic the center saw before the fire.
The Bay Theater announcement landed a week after Paramount completed its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The combined company, now called Skydance, must release at least 30 films a year under a settlement with 12 state attorneys general over antitrust claims tied to the merger.
Studios were barred from owning theaters for decades under the Paramount consent decrees, which a federal judge terminated in 2020. Adolfo Fastlicht, founder and chief executive of the Lot, said his company is eager to welcome Pacific Palisades residents back to the movies.
