Times Cinema Sets Grand Opening for Friday

The long-awaited reopening of the Times Cinema is scheduled for Friday night, with some interesting, exotic and downright scandalous plans for the evening.

The Times will show "Django Unchained" at 7:30 p.m., but a red carpet will be rolled out for guests at 6 p.m.

The Times, a property of Neighborhood Theater Group, which also owns the Rosebud Cinema, promises paparazzi from "Hush Hush Magazine," "The New York Tattler" and the "Hollywood Journal-Star." Guests can meet and greet starlet "Marylin Monrovia" – and snap some pictures in front of the celebrity wall before settling in for the first-run feature showing.

If you've never been to the Times, it's at 5906 W. Vliet St., but you can also just look to the sky – there will be searchlight beacons you can home in on.

Warning: "Django Unchained" is a first-run movie and not the standard "classics" fare of the familiar old Times – the movie is R-rated for violence and adult content. Those under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

For updates and ticket availability, see the theater group's Facebook page.

The Times and Rosebud were both closed in late February when the former owner ran into financial difficulties, then were sold in foreclosesure in a sheriff's sale.

Financier Lee Barczak bought both cinemas out from under their bank and vowed to reopen them before summer's end.

The Rosebud did open before that deadline, but the Times was put on hold.

Traditionally, the Rosebud has shown first-run movies in its drafthouse-lounge atmosphere, while the Times has shown classics in traditional movie-house seating. Barczak said when he bought the neighborhood theaters that he would stay with that plan, but it remains to be seen whether that's entirely true, after reopening with a titillating new title.