Cinemas in Nicaragua are popular venues for entertainment. As of 2018, there were 54 screens in Nicaragua, with 39 in the capital city Managua.

History

Cinema in Nicaragua goes as way back as the end of the 19th century, when the first movie projection took place in January 1900 at the prestigious Teatro Castaño in Managua. The first movie theater, Salón de Cine San Jacinto, opened in 1909.

The first sound film projected in Nicaragua, in June 1930, at the Teatro Excélsior in León was The Shopworn Angel, starring Gary Cooper. According to the local newspapers, this significant event was a resounding success for the crowd who witnessed the novelty of motion picture with synchronized sound. A couple of days later the same film was projected at the Teatro Margot in Managua.80 Años de cine sonoro

With the advent of sound film, the number of movie theaters grew, many of them in the cities of Chinandega, Masaya, Granada, Rivas and other cities of the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. The number of weekly projections also increased because of the demand.

The fifties and the sixties are considered the golden age of the movie theaters in Nicaragua. More than 150 movie theaters operated in the country, most of them spread through the most populous neighborhoods of the city of Managua. These cinemas were organized in movie circuits or chains, owned by local entrepreneurs, one of the most popular being Cines RAP, who was later nationalized in the eighties.“Chanito” hizo de su vida toda una aventura

With the 1972 Managua earthquake most of the movie theaters were destroyed or burnt down. Movie theaters like Teatro Ruiz, Alcázar, Cine Blanco, Fénix, San Luis, Cine Tropical, Cine Managua and Cine Bóer disappeared completely. Others, like Teatro González, Cabrera, Dorado and Bello Horizonte, were partially renovated in the following decades and repurposed as evangelical temples, casinos, car parts stores and other small businesses.Las carteleras fueron pulverizadas

In the early days, the films playing in Nicaraguan cinemas were mostly Mexican feature films, losing ground over the years to the mainstream Hollywood films that today dominates the local box office. Nowadays, the only two cinemas that screens particularly classic and art-house films are Cinemateca Nacional and Teatro Justo Rufino Garay.

The majority of the Nicaraguan movie theaters, at least in capital city Managua, operates in major malls and shopping centers and are owned by the three local movie theater chains Alhambra, Cinemas and Siglo Nuevo, and the international Cinemark. As of 2014, one of the oldest movie theaters still in operation is Cine Karawala in the city of Granada.El Cine Hilda es historia

The Teatro Esteli, has begun an extensive restoration process in May 2015, by Alfonso Noel Lovo, grandson of a founding member, Alfonso Lovo Moncada. It will be opened as an art cinema, and event center, as well as a convention center. It will feature, in addition to art cinema, concerts, plays, beauty contests, university conferences, art exhibitions, as cultural center of Esteli, which is the capital of Nicaragua's north, both economically and culturally. It has 430 seats, and will have a gourmet coffee and snack bar in addition to a cigar lounge upstairs overlooking the Parque de la Madre, which is being renovated by City Hall. The Teatro Esteli is an Art Deco style, 70-year-old building and it is considered a relic by the Esteli people.

List of cinemas

Cinema Screens Seats Location Opening dateRemarks Cine KarawalaKarawala unofficial website 2 Granada 1960? Cinemark Metrocentro ManaguaCinemark corporate website 6 Managua 1998Cinemas Bello HorizonteCines Alhambra corporate website6900Managua2006 Cinemas Galerías Santo DomingoCinemas corporate websiteCinemas 10 abriran diez salas de cine 10 1730 Managua 2005Cinemas Masaya4768Masaya2017 Cinemas Plaza Inter 8 Managua 1998Cinemas VIP3 Managua 1997 Cinemateca Nacional de Nicaragua 1 Managua 1979 Justo Rufino Garay 1 150 Managua 1995Nuevo ciclo de cine en el Justo Rufino Garay Siglo Nuevo ChinandegaCines Siglo Nuevo official websiteLa Prensa - Chinandega tendrá cines 3 450 Chinandega 2013 Teatro Estelí 1 494 Estelí 1956 Siglo Nuevo Estelí 2 248Estelí 2014Siglo Nuevo Las Brisas4 Managua2016 Siglo Nuevo León 3 224 León 2000

Gallery

See also

List of Nicaraguan films

References