Paramount and Caruso Will Reopen Pacific Palisades' Bay Theater

Paramount Pictures and Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso signed a long-term agreement on Tuesday to restore and reopen the Bay Theater in Palisades Village, a Pacific Palisades cinema shuttered since January 2025 wildfires severely damaged the neighborhood.

The Bay, at 1035 N. Swarthmore Avenue, has sat dark for close to a year. Under the deal, The Lot — a luxury dine-in chain with locations in West Hollywood, San Diego, and elsewhere — will handle day-to-day operations. Programming will mix first-run theatrical releases, repertory (re-released classic) titles, special events, and Paramount-linked premieres.

What's the timeline?

Plans target a grand opening for later this year. The exact date will arrive in coming weeks; Paramount and Caruso haven't disclosed financial terms.

Who is steering the project?

Skydance Chairman and Co-CEO David Ellison framed the partnership as civic-minded. "Together with Caruso, we are proud to help bring the Bay back to life as a place for the Pacific Palisades community to gather around the shared experience of cinema," Ellison said in a statement.

Caruso, who developed Palisades Village as a retail and dining hub, tied the reopening to broader neighborhood recovery. "The Bay has always been at the heart of the Palisades, and its return is one of the most meaningful signs yet that this community, following the reopening of the Palisades Village this summer, is coming back stronger than ever," Caruso said. Ellison and Caruso share "a shared ambition to make it one of Los Angeles' premier moviegoing destinations," he added.

What will the experience look like?

The Lot plans luxury recliner seating, in-theater dining, and a cocktail program — its standard format. Founder and CEO Adolfo Fastlicht called the Bay "a historic and beloved venue" the chain is "incredibly proud" to operate.

Is this part of a wider trend?

The Bay isn't the only comeback in town. Sony is separately helping reopen Hollywood's Cinerama Dome under Alamo Drafthouse, the Austin-based cinema chain that filed for bankruptcy in 2024 before emerging from Chapter 11 (court-supervised debt restructuring) earlier this year. Two shuttered LA cinemas reopening within months reflects studios' growing stake in physical exhibition — the business of putting films in front of paying audiences in theaters — even as streaming services siphon viewers.

What does this change for Pacific Palisades?

It returns a cultural anchor to a block that lost most of its commercial core to the January fires. For residents who've watched demolition and rebuilding crews trade shifts for close to a year, a working moviehouse is both practical entertainment and a quiet vote of confidence in the area's recovery curve.