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For decades, the Cinemark Century 16 theater along Shoreline Boulevard in Mountain View has been a popular destination for movie-goers. It now appears that the cineplex will soon close its doors, although Cinemark has not confirmed the decision.
News of the potential closure spread quickly on Nextdoor over the weekend after a movie-goer posted that he could not reserve a ticket past Sept. 24.
When a Voice reporter stopped by Cinemark Century 16 on Monday afternoon, three employees told her that the movie theater would close Sept. 24. One of the employees said she could not comment further because Cinemark had not yet released an official statement.
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Cinemark did not respond to multiple requests from the Voice to confirm the closure.
Several movie-goers Monday afternoon expressed dismay about the possibility of the theater shutting down.
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” said Michelle Watson, a Mountain View resident who was exiting the nearly empty lobby with her husband. “We love having a theater nearby, but we don’t come that often.”
For years, a developer has been looking to turn the Cinemark Century 16 site into a major housing complex. It isn’t clear whether the reported closure later this month is tied to these development plans.
Syufy Enterprises, a Marin-based entertainment and leisure company, has proposed razing the nearly 16-acre movie theater site, located at 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., to make way for a cluster of eight residential buildings wrapped around a park. Dubbed the Shoreline Gateway project, the buildings range from nine to 15 stories, according to a recent city development update.
Currently, the cineplex is surrounded by one- and two-story office buildings, including some Google properties. There are also several restaurants and bars, an upscale hotel and the Computer History Museum nearby.
Syufy’s original application was submitted as a builder’s remedy project three years ago, at a time when Mountain View had missed the deadline to get its housing element certified by the state. Under California law, builder’s remedy projects can skirt local zoning regulations and development standards, as long as a certain portion of the units are affordable for lower-income households.
For the Shoreline Gateway project, the developer plans to construct 1,914 residential units, with 13% of those set aside as affordable units, according to the city update. The developer is taking advantage of changes in state law that could make this possible, Diana Pancholi, the city’s principal planner, told the Voice.
For other builder’s remedy projects in Mountain View, developers have designated 20% of the units as affordable for lower-income households.
The Shoreline Gateway project would also include retail, restaurants and a fitness center, as well as new streets and a public open space area, according to the plans. Currently, the project is undergoing environmental review by the city, Pancholi said.
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Rumors fly about potential closure of Mountain View's Cinemark Century 16 movie theaterSeptember 1, 2026 7:04 pm
I saw a movie there today, and several employees seemed to believe that they would be unemployed very soon. That seems to confirm the “rumor”.
I emailed corporate and they confirmed via email Century 16 is closing after September 26. Easy for you to do the same. Happy to post their response if you allow uploads.
I’m going to the Century 16 tonight. I will truly miss that place. A project including 15% “affordable housing” or less is a real joke. That’s hardly anything. That’s a handful of apartments and they will make a tremendous amount of money from this project. That’s how they can get away with it. What they offer as “affordable housing” is not affordable at all. We’re talking approximately $2000 a month for a studio apartment. And the state of California says that they don’t have to provide parking for “affordable housing” if the apartments are within a mile of a major mass transit stop. There are no mass transit stops within a mile of the Century 16. I know because I tried to get there by mass transit. The California lawmakers who voted for this ruling were not thinking. I heard a developer say at a Mountain View City council meeting (in reference to a project on San Antonio Road) that the tenants will just “have to get rid of their cars “. I don’t know how anyone without a car can travel from that site to anywhere in Mountain View. Even local buses, such as the 21, don’t run after 9 PM. It’s a sad day for moviegoers. At least there is the Alamo Drafthouse on California Street.
100% sadness. What a shame and a loss. Where is one supposed to go watch a movie on a true “big screen” with “big sound” around in Silicon Valley?
Literally, this is where I take my loved one when they’re own and they get a pick me up from the whole movie experience.
We have lost the Palo Alto CineArts and the Menlo Park Guild Theater movie screens in (fairly) recent years as well.
Sorry, but Redwood City is kind of scary, and Sunnyvale’s theater is fairly depressing.
The Drafthouse (former ICON) theater has small screens and seating at HORRIBLE angles that destroy the neck, so uncomfortable and a miserable setup; it’s like nobody who cares or has any pull there ever tried to sit in that setup when it was designed or built or in the subsequent years.
Yes, Mountain View Shoreline Century 16 Cinema has had its share of problems: form the “moths” flying around every show, to the “A/C damp smell” that plagued some houses for awhile, to the broken/worn/off-kilter seats spread throughout the houses…
But you could GO and WATCH a big movie on a big screen with big sound, in an otherwise pretty great theater setup. Not too depressing. Not too scary. Not too small. Not designed/built by amateurs.
What are we to do? Maybe Santa Clara or Cupertino has something…
Uh, sunnyvale just built new theatres 3 years ago.
Thank you. That must be “AMC Sunnyvale 12”. (I must have been thinking of Sunnyvale’s “AMC Mercado 20”). Will have to try it. Thanks for the tip.
This makes no sense to me since there is already so much razed land in the area. The Landings area which has been razed for years could/should be developed instead of razing a facility that is still in use. Cinemark and Sports Page still do business. Raze the next door buildings (where the Laser Quest and billiard hall used to be) first and build that out.
The problem with what you suggest is that the owners of the theatre area do not own the Landings area land, they own the land mentioned in the article, nearly 16 acre plot, and that is where they can build their planned project, on their land. Also, they do not own the land where Laser Quest, Gold’s Gym etc., are sitting empty for many years. I feel that the razed land, so, so many trees were destroyed, cement laid down, then BOOM, it is ripped up and that area sits like something damaged by a fire, but I guess money gives them that right. Also, they tore down the house and apartment building on 1851 Charles, the mini farm that was the last one left from the history of North Bayshore, and that now sits stripped, destroyed for a parking lot supposedly. Google will build, I realize they own the lands out here, where I also live and have no say, but I am afraid of losing the beautiful coastal redwood groves still on Huff Avenue, Alta Avenue, and Joaquin Road. After being out here, when there were so many of those trees (all doing fine), for 16 years I have watched them die off in planned building areas, and be removed seemingly without much care. And now I do NOT trust Google’s to abide to their past motto any more, the one that said “Don’t be evil” because I feel uncomfortable with a large corporation that will change the name of a gulf and lake immediately, to please the whim of a bad man IMO. Seems money and power go against that forgotten motto, “Don’t be evil”.
I’d be more sad if the movie-going experience hadn’t degraded so much. When I went to see Project Hail Mary there earlier this year, I showed up 10 minutes after the movie time hoping to miss the ads and at least some of the previews. No such luck! There were more ads interspersed with previews for at least another 10-15 minutes. In the old days at least the ads were just static slides you could sort of ignore, and once the previews started, there were no more ads and the number of previews was not excessive.
I just wonder if Cinemark will continue with a theater at this location after construction is all done. I have been attending movies at this Century theater since it opened in 1982 or 1983. In 1984, I brought two nephews here to watch an animated movie, one nephew was 2, his brother was 4. And now they are 44 and 46 years old. But back then there were only 10 screens…eventually they upgraded to 16 screens.