Sonoma’s Prime Cinema to close

Prime Cinemas Sonoma, the nine-screen multiplex movie theatre in Fiesta Plaza, will close permanently on April 1, its owners announced today. Brian and Katherine Young re-opened took over the closed business in the Spring of 2021, but could not make a go of it in post-Covid. 

“We took over with the hopes that the industry would bounce back,” the Youngs said in a statement released today. “Unfortunately, with the studios not immediately releasing their best  films and the movie-going public only returning to watch movies at about 50% of pre-Covid levels, this was not enough to sustain this theater.  

The Youngs thanked David Corkill, who had been the operator of Cinema West, for helping to provide first run movies in the Sonoma/Boyes Hot Springs community for the past 29 years. “This theater has literally provided hundreds of first jobs to young people and we know many memories have been made here,” according to the Youngs. “Sadly, the community will have to travel a little further now to watch  the latest Hollywood releases as the space will no longer function as a movie theater.”

All gift cards and passes will be honored up until the last day on Sunday, April 2

“Thank you to everyone who came out to help us try and save the Sonoma 9 theater. We appreciate you  and your love of movies on the big screen.”