UPDATE 9 a.m. Friday: The Tribune’s got a full story about the closure.
UPDATE 4:53 p.m. Thursday: We’ve gotten a comment from Ryan Noonan, AMC director of public relations, who confirms that the theater is closing Thursday:
“AMC continually upgrades the quality of our theatre circuit by adding new screens and by disposing of older screens through closures and sales. We do, however, look at our theatres on an individual basis. AMC Piper’s Alley has been identified as a theatre that no longer competes effectively in the marketplace and will close at the end of business today.”
Say it ain’t so! Thursday may be the last day to catch a flick at Old Town staple Piper’s Alley. Writes Chicagoist:
Rumblings bubbling up on twitter this morning seem to be true, tonight may be the last time for you to catch a movie at Piper’s Alley Theatre. 20 years after Sony signed the original lease in the then-new mall at North and Wells, the theater’s four screens will showcase their familiar art house fare from their digs behind Second City for the last time, at least under the AMC-Loews name. After Loews closed the McClurg Court Cinema and merged with AMC soon afterwards, it had long been assumed that Piper’s was on borrowed time.
Read more: Piper’s Alley Movie Theater to Close its Doors After 20 years: Chicagoist.