'A big hit to the community': Historic San Francisco movie theater closes permanently FacebookTwitterEmail The CinéArts at the Empire Theatre in 2009.Kevin Y./Yelp One of San Francisco’s historic movie theaters has closed permanently, felled by the pandemic, KQED reported. The CinéArts at the Empire movie theater first opened in 1925 as the Portal Theatre. It only had one screen back then, like many other theaters that opened at the time. The cinema would see several name changes throughout the years, becoming the Empire in 1936 and then CinéArts at the Empire after Cinemark acquired the property. The theater was an important part of the West Portal neighborhood and beyond. For many residents in the area, it was their local cinema and a community gathering space. On Halloween, for instance, the theater would join other businesses on the block to offer candy for young trick-or-treaters.