Concrete is made ready for acclaimed director Ridley Scott who was immortalized in concrete when he placed his hand and foot prints in front of the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California on Wednesday, May 17, 2017.
Acclaimed director Ridley Scott shows off the concrete on his hands. Scott was immortalized in concrete when he placed his hand and foot prints in front of the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California on Wednesday, May 17, 2017.
On Hollywood Boulevard, just past the man with the albino python wrapped around his neck, lies the TCL Chinese Theatre. Four years ago, the iconic landmark received a multimillion dollar makeover to revive its faded beauty, not unlike some of the aging actors who’ve placed their hands and feet in the theater’s cement courtyard.
But Thursday , the majestic movie theater will mark 90 years as the Grand Dame of Hollywood Boulevard, playing host to 20,000 visitors a day from around the globe.
“It’s just like it looks on TV,” marveled Jay and Nazira Momin, who were visiting from Atlanta.
These days it hosts more than 40 movie premieres a year, and it screens the blockbusters moviegoers can’t wait to see each weekend.
On Wednesday — a day before the theater’s birthday — Harrison Ford stopped by to watch his friend Ridley Scott, who directed him in the 1982 blockbuster “Blade Runner,” press his hands into wet cement. The filmmaker will be immortalized on the walk in front of the Chinese, along with the likes of Groucho Marx, Betty Grable and George Burns, who left an imprint of his famous cigar.
Scott noted how much the somewhat-seedy neighborhood has changed.
Built during the silent- film era, the movie house opened in 1927 as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, named after its founder, Sid Grauman. It became Mann’s Chinese Theatre in 1973, reverted back to its original name in 2001, then took on the moniker TCL Chinese Theatre after naming rights were purchased by the Chinese electronics firm, TCL Corp. in 2013.
Outside the theater Wednesday, tourists were excited to get a glimpse of the landmark and a few real-life movie stars.
“It’s incredible. I saw Harrison Ford just now,” said 14-year-old Eileen Befeler of Costa Rica as her father smiled.
She added that the movie palace was everything she imagined.
Now, Kushner, 35, reports that the TCL Chinese is the largest IMAX theater in the world.
She said she thinks founder Sid Grauman would appreciate the transformation.