Regal Hampton Bays bidding farewell to South Fork moviegoers

The credits will roll one final time in Hampton Bays on Thursday before a decades-old movie theater permanently closes.

Regal UA Hampton Bays, the Montauk Highway theater that introduced blockbusters to South Forkers for more than 25 years, will close after its Thursday evening show times, staff confirmed to Newsday.

Through Thursday, the theater will screen "Avatar: Fire and Ash," "Greenland 2: Migration," "The Housemaid," "One Battle After Another," "Sinners" and "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple"

Representatives for Regal did not immediately return requests for comment.

The five-screen, 1,000-seat Hampton Bays theater has been struggling financially for several years, even before Regal Cinemas owner Cineworld Group filed for bankruptcy in 2022, building owner Walter Morris told Newsday. Even after reducing the theater’s rent, Morris said, "they’re just not profitable."

"It’s really just a business decision on their part," Morris, 61, of Huntington, said. "We’re sad to see them go."

Morris said he offered to negotiate an even lower rent for the theater to Regal, which he described as "an excellent tenant."

"They pretty much said at $0 rent, they would be losing money there," he added.

Morris’ building includes Bays Liquors, a Dunkin, Melrose Deli and The Pizza Place. While other tenants are successful, he worries the absence of an "anchor tenant" could impact business. The theater must be completely reconfigured before a tenant that fits the 1,500 square foot space, such as a medical office or supermarket, could take its place.

"When you lose your anchor tenant in this business, that’s hard for everybody," he said. "You’re going to have less traffic coming to the shopping center."

Residents of Hampton Bays and nearby hamlets described the theater as a quaint hometown staple.

"It was a nice little theater," Bob Rubenstein, 66, of East Quogue, said. "Cozy place, pretty clean."

Bobby Zorns, who grew up catching movies at the local Regal, said its closure is "a shame."

"I got to get by there again before they close," Zorns said.

In recent years, Zorns said, he has been more drawn to theaters with larger, heated, reclining seats, compared to the smaller, traditional fold-down theater seats at the Hampton Bays Regal.

"Island 16 has kind of taken over Long Island," Zorns said. "People don’t really go anywhere else because they have the nice seats and stuff like that."

Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore recalled taking her children to the theater.

"It's very disappointing, and I know that the residents in that community are going to be so heartbroken to see it go," Moore said. "But I can also understand from the point of the owner of the property because the movie theater hasn't been making money."

Newsday's Alek Lewis contributed to this story.