Burton Theatre closing it's doors. Long live the Burton!

In a major blow to film lovers and to anyone who believes in the viability of the art scene in Detroit, The Burton Theatre is ceasing operations at it's Cass Corridor location, effective immediately. Over the last two years the inventive, relentlessly plucky dudes behind the upstart cinema in the old Burton International School had been programming a truly unique slate of cult, indie, documentary, shorts, foreign and miscellaneous film oddities, and building a small, loyal following. Sadly, it just wasn’t enough, and an apparent dispute with the landlord has left the theatre’s future in limbo. More info to follow as the story develops, but here’s the letter from the Burton staff:

"Dear Friends and Patrons,

It has been a pleasure to serve you over the past two years and it is with heavy hearts we must inform you that effective immediately, the Burton Theatre is ceasing operation at the 3420 Cass Avenue location.

It has been a great honor and a privilege to bring you carefully curated film offerings at the Theatre and we look forward to being able to serve you again in the coming months. During this difficult time, we ask for your patience as we work towards resuming our regular operations.

We have existed for the past two years entirely because of your tremendous support and faith in our mission. It is our honest belief that Detroit needs and deserves the variety of interesting works we have strived to show. We can no longer do that at The Burton School, but we assure you that our story is not yet over. We are committed to this community and will do everything in our power to open our doors once again, strengthened by the ideas you have all so graciously shared with us.

We will be sending out information to our members in the coming weeks, and will work tirelessly to ensure that the events already planned will be reworked, promoted, and produced. However tired this platitude may seem, we truly believe that "The Show Must Go On!"

We offer our genuine thanks for everything you have done for us over the years. We cannot express enough the gratitude and love we feel for you: the community, the film afficionados, and the cineastes.

Cheers

Matthew, Nathan, David, and Jeff

The Burton Theatre"