The AMC Kips Bay 15, a fixture in Manhattan's Kips Bay neighborhood for nearly three decades, is scheduled to close its doors by the end of 2026. The theater, which opened in 1999 with five screens before relocating to its current 570 2nd Ave location in 2006, will operate until the end of the year.

An AMC employee confirmed the impending closure, stating that no specific date has been set and even theater management has not been informed of their final day of employment. According to ABC News, the property owner is ending the lease before its scheduled expiration, though details are still being finalized.

"The theatre has been an important part of the Kips Bay community and surrounding neighborhoods, providing guests with a place to enjoy the magic of the movies together," a spokesperson for AMC said in a statement.

The closure has sparked a community effort, with a website called Save Kips Bay urging cinephiles to sign a petition to keep the theater open. The website claims that NYU Langone is slated to take over the space, asserting that the neighborhood does not need additional medical facilities. It states that NYU Langone already occupies significant portions of Kips Bay and that the 15-screen AMC theater, which includes the only IMAX on Manhattan's East Side, is reportedly under threat from further NYU medical expansion.

The property owner of the theater is Kips Bay Development Limited Partnership, managed by M.D. Carlisle Construction Corp. Neither NYU Langone nor the property owner has publicly confirmed NYU's involvement with the space.

"Kips Bay did not lose its theater to streaming, or to a bad quarter, or to a landlord who couldn’t fill the space. It lost it because someone decided this block is worth more as something other than a neighborhood," the Save Kips Bay website states.

AMC, the world's largest theater chain with 860 locations globally, has been closing underperforming sites. In February, CFO Sean Goodman reported that the company had shut down 213 locations since 2020 while opening 65 new theaters during the same period. Six theaters have closed since the beginning of 2025.

Moviegoers seeking alternatives can visit nearby AMC locations, including AMC Empire 25 IMAX in Times Square, AMC Lincoln Square, and AMC 34th Street 14.