Nelson Bennett

The largest creditor of the financially beleaguered Baldwin Theater in Los Angeles, Economic Resources Corp. of Lynwood, said it has assumed ownership and management control of the nation's only black-owned theater showing first-run movies. The theater, however, will remain black-owned under Economic Resources, which has invested more than $400,000 in it since opening in 1981. Baldwin was quietly put up for sale last fall after a series of financial and legal setbacks. Deluged With Offers "We were forced to foreclose on our position," said Kenneth T. Lombard, senior vice president at Economic Resources, a nonprofit economic development corporation that has been instrumental in developing an industrial park near Watts.

The largest creditor of the financially beleaguered Baldwin Theater in Los Angeles, Economic Resources Corp. of Lynwood, said it has assumed ownership and management control of the nation's only black-owned theater showing first-run movies. The theater, however, will remain black-owned under Economic Resources, which has invested more than $400,000 in it since opening in 1981. Baldwin was quietly put up for sale last fall after a series of financial and legal setbacks. Deluged With Offers "We were forced to foreclose on our position," said Kenneth T. Lombard, senior vice president at Economic Resources, a nonprofit economic development corporation that has been instrumental in developing an industrial park near Watts.

Since its opening in 1981, the Baldwin Hills Theater in Los Angeles has stood as a symbol of pride to its mostly black patrons and a reminder to the nearby Hollywood entertainment community that black neighborhoods, traditionally under-served by major chains, will support top quality theaters showing first-run films.

Since its opening in 1981, the Baldwin Hills Theater in Los Angeles has stood as a symbol of pride to its mostly black patrons and a reminder to the nearby Hollywood entertainment community that black neighborhoods, traditionally under-served by major chains, will support top quality theaters showing first-run films.

Movie exhibitors from across the country reacted with relief to a screening of director Spike Lee's controversial "Malcolm X" on Thursday, dispelling concerns that the film would have trouble finding its way into theaters. It was the first public reaction to the $35-million Warner Bros. film, which chronicles the life of the slain black nationalist leader. "Malcolm X" is set to open Nov. 20.

There will be free movies for the rest of the week in one part of riot-ravaged Los Angeles, thanks to the African-American owners of the Baldwin Hills Entertainment Complex and the distribution arms of Paramount, Universal and Walt Disney studios. Beginning Wednesday at noon, operators of the three-theater Baldwin, 3741 S. La Brea Ave., said they are scheduled to show "Beauty and the Beast," "Wayne's World" and "Beethoven" in the afternoon through Sunday. The complex will be closed at night.

Movie exhibitors from across the country reacted with relief to a screening of director Spike Lee's controversial "Malcolm X" on Thursday, dispelling concerns that the film would have trouble finding its way into theaters. It was the first public reaction to the $35-million Warner Bros. film, which chronicles the life of the slain black nationalist leader. "Malcolm X" is set to open Nov. 20.

An eight-screen movie theater complex originally scheduled to open this spring at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall will be delayed and could be in jeopardy. The $5.7-million project was announced in September, with the city agreeing to contribute $2 million. The other $3.7 million was to come from mall developer the Alexander Haagen Co. and Inner City Cinemas, a joint venture between the American Multi-Cinema Inc. chain and the Lynwood-based Economic Resources Corp.

It once was thought "Menace II Society" was a potentially troublesome movie. Now that it's out and playing to full houses without incident, it could be a potential threat to its box-office competition. At some locations, according to distributor New Line Cinema, the L.A. gangbanger movie sold more tickets than either "Cliffhanger" or "Made in America," the country's first and second top-grossing movies over the Memorial Day weekend. It will also go into wider release by this weekend.

Security is being beefed up at the four Edwards movie theaters in Orange County showing "Boyz N the Hood," which deals with teen-age gangs in South-Central Los Angeles. "We're putting five additional security guards on at most of (the) theaters, and in some, four additional security guards," said James Edwards Sr., chairman of the chain where the critically praised film opened Friday. Normally, Edwards said, he employs only one or two guards at each theater.

Owners of the Baldwin Theater, the nation's only African-American owned first-run movie theater, debated a lot among themselves before deciding at the last minute to show "Boyz N the Hood." The film, about growing up strong and smart despite gang pressures and violence in South Central Los Angeles, is by John Singleton, a first-time director.

Mann Theaters has pulled the controversial film "New Jack City" from its Westwood theater after a melee at the movie's premiere Friday night in which hundreds of youths went on a rampage through the streets of Westwood Village, smashing windows, looting stores and vandalizing cars.