Secret Cinema, a long-running staple of the Maple Theater, returns in a new location

The Maple Theater may be closed, but Secret Cinema is returning for at least one more journey into the cinematic unknown.

The series — a programming staple at the Maple, for which audiences didn't know what movie they were seeing until the feature started rolling — returns at 7:30 p.m. April 18 at the Riviera Cinema in Farmington Hills. It's the first Secret Cinema showing since Riviera owner Jon Goldstein, who also owned the Maple, closed the doors to the long-running Bloomfield Township movie house in February.

"I decided I wanted to keep Secret Cinema going," says Goldstein. "I just don't know how I'm going to do it."

Goldstein says he's going to take the opportunity to talk to and listen to fans about what they want from the series, which shows classic films separated into two categories, Old Hollywood and New Hollywood, with 1967 as the fluctuation point. A discussion of the film follows the screening.

And he figures he'll take a fair amount of questions regarding the closing of the Maple, the beloved three-screen cinema that he closed after 47 years in business, the last 12 of which were under the stewardship of him and his wife, Lauren.

"I know things abruptly changed at the Maple and no one really got a chance to ask questions," he says, "so I feel like I want to give them that opportunity to do so."

Goldstein says the closing of the theater was incredibly difficult, but it was a business decision that needed to be made. "We put 12 years into it and we loved every minute of it," he says. He says it was very "emotionally profitable" but no longer financially so, and warm feelings don't pay the bills.

He's still hoping someone swoops in and saves the theater. But for now he's turning his attention elsewhere, and he's hoping he can breathe new life into Secret Cinema, which he says he wants to improve going forward.

Whether that means a new permanent home for the series or different types of films or repeating films that have already been played, everything is on the table. That includes the frequency of the program as well, which used to run bi-monthly at the Maple.

"I'm going to listen," Goldstein says. "That's something I've learned in life, is you don't always have to have a set plan. With Secret Cinema, I'm just dealing with it as hey, we're going to do it, and I'm going to get the feedback from it, and I'm going to better decide what the next step is. Instead of making up my mind now and saying, 'This is what I'm going to do,' I'm going to talk to people, gather information and data, and make a decision based off of that."

So far, reception has been strong: The showing is 70% sold out with two weeks to go before showtime. Not bad for a movie that is so secret that Goldstein isn't even sure what he's going to show yet.

New Hollywood? Old Hollywood? Comedy? Drama? French New Wave? Says Goldstein, "I'm still trying to figure it out."

agraham@detroitnews.com