Press

1919 New construction of a “residential building with cinema”.
1920 04.09. ceremonial opening of the cinema at Antonplatz with 700 seats and under the name Decla-Lichtspiele.
1921 After the merger of Decla and UFA, the name was changed to UFA-Theater.
1929 Conversion to sound film.
1945 Expropriated by UFA. Takeover by Soyuzintorgkino. Closure due to its dilapidated condition (seating and technical equipment plundered in winter).
1947 Takeover of the cinema from private investor Bendel as tenant, complete renovation.
1948 Christmas reopening with 628 seats and the name Toni Film-Bühne.
1954 Installation of the neon sign.
1956 Withdrawal of the premiere right by the magistrate (drastic decline in attendance).
1966 Conversion to Cinemascope film format.
1979 The Toni cinema is closed by the State Building Inspectorate (the last private cinema tenant in East Berlin gives up). Takeover by the city council, managed by the Berlin District Administration.
1980 Start of extensive reconstruction work.
1982 Reopening with 277 seats on July 23, a spacious foyer with cloakroom, new neon sign, and the name KINO TONI.
1992 Sale of the “residential building with cinema” to the director Dr. Michael Verhoeven.
1996 Renovation and expansion of the cinema while operating at limited capacity. A three-week hiatus will be required to install state-of-the-art technology and comfortable seating.
1997 January 22 – grand reopening of the KINO TONI with two screens: TONI with 275 seats and TONINO with 102 seats.
2007 July 9 – a fire destroyed the small TONINO cinema.
2008 January 26 – The grand reopening of the completely redesigned auditorium, including new technology, took place. The large TONI cinema was reduced in size by 20 seats to provide more comfort.
2012 Conversion of the large TONI hall to digital projection.
2013 Conversion of the 2nd hall TONINO to digital projection.
2018 The cinema at Antonplatz 1 will be leased to the independent Berlin distributor Neue Visionen. Iris Praefke and Wulf Sörgel will be the tenants and operators of the cinemas. Both also operate the Moviemento and Central cinemas, among others.