The eight-screen movie theater, built with $4.6 million in public money, has been closed for more than two years since United Artists backed up a truck and moved out in the middle of the night in January 2000.

Forest City Enterprises Inc., which owns the Pavilion and leases the ground from the city's redevelopment agency, has been negotiating with CineLux Theatres, which planned to open an eight-screen cineplex on the property located between First and Second streets along Paseo de San Antonio.

However, the theater chain told the city last week that it was withdrawing from the project, after lease negotiations became too complex. One of the chain's major concerns was that the city planned to limit its screenings to only big-budget, first-run fare, so that the multiplex and the existing Camera Cinemas would not compete for the same movies. This would have limited the theater's opportunities for profit.