By the time the new Nitehawk Cinema opens in Park Slope early next year, many essentials will have been brought in: new air-conditioning, heating, electricity, plumbing, as well as Kona, the bedbug-sniffing dog.

About a month ago, the chocolate Labrador gave the Pavilion, the much-neglected movie theater at 188 Prospect Park West, a clean bill of health. For years, moviegoers had complained of sticky floors, mismanagement and, yes, bedbugs. But there were die-hard Pavilionites, some of whom even visited with their own plastic seat covers.

“It just went further and further downhill,” said Matthew Viragh, who once lived near Grand Army Plaza and frequented the place. “You got more and more surprised every time you came in. Just going through the space after it closed, the neglect in all corners was incredible.”