Mr. Johnson recalled seeing art films at niche theaters such as Lincoln Plaza or the Thalia on the Upper West Side, which closed in 1987. “You could go to the movie theater and experience something larger than life,” he said.

Allan Sigall, 68, of Brooklyn said he often checks the newspaper to see what is playing at Lincoln Plaza. He pulled out a copy of the Saturday New York Times and pointed to the theater’s advertisement.

“I have eclectic taste,” Mr. Sigall said. “Most movies aren’t made for people my age.”

The rise of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon has threatened not just art-house movie theaters but mainstream ones as well. Ivan Tabarez, the assistant manager at Lincoln Plaza, said he was not surprised the theater would be closing.

“You work here long enough and you see how things are going,” said Mr. Tabarez, 28, who started at the theater 10 years ago. “Younger folks are not really into it. They’re more into ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Iron Man.’”

Mr. Talbot seemed to recognize the decline of interest in art films several decades ago: In an interview with The Times in 1973, he said there had once been close to 600 art houses around the country devoted to foreign films and that number had dropped almost to zero.

“They’ve gone over to the commercial product,” he said at the time. “They play what’s box office.”

On Saturday, Ms. Talbot said Lincoln Plaza’s mission had been the opposite: “We often will play a film that we know has no, quote, commercial value, but we admire it and respect it and would like to share it with our audience,” she said.

Moviegoers increasingly want “the experience,” Mr. Tabarez said, such as reclining seats and huge screens. “We don’t have that stuff,” he said. “Here, it’s all about the movie.”