If you’ve been a regular at the Regent Theater at Highland Park Village, today is your last chance to catch a movie there for the near future.

Regent Releasing, the Dallas-based distributor, had been leasing the theater from Henry S. Miller. When the shopping center was sold a few months ago, the lease deal ended. A spokesperson for Regent says that the distributor does not know the future of the theater.

With the theater’s closing, a piece of the local movie landscape is now missing. Regent concentrated on world cinema, bringing some titles to town that didn’t play at the Angelika or Landmark theaters. The Regent also freqently showed gay-themed films.

But the theater also had its problems. On the one hand, who can argue with a theater that serves Paciugo in its lobby? On the other, walking up the stairs to those theaters that time seemed to have passed by got old quick.

I’ll always remember the Regent for the time I stood outside for more than an hour on the coldest night of the year awaiting the arrival of Paris Hilton. The socialite was in town to debut her new film, The Hottie and the Nottie. After chatting up Paris on the red carpet, I could hardly write down any notes my hands were so cold. That was one night when I didn’t mind walking up those stairs into the warm movie theater.

UPDATE: The Park Cities People says the theater will reopen in spring 2010 after undergoing a renovation.