It became a listed building in 1988 and after being saved from redevelopment, was sold to Apollo Leisure Group and subsequently to the Nederlander Organization.

[3] A three-bay bow window extends the height of the second and third storeys and is surmounted by a sculpture of two gryphons, behind which are three square openings with decorative iron grates.

[6] During the Second World War, the building was damaged in the Blitz; it reopened in 1941, but the organ was not restored until October 1945, when Jackie Brown became resident organist.

[8][9][10] After the war, the carpenter's shop, the upper floors of dressing rooms and the café were converted to office space.

[4][5] The film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific opened on 21 April 1958 and played for four years and 22 weeks, grossing $3.9 million.

Other performers to appear during this era included Duran Duran, Adam and The Ants, Billy Bragg, Bon Jovi, The Boomtown Rats, Boy George, David Bowie, Ian Drury and the Blockheads, Manfred Mann, Ricky Skaggs, Sinead O'Connor, The Stranglers, Thin Lizzy, U2 and Van Morrison.

[4][13] After a legal dispute, Rank sold the theatre to developers who sought to demolish it; in 1988 it became a Grade II listed building, and following protests, a public enquiry halted the demolition in 1990.

[4] Rank leased the theatre back from the developers and then sold it to Paul Gregg's Apollo Leisure Group;[2] in 1992 it was acquired by the New York-based Nederlander Organization, with Apollo Leisure retaining a financial interest and operating the theatre on behalf of Nederlander Dominion Ltd.[15] Since the early 1990s the Dominion has hosted several musicals including a new production of Grease by David Ian and Paul Nicholas, Scrooge: The Musical, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, a return of Grease, and Notre Dame de Paris.

[16] The stage musical We Will Rock You, based on the songs of Queen and created by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor together with British comedian Ben Elton, opened at the Dominion on 14 May 2002.

[4][8][17][18] To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the production, in 2012 the theatre converted an area previously devoted to Judy Garland memorabilia into the Freddie Mercury Suite, which displays pictures from the Queen singer's lifetime.

In 2014, during a 15-week closure after the end of We Will Rock You, both the interior and the exterior were extensively refurbished, including restoring architectural features on the Tottenham Court Road façade, such as the gryphons, which are believed to have been removed in 1932, cleaning and replacing stonework and windows at the rear and updating much of the backstage facilities, including the flying system.

[6] It was purchased by a collector in 2002 and is to form part of the collection of The Music Palace, a museum of cinema organs in Porth.