Green Acres Cinemas
610 W. Sunrise Highway,
Valley Stream,
NY
11581
610 W. Sunrise Highway,
Valley Stream,
NY
11581
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 97 comments
Chelsearicky… When did “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” play Green Acres in 70mm?
For many years this was my favorite theater outside of Manhattan. Saw so many of my favorites here: ‘The Great Escape’, ‘The Miracle Worker’, ‘Doctor Zhivago’, ‘West Side Story’…..too many to remember. The last films I remember seeing here prior to its being converted to a triplex were 70MM presentations of ‘Poltergeist’, ‘Gandhi’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’.
Only film I ever saw there was a revival of Gone With the Wind. And true to the name the marquee signboard had blown off in a windstorm.
Never saw a film here once it was triplexed. I saw all those films you mentioned at this theater as well. But not The Right Stuff it seems! Jury is still out about Evil Dead.
The few films I saw there when it was a single screen, Ghandhi, For Your Eyes Only, Victor Victoria and Death Wish 2. Saw many films when it was a triplex and a sixplex
I guess perhaps I have! It has been nearly 40 years, and the both theaters were down the road from each other. Thinking back in my mind’s eye, I suppose the theater where I saw the Right Stuff was a bit smaller than the Green Acres would have been (I remember because I was a third wheel on that particular night, and after the movie we grabbed a bite at Red Lobster). The other films I mentioned were definitely here at the Century’s Green Acres. Ridethectrain, I have a similar memory of seeing Evil Dead at the Green Acres, then chowing down at Red Lobster afterward. Am I also wrong about that one?
So take that, Ed…! You’ve been schooled.
The Right Stuff played at the Sunrise Cinema in 70MM, never played at the Green Acres
We had a Century Theater in Paramus NJ where I’ve posted. It was a beauty just like this one. But unfortunately it was twinned in the very early 70s so I only saw very few films when it was single screen. It was split down the middle so you were watching a small screen from the side. Kind of like the Quad in Manhattan but at least there you were looking at the screen head on. It was a very sad harbinger of things to come when showmanship began to be discarded. But you hardly needed showmanship for a lot of the films they began making in the 70s. That died out with Oliver and Funny Girl.
The opening film at the original Green Acres in 1961 was “Gone With the Wind,” in a revival keyed to the “Civil War Centennial.” Ad displayed here
Loved this theater when it was a single screen. Super big screen and great sound. Saw a few Bond films here, all 3 Sensurround movies, Lion Of The Desert with Anthony Quinn, The Right Stuff, Tess, a double bill of Animal Crackers and WC Feilds & Me, and several others. It was first rate theater back then!
I bet when it was open, it was the place to be!?
Grand opening ad:
Century’s Green Acres opening 15 Sep 1961, Fri Newsday (Nassau Edition) (Hempstead, New York) Newspapers.com
Please update total seats 1471 six cinemas based on National Amusements timetable, became a triplex on December 14, 1983 and finally six screens on June 22, 1988 (downstairs 3 screens and the remaining 3 screens upstairs a month later).
June 22, 1988 with Who Frammed Roger Rabit. Theatre 4, 5 and 6 a month later
Good grief, that Olive Garden has been open for years already…
It re-opened as a sixplex but Cineplex Odeon opened a few screens while work was still going on in the others.
A Italian restaurant(Olive Garden) is being built on this site.
Reopened by Cineplex Odeon(date unknown?)(3 screens?) with “Who framed Roger Rabbit”, “Licence to drive” and “Arthur 2 on the rocks”.
Please update, National Amusements took over the Green Acres from Cineplex Odeon on June 15, 1990. Just update the display ads
ridethetrain but the Sunrise Cinemas also closed.
National Amusements took control sometime in 1991. They would sometime show new pictures or films that originally played at the Sunrise. In the late years, both theatres show the same films (so people that didn’t want to go through metal detectors would chose the Green Acres).
The company was so cheap, it wouldn’t upgrade the theatre. They would refuse to put in either Dolby Digital or DTS Sound. Also, wouldn’t put cupholders on the seats. When digital projections came out, the Sunrise Cinemas got all screen digital projection.
National Amusements if they would of spent money upgrading this theatre, maybe it still open.
No longer the place to be!!
Doubt if any of the current leases are more than twenty years if you look at some of the entries on CT.
Century’s Green Acres Theatre launched September 15, 1961 with “Two Women” on a 50-year lease. The theatre had 1,683 seats at its opening with a single screen. It was located in the Green Acres Shopping Center and closed at the end of lease on September 18, 2011.