Whitman Theatre

The WHITMAN THEATRE is the correct name located at the Walt WHITMAN mall

they left this theater open for years because they had a 100 year lease , the last 4 years they had wanted to put in a 10 plex but the town would not give them the permits..

The reason the Whitman died was the bizzare booking habit of taking theatres that are only performing so-so and using them as a dumping ground for moveovers and garbage product. I always wonder if they somehow do this to justify closing them? The Whitman was in an upscale area and could have made a good house to open big films in and then move them over to the Shore Quad. Loews destroyed the Smithaven Mall theatre when they opened Stoneybrook down the road. They also did the same to Cinema 5 (city) in Fresh Meadows. Cineplex redid the theatre and when Loews merged with them they let the outside become such an eyesore that business dwindeled. Even though they have the Fresh Meadows 7 across the street there was ample product for both. I remember when Centurys still had the Glen Oaks. The last big film they played there first-run was Silkwood. It did really good grosses. Then for some reason they followed it up with weekly second run pictures that were playing every where for $1 or $2 (remember those great days). Why would anyone pay first prices when it was playing in a dozen or so neighborhood houses at the same time. They did tyhis for about a year and then closed it. If anyone remembers it, it was almost identical to the Whitman, right down to the masks and was in pristine condition till the end.

century had 5 theaters on this street in there hayday .comedy and tragedy masks in this auditorium like many of the other century theaters. Never a shining star in century chain but famous for playing ET for 56 weeks.