Sunrise Multiplex Cinemas

I CANT BELIEVE THIS IS JUST BEING LISTED??? Could this be right???

longislandmovies wrote:
I CANT BELIEVE THIS IS JUST BEING LISTED??? Could this be right???

Well, I thought exactly the same thing. How could this infamous institution not be listed but I looked and looked and could not find it.

Quite a place, eh? Does anyone know how it's doing these days? I heard that a few years ago, the installted metal detectors and such. Unbelievable. That must've happened after "The Godfather, Part III" incident. As I wrote above, I stopped going there after the "Krush Groove" riot. It just got worse and worse in their and I knew no one who went there from my area.

It's a pity because when it opened, it was actually a very nice place. Maybe not ornate like some of the old palaces but the theaters were very nice and big.

This multiplex didn't open in the summer, it opened on Dec. 9th or so with "Star Trek" on a couple of screens and auditoriums opened through Christmas Day '79. At the theatre's grand opening, only three auditoriums were finished and ready for "Star Trek". I should know, I was one of the six managerial staff members. It opened as a "Redstone Theatre" which it is still today, the same management now "National Amusements". Redstone operated the Drive-In as well. The original "sixplex" sat 700 in each auditorium for a total of 4,200 seats. It was at its' opening two or three years "the highest grossing multiplex in the country". I left the next year and the film "Stir Crazy" put the place on the map and this is when the fights started. We had a large staff and everyone got along. The pay was as it was in theatre management, "very low" but Redstone was then notoriously "CHEAP".

Orlando: I stand corrected at to the opening. Yes, I saw the first "Star Trek" movie there and it was quite a theater when it opened. Clean and big. Felt very "state-of-the-art". There always seemed a "bad" element coming to the theater but the place was so big it never felt threatening. Until the riot of "Krush Groove" and all that followed. Like I said in my initial posting, everyone who lived in southwestern Nassau County as I did went to this theater in the early to mid 80's. After that, if you told someone you went there, they'd look at you like you were nuts.

I remember the houses being very large in the begining. I have no idea what it's like now, I have not been here since the early 80's.

Aren't metal detectors standard equipment at all National Amusements' theatres these days? The Whitestone and Concourse theatres in the Bx has them, and I'm told the ENY Bkln and Jamaica Qns theatres also have them. Apparently NA feels that metal detectors and a shooting or riot now and then are just a normal costs of doing business.

Actually, I remember the Commack Multiplex Cinemas, also an NA house had a shootout in the lobby once.

This was at one time the busyest theater in the country.

"This was at one time the busyest theater in the country."

I'll second that. From it's opening till around 1984 or so, it was the place to see movies in southwestern Nassau county. But with each passing year, it got worse and worse. Other nicer, SAFER multiplexes began to open in other parts of the county which drew attendence away from this one. The formerly large Century's Green Acres multiplexed in the late 1980s into a nice movie house albeit with small but well appointed theaters (more like screening rooms). They tended to show more "upscale" fare.

I think that the Sunrise Multiplex did so well initially because it was one of the first theaters to be built AS a multiplex as opposed to an existing single screener that got mulitplexed. Technically speaking, they did a lot of things right with this theater...the parking was amazing (it was built on the old Sunrise Drive In), the layout was very good and the theaters were large.

If it had been just five or so miles east on Sunrise Highway, it might not have been as bad.

There is little reason to think of the Sunrise as one of the first theaters to be built as a multiplex. The mid to late 1970s saw hundreds of multiplexes built across the country. The Sunrise was not ground breaking in any way. Probably the most unusual thing is the fact that it continues to operate --- irrespective of a questionable safety issue (1990 was a long time ago folks), there is a huge population nearby and Valley Stream will certainly continue to be a perfect place for a multiplex, or two as exist now.

The Green Acres Cinemas is so much nicer then this one. Sadly NA is letting it get run down. They do book the more upscale features here, but when you start seeing hand printed signs hung on walls it's not good.

AndyT: I lived on LI when this opened and I strongly believe that for LI, the Sunrise Multiplex WAS the first BIG one to come along on the island. OK...maybe not in the nation but in our small part of the world, it was the first. And fow awhile, the best place to see movies. As you mention, 1990 was almost 15 years ago and a lot may have changed. I have not been back to that theater since 1985 so it might be better now.

RobertR: You have GOT to be kidding me that the Green Acres Cinemas is falling apart! When that opened (or reopened as a six screener) in 1988 or so, it was a REALLY nice place. The theaters were small but it was beautiful. The last time I saw a movie there was "The Crying Game" in 1992 and it was still really nice. What a shame to let it go down hill. But with the megaplexes now taking over, this place's days are numbered. If this was located in a more accesible place, like on a neighborhood street, it might have a chance. What I mean is, there's dumpy theater located in Teaneck, NJ that's a four plex made from an old single screener. Now this place is nothing special but it's got two things going for it: it's located in a neighborhood that enjoys the type of movies it shows (independent/art films) and it's in a very accessible neighborhood street. Hope this made sense.

CConnolly
I was there over the summer and although it was still clean there were many signs things were not being kept up. The candy stand only used one out of four stations and they did not even bother to make the other stations look decent. The show cases were just empty. They also did not have as much concession item's as most theatres. The auditorium I was in had most of the runway lights burned out and alot of the theatre lights were dead. I checked out upstairs and that candy stand looks like it has not been used since the Cineplex days. As a former theatre manager this always suprises me. For the small amount it pays to have another concession person, you can make this up in a few sales. Also having a person behind the counter upstairs prevents vandalism. This was a top rate house in it's single days when it used to play exclusives, I have a load of great movie memories there.

I s still think to this day this theater must be in the top 5 grossing theaters in the country the #s here are still hugh.....

"This was a top rate house in it's single days when it used to play exclusives, I have a load of great movie memories there."

Oh, are YOU kidding me? Of all the theaters I remember going to as a kid, the Green Acres is the one I have the best memories of. The most distinctive is seeing "Jaws" there in the summer of 1975. The entire PACKED audience screaming our collective heads off when the guys head rolls toward the audience. I remember the deep red brick on the front of the theater and that huge marquee.

Obviously this is a discussion more for that theater's posting than the multiplex but it does relate to it. Do you know what year the original Century's Green Acres opened? Do you remember that marquee they had on the BACK of the theater that faced the mall? That always got to me as a kid...

THIS IS NOT THE LISTING FOR GREEN ACRES........

I remember this was the first theater that I ever saw that had high back soft seats that rocked. They also had cup holders in the armrests. Quite innovative for its time.

Hey Chris, I saw the Jaws at teh Green Acres too on its opening night! Graduation present from Ogden Elementary from my older sister and her boyfriend. 30 years this past weekend!

The opening date was December 7th, 1979 with Star Trek: The Motion Picture the sole feature presentation as CConnolly described above. I was in attendance that night. The first of many, many nights my close freinds and I spent in one (some nights even more) of it's ever expanding # of auditoriums. We had our favorite seats almost every time out (dead center of the 4th row) and saw just about everything here through the early '80's from Star Trek to Roller Boogie to One Trick Pony to Airplane to Altered States to Excalibur to History of the World Part One to Stir Crazy to Chuck Norris flicks, slasher-flicks and Bruce Lee re-releases. I remember going to opening night of the Sean Connery flick Outland (a sci-fi remake of High Noon) and having to settle for 1st row seats due to being one of the last in the capacity crowd to arrive. That movie (and one or two others I can't recall exactly) was presented in some sort of new sound system (not Sensurround) that required about six huge speakers placed on the floor of the theater right under the screen (and about 6 feet away from our seats) that nearly blasted us out of the theater!

There is a photo in the Cinema Treasures book that features the very large sign that stands near the curb of Sunrise Highway advertising the attractions at the theater and I figured out that I had seen every single title up on the marquee! And by the time of this photo, I believe the complex had been expanded to 8 auditoriums... and one was playing a double feature! We were definitely movie hounds back in those days. Easily going out to one movie theater or another once or twice a week.

As I recall the expansion of auditoriums here, they initially started dividing the outer theaters first (those being farthest to either the left or right of the lobby area which was dead center in the complex. At some point, just about all but the 2 center theaters had been divided and then, eventually, the building was physically expanded for a couple of extra screens.

One last note... a lot of teen agers seemed to show up to this theater just as much to play the arcade games that were situated in the lobby as to see the movies themselves. I seem to recall that some of the early hints of "trouble" in this theater originated with disputes between the rowdies that often crowded out the smaller children who wanted to play those games while Mom and Dad waited on the ticket-holders' line.

Wait... I lied.... Just one final related memory... the image of the old Sunrise Drive-In just before it was razed to make way for this theater remains indelibly etched in my mind... with a chain link fence surrounding the stripped down base of its hulking screen where someone had scrawled in white spray paint large enough to be seen from the passing cars on Sunrise Highway, "Goodbye Cruel World!"

Although no one knew it at the time, I firmly believe the opening of this theatre was the death knell of the single screens on Long Island. It was impressive for what it was. It was always packed and and like "The Blob", the more people, the bigger it got. After it opened everyone was splitting and quading. In the early years they would do studio test screenings. I saw Burt Reynolds in "Paternity" during a test. Other films I saw included Richeard Gere in "Breathless" and the nuclear nightmare "Testament". As wildly successful as it was it was still no Lowes Quad, err I mean Lowes Sixplex, well strike that, it's now the Lowes Nassau Metroplex.

I worked as a projectionist at Sunrise Feb 1984 thru Nov 1987. As Ed posted it was a very busy theatre then. We were mentioned in the trade magazine Boxoffice as the busiest theatre in the country. Some films were so popular, on weekends we would interlock (project the same print on two or more screens at the same time) on three screens for a total seating capacity of 1900 seats per show. Back then, five of the twelve auditoriums had 700 seats each. We expanded to fourteen screens while I was there. Three of the auditoriums have 70mm capability and during the 80s we often had two or three 70mm prints running. It was great reading the above posts, It was a great experience working there.

Vito: since you worked there during the period that I saw a lot of movies there, do you remember the riot that took place during "Krush Groove"? In my opinion, that was the beginning of the end of this place. As popular as it was, I know a lot of people who began to have second thoughts about going there. After the shooting during "The Godfather, Part III", I absolutely refused to go there ever again and never did. Even before that, it was the theater of last resort.

How is it doing these days? I cannot imagine that its like it was during the early 80's.

That was a tough time, we had to increase security to handle crowd control which had gotten out of control, there were so many people that the lobby had filled up, so we formed additional holding areas outside the front doors. When we opened the doors the people stormed in breaking a few doors and windows. The next night we had police dogs in the lobby and added additional screens to handle the crowd. The Godfather shooting was caused by someone cutting in line at the concession stand, Imagine that? I am not sure how business there is now, although from what I understand it is still a popular theatre.
I haven't been involved in the Long Island theatres since 1987

Can anyone bring light to the 1990 godfather three shooting at Sunrise theater?

Can anyone bring light to the 1990 godfather three shooting at Sunrise theater?

Can anyone bring light to the 1990 godfather three shooting at Sunrise theater?

Can anyone bring light to the 1990 godfather three shooting at Sunrise theater?

Anybody have pictures of this theater?

I wasn't there for the shooting, but recall vividly from newspaper/TV accounts that a bunch of teens from Nassau/Queens pretty much opened fire on the crowd, injuring a few folks and killing one.

Another story from back in the day from when I was a teen...I was at the adjacent Green Acres Mall with a friend just killing time in the arcade before going to see Nightmare on Elm Street 4 at the Sunrise Multiplex. We started to play the old USA-Russia hockey game, when an all-out massive fight broke out between rival African-American and Latino gangs and spilled right into the arcade. I remember it clear as day. My friend and I both hid under our video game the whole time, scared as sh*t. After the movie I remember thinking that no Freddy movie seemed as frightening as that one, though I suppose it was brought on by the pre-show action rush at the mall.

Here's a standalone ad for the Sunrise Cinemas that ran in Newsday on 12/9/80:

Sixplex Ad

Sorry for the blurriness of the image. I saw every one of the movies playing here except for "The Competition". The phone # listed in the ad still works.

The theatre is down hill, you have to go through metal detectors and the only good screens are 1, 8, 9 and 10. The others the screens are small and long and noarrow 300 seats houses.

I went back for the first time in ten years, still metal detectors, still use 1980 type signs, new refreshment stand, theatre still long and narrow. Dolby Digital sound only in theatres 1, 8, 9 and 13. DTs digital in theatre 10 and REAL D in screen 10. They now have cupholders. The other screens are Dolby SR analog sound.

Late 1995 when they put all screens Dolby. The only good screens are 1, 8, 9 and 10.

The capacities are
1. 682 SR+EX
2. 342 SR
3. 306 SR
4. 337 SR
5. 283 SR
6. 283 SR
7. 327 SR
8. 682 SR+EX
9. 682 SR+EX
10. 583 REAL D dts
11. 241 SR
12. 282 SR
13. 359 SR+D
14. 359 SR

Don't be fooled because the small one 300 seats, but the theatre are long since they were divided in half, with the exception of screens 13 and 14.

The large houses usually show big blockbusters or urban films. For example, Screens 8 and 9 had This Christmas which seat 700 each

I was just 12 years old when it happened. The year was 1990.I lost a good friend. His name was Tremaine Hall. He was the victim of the Sunise Movie theatre Shooting that took place Christmas Weekend in 1990. Like other kids in our age group, Sunrise was an easy way to have fun and meet up with other teens. Yes I resided in the "less than desirable" surrounding neighborhood that you talk about. To me it almost sounds as if you're implying that the residents of the mostly African-American neighborhoods, caused the depreciation of Value in your beloved theatre. Tremaine was killed watching a Mafia Movie. The Irony is Tremaine was Killed watching the Godfather, and not some Urban rap movie that you made reference to. If it was the latter, Tremaine may have been crucified for watching a movie that contributed to the theatre's beginning and end. Tremaine was only 15 when he was brutally shot by some unruly teens. He was an innocent bystander. With the drive of his parents and local politicians, the theatre has installed Metal Detectors. Please Dont blame Tremaine, the "not so desirable neighborhood", or the "riot" for not going back. Blame it on your prejudices. This is America. A melting pot of people. Sorry that your segregated theatre fantasy will not be showing there..

P.S. the further Irony is that I am a 29 y/o African American Female who was raised in Jamaica Queens. I am employed as a Police Officer for Nassau County.

Thanks for that thoughtful and heartfelt post. I grew up in the "not so desirable neighborhood" of Laurelton, Queens from age 9 through my first couple of years in college and have great memories of this theatre and others in the surrounding areas - I also have great memories of living on my block of 231st Street between Franny Lew and 137th Ave. Througout my stay in Laurelton, it was I who was in the minority, being a caucasian of mixed latino descent. I, too, get a bit indignant when folks bring "race" into the equation when speaking of how this theatre and the surrounding area have become less than desireable. Even when they don't mention race, you know what the inference is. I feel lucky to have grown up where I did, for it was a warm and cheerful neighborhood where I was never made to feel unwanted or an outsider. Indeed, it was a very tightly knit community where parents organized block parties each and every year that EVERYONE actively participated in and thoroughly enjoyed. Even in the schoolyard of PS 156, "race" was never thrown in my face... Sure there were fights and scrapes, but nothing that hadn't been happening in countless communities all across this City for ages. We were all just neighbors, pals, classmates, whatever. My fondest memories of family and childhood go back to that wonderful tree-lined neighborhood.

I was an Usher (and then Head Usher - no jokes) who also did many other jobs there in the early to mid 80s, including security detail, popping popcorn, managing the lines and changing the marquee.

At first it was a great High School and College job - but the pay was dismal. In fact, most of my best friends come from working there.

I had left before the metal detectors and the later problems, but with such a large influx of people every weekend, there were always serious issues at hand. On a high traffic Saturday night we could have several blockbuster movies selling out and the only place to
put people while they waited was that big box of a lobby.

If you were there in the early 80's then you were sure to have heard myself and couple of others yelling "Please move up! Please step up!" until eventually someone in the line would start mooing, then some joker in the front would drop a rope and the whole mass of
people would crowd forward with nowhere to go.

The worst large event I remember there was a semi-riot for a "Friday the 13th" evening show, where the drop the rope trick occurred after people got impatient waiting for us to clean up the trashed theatre. The ushers taking tickets had to jump into the telephone alcove to save themselves and mayhem ensued. Once done, there were almost no
pictures left on the wall and people were trying to stand in the back of the theatre since so many people snuck in during the melee.

The "sneak in" problem got so bad that we ended up using walkie talkies to do counter-surveillance on guys passing off ticket stubs and opening the back doors. We had also developed a long list of nicknames for the regular sneak ins.

There were also many fights, between ushers and people sneaking in or between patrons - and a few of those I was a part of ended up with us finding a dropped weapon. That's when I decided to move on.

I did love going to movies at Sunrise - believe the first thing I saw there was either "Raiders of the Lost Ark" or "Arthur." When I worked there, "ET" came and went back THREE TIMES and was almost always a packed show - and a pain to work with the high kid ratio. (I used to get stuck with Saturday and Sunday openings since I was only 16 at the time.)

The most annoying film to work may have been "Reds" which was more than 3 hours long, so the midnight show got out way after 2AM. Also, the high senior citizen contingent for that one led the "Candy Girls" (yes, not politically correct, but what they were called then) to follow many orders with "Yes, I know - EXTRA butter, NO ice."

While as others relate in these comments there were some serious race issues going on in the area at the time, the people that worked together at Sunrise there were a completely mixed group and for the most part got along very well. Any problems were personality based as far as I know. Plenty of parties, weekend clubbing and meetups at the Cinemas summer mornings where people would jump in cars and head to the beach.

The year given for this photo is 1986.

Wow...like jjt posted above, I too have memories of seeing one of my "first" movies in a theater which was Raiders of the Lost Ark! I recall seeing E.T. the first time here as well!

Some of my movie going memories at the Sunrise are "not so fond". Two incidents, both HORROR movies (oddly enough):

My parents made the mistake of taking me & my sisters to see 'Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors' on the Saturday night of the weekend it opened...the theater was oversold (or people obviously snuck in) as people were standing in the back of the theater! A big fight broke out between a white & black women as the latter was "kicking" the others' chair..this was within a year of the "Howard Beach" incident some of you NYers might remember, so things got from bad to WORSE...when the mostly "black" crowd started yelling obscenties at the white woman & a bunch of them chanting "Howard Beach!, Howard Beach!, Howard Beach!" as the women got in each others faces & argued...I was SCARED!!!!...took about 15-20 minutes for things to calm down, but by then the crowd was "hyped" up & the mostly young crowd was pretty rowdy after that...I wanted to LEAVE!...

The 2nd time during a screening of Halloween 4...in which my father cussed 2 guys out sitting in the back of the theater that would NOT shut up through the 1st 10 minutes of the movie!!!!...they quieted down to a dull whisper for maybe 5 minutes, only to crank back up to FULL volume after that time! My father got fed up & we left & saw another movie in the multiplex despite paying to see Halloween 4!

I remember those seats being EXTRA sensitive to anyone walking by or even gently tapping the back of your seat! It was HORRIBLE! I wish my later bad experiences at Sunrise didn't overshadow my early good ones!

Sumner Redstone! It all started right here when this place was a drive-in. Sumner Redstone is one of the most powerful media moguls of the late 20th century. In his capacity as owner and chief executive officer of Viacom, Inc., Redstone lords over Hollywood's Paramount Pictures television and motion picture factory; a handful of cable TV networks including MTV, The Movie Channel, Showtime, Nickelodeon, VH1; and several radio and TV stations. It was tough being the technician here, so many types of old projection equipment. However, it is history, so it was worth it.

I went to this theater a lot during the 1980s. The first show price was $2.50. Sometimes I'd take a day off from work, jump on the Belt Parkway from my home in Canarsie and be there in less than 20 minutes. Among the films I saw were John Carpenter's "The Thing," "Conan the Barbarian," "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," etc. I took my son to see Disney's "Oliver and Company" there.
I remember seeing "Hellraiser" there. The film was near the end of its run and it was playing in the theater on the extreme right. There were no ushers nearby since they all hung out in the lobby which was about half a block away. I was the only one in the theater seeing this horror film and being alone really unnerved me. I started thinking that someone could've come behind me and cut my throat. And nobody would know...Watching this rather disturbing film by myself in this rather large theater with no one else in close proximity was a rather nervewracking experience.
Around this time the surrounding area was going completely downhill and there was a well-publicised shoot-out duirng a showing of
"G-dfather III." Metal detectors were installed in the theater.
And I haven't been back since.

This link to this 1991 NY Times article is the most in depth I've read about the shootings. (apologies if it's linked above and I missed it) I enjoy that it seems to convey that National Amusements put the metal detectors in out of public pressure than of their own choice. A lot of times I hear people talking about the metal detectors they make it seem like it was a choice when in fact it sounds as though it was necessary to allay the fears after the shooting.

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/29/nyregion/cinema-is-battleground-of-geography-and-psychology.html?pagewanted=all

why is there no listing on this website for the old Sunrise Drive In which stood on this site?

why is there no listing on this website for the old Sunrise Drive In which stood on this site?