UA The Movies at Sunrise Mall
319 Sunrise Mall,
Massapequa,
NY
11758
319 Sunrise Mall,
Massapequa,
NY
11758
1 person
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This was one of Long Island’s first multiplexes. It opened on May 23, 1975, shortly after the Sunrise Mall opened. United Artists signed a twenty year lease. The box office was originally in front of the theatre. When it stated getting congested, they moved it to the center of the mall where there was plenty of room. It opened originally with five screens, and in 1977, expanded to seven screens, with auditorium 6 housing the new Dolby Stereo CP-50 processor with surround sound. In February 1984, they added two more screens.
The theatre closed on February 17, 2000, shortly after United Artists opened the new Farmingdale ten-plex, and after the lease had expired.
Contributed by
robertr
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Recent comments (view all 65 comments)
Maybe they come not come to terms regarding their lease. RKO Century had planed on building a theater in Yonkers, NY as part of the current Costco-Stew Leonards site. They ended up in court over many varied issues and it never was built.
Another reality of that site I don’t think there would be sufficient parking for a massive theater. The original theater was on the second floor of the mall. A little nothing.
I won a prize package from radio station W.G.B.B for answering trivia questions.It included two tickets to the massapequa-mall showing of James Bond’s"Moonraker",plus:movie poster, a paper back book,a vinyl album sound track,and a souvenir program booklet.A dream come true for a big kid.
Will history repeat itself? Regal has announced they plan to open a ten screen theater on the site of the former Walmart at Riverhead Plaza in Riverhead. This time, they plan on tearing down the Walmart and erecting a free standing structure. At the Sunrise Mall I believe they would have had to modify the actual Walmart space since there was really no room on the site for another structure and still have adequate parking.
Last time there was a date for the coming theater on the Regal site but no signage at the Sunrise Mall and no theater materialized. This time there is signage at the Riverhead Plaza but nothing on the Regal site. And we won’t even discuss the more than six month delay of the opening of the new Lynbrook theater beyond the original projected date.
Capri Pizza? It was right next to the mall and had movie posters on the walls.
Went to this theatre a bunch of times between 1982 and 1990, the theatres were small screening rooms, biggest size was around 250 theatre 3, theatres 6 and 7 were next to theatre 2 on the left. Theatre 6 had Dolby Stereo and DTS when Jurassic Park open. Theatre 8 and 9 were built on a hallway to the right. The box office was in the mall inself. Remember, UA installed computerized ticketing in 1983.
Except for theatre 6 that was Dolby Stereo, the other 8 were MONO. I doubt UA ever upgraded the sound in the 1990’s.
1975, 1977, and 1984 grand opening ads posted.
Please update, theatre closed February 17, 2000
The whole mall is closed permently, the functions is vacant
per their wikipedia page…
Sunrise Mall was a shopping mall located in East Massapequa, New York. The mall opened on August 30, 1973, as the first two-level shopping mall on Long Island. The interior closed in 2023 and the final anchor store closed on April 4, 2026