Village

3915 S. University Avenue,
Little Rock, AR 72204

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Village

Viewing: Photo | Street View

The former UA Cinema 150 opened with an enormous dome roof and a 120 degree curved screen. In addition to standard 35mm, the theater also showed 70mm and D-150 formats. When this happened, a large BLUE curvulon is used.

After years of service, the UA Cinema 150 closed in May 2003. This was the last operating Dimension 150 theater in the country and represents another loss to that era of widescreen cinema.

The theater reopened as a concert venue in 2006.

Contributed by Richard Peterson, Cinema Treasures

Recent comments (view all 38 comments)

BobNJ
BobNJ on April 18, 2010 at 10:19 pm

There was a Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge, built 1956, adjacent to the Village Theater to the south.

4115 S University Ave., Little Rock, Arkansas

View link

How long did these coexist?

When was the Ho-Jo torn down to be replaced by the shopping center?

BobNJ
BobNJ on April 18, 2010 at 10:30 pm

When did the nearby Asher Drive-In Theater close?

http://www.drive-ins.com/detail/artashe

Does anybody have memories of the Asher Drive-In Theater?

jamestv
jamestv on June 2, 2010 at 4:33 pm

I was one of the many who came from out-of-state (Texas and Louisiana) to see 70MM features here (Alien, The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Young Sherlock Holmes, Willow). In August of ‘92, came to see Unforgiven (not in 70 unfortunately) after the theatre had been remodeled. Much to my dismay, it seems that the screen had been slightly shrunk; the widesceen didn’t seem so wide! Never made it back after that.

jamestv
jamestv on June 2, 2010 at 4:43 pm

Also, the former Ho-Jo (later The University Inn) was torn down in the early 2000’s to make way for a gas/convenience store/McDonald’s. The University Inn had been deteriorating during the 90’s and was probably ready for the wrecking ball. At one time, visiting teams in the old Texas League stayed here when they came to town to play the Travelers. I believe the Asher DI closed in the late 80’s due to the decline of the drive-in and expansion plans from either the Coleman dairy on one side and the shopping center on the other-neither came to be.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on June 2, 2010 at 6:23 pm

Very intersting looking building, too bad they close up all the good ones.

JFBrantley
JFBrantley on June 18, 2010 at 6:58 pm

I was in Little Rock once in the 1980s and saw the last Dirty Harry movie at this theater. I loved how big the screen was. One funny note was before the feature and after the previews, you saw a warning on the screen that switching auditoriums was prohibited.
Quite funny in a single screen theater.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on June 18, 2010 at 7:59 pm

You saw “THE DEAD POOL” J.B. for the record.

pfudd
pfudd on September 23, 2010 at 1:18 pm

Words cannot describe how special this theater was. Saturdays, my family would make a day trip out of coming from Hot Springs to see a film. The experience ranked up there with going to see the Razorbacks play just up the road at War Memorial. For a couple of night games I was lucky enough to see a matinee before heading up to the stadium. The cinema had two entrances on opposite sides of the lobby and there was always a race between the kids to get a seat directly under the domes center because it almost had a 3D effect.

I thought about listing all the films I saw there as way to explain how great the experience was but a list just doesn’t describe what an awesome experience truly was. After some time I finally came up with an idea that might explain how special the 150 truly was. I saw Waterworld there and it was one of the best films ever made! I wish I could have seen Heaven’s Gate or Ishtar there, that would have been awesome! Can someone explain to me how Elizabeth Berkley didn’t win an Oscar for Showgirls? Ok, that last won was a reach, but hopefully I made my point.

SeeingI
SeeingI on January 11, 2011 at 10:58 am

I am from Tennessee, but was on a family vacation when we saw “Starman” here in 1984. The venue made a huge impression on me! I am glad to find reference to it here.

Ross Melnick
Ross Melnick on July 19, 2011 at 9:56 pm

There are some interior images at this site.

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