Hollywood Hits Premiere Theatre
20 Hutchinson Drive,
Danvers,
MA
01923
20 Hutchinson Drive,
Danvers,
MA
01923
7 people
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Opened on September 26, 1973 as a modest little four-plex this was a big success for Sack even though it was also a hard theatre to find the first time. The huge attractions sign in its parking lot was clearly visible from Route 128 but from either direction on the highway you had to take the next exit and search for the cinema.
The theatre itself was located at the end of a long side road that had no other buildings and due to residents at the entrance to the road, a tiny non-illuminated sign as the only hint to its location. It was changed to a six-plex by splitting the two biggest houses into the infamous bowling alley style theatres.
It closed about the time the huge Loews complex opened at the Liberty Tree Mall across the highway. It was refurbished by Hollywood Hits who re-opened it on October 24, 1999. They closed it on September 6, 2016.
Contributed by
Brian Yelverton
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
The marquee has room for 12 movies, and has the numbers 1 through 10 on it. How many screens are here now? Are they planning to add more to match the sign?
<<< Star Wars played a solid year in the big house here. >>>
Actually, STAR WARS played here for “only” 22 weeks.
This opened on September 26th, 1973. Grand opening ad uploaded here.
Although the picture above is of the entrance, this is from Google Maps – you can actually see the building from the highway..
https://www.google.com/maps/Beacon Theatre.554308,-70.933286,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1st63o9hVNXKyWz6Q4tj_9Rg!2e0!6m1!1e1
And if you move the picture to the right, you can see the marquee listings too.
The Hollywood Hits theater closed for good on Sept 6, 2016.Cited as the reason was competition and being unable to raise money for improvements to the cinemas. Article here. http://www.salemnews.com/news/local_news/updated-hollywood-hits-closed-for-good/article_36ae57c0-b87d-5d56-b251-83c75cb6f551.html
It may just be a team stripping everything from the place but I’ve seen 5-6 cars parked out in front of the theater for the last few weeks. No trucks or vans to haul stuff away though.
Reopened on October 8th, 1999 as Hollywood Hits with the official opening on the 24th.
Is it still standing empty today, or has it been demolished?
Building and separate sign are still standing.
The building is still standing. I toured it about 6 months after its closing, and it was a wreck then, so I can’t imagine how it has degraded since. The place was stripped at closing for valuables –– the trucks you see out front from time-to-time are mostly film crews parking their gear for the night (and mostly Adam Sandler’s team, as he shoots a lot in the area).
The rent for this space is extremely prohibitive, and its only conceivable use is as land for a new building.