Willowdaile Cinema
1501 Horton Road,
Durham,
NC
27705
1501 Horton Road,
Durham,
NC
27705
2 people
favorited this theater
Opening on December 12, 1986, the Willowdaile Cinema became the second multiplex theater to open in the greater Raleigh-Durham area, and the first 8-screen theatre to open under Carmike Cinemas. The theatre was located in the northern section of Durham at Willowdaille Shopping Center at the intersection of Horton Road and Guess Road. The premiere attractions for its grand opening were “The Three Amigos”, and showing on two screens was Eddie Murphy in “The Golden Child” which played in its largest auditorium that had a seating capacity of 500 and full Dolby Stereo Sound.
The Willowdaille Cinema was the place to come and see some of Hollywood’s best. By the early 2000’s, the Willowdaile Cinema had fallen on hard times due to the increased number of newer, more sophisticated mulitplexs in Durham, changing demographics in that part of town, and the lenghty road widening project on Guess Road that took over five years to complete. By June 2, 2005, after more than 19 years of serving the greater Durham community, the Willowdaille Cinema 8 closed its doors forever. It was demolished in early-2006 to make way for a Harris Teeter grocer that opened in mid-2009 on the site where the Willowdaille Cinema 8 had once stood.
Contributed by
Jimmy Storey, raysson
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
I find it hard to believe that the WILLOWDAILE was the first ever mutiplex to open in the city the size of Durham/Raliegh in 1985.That above statement about 1985 being the year the first muliplex hit that rather large area is hard to believe,but maybe this area liked single screens ,which by the way ain’t a bad thing!
That makes sense cause in Augusta our first Twin hit in 1973 and i knew that area was larger, guess i misread it,Thanks raysson.
I have the original ads for this theatre. It originally opened in 1986 not 1985.
Thanks raysson you always have informative info.
Mike Rogers, The Willowdaile Cinemas opened to the public on December 12, 1986 and it became Durham’s second multiplex theatre since the opening of the South Square Mall Cinemas in December of 1975. The opening attractions were “The Three Amigos”,but the crowds really showed up for the screening of “The Golden Child” starring Eddie Murphy for it’s official opening playing in the largest auditorium with a seaing capacity of 500 and with full Dobly Stereo Sound.
The Willowdaile Cinema 8 closed its doors forever on June 2, 2005. It was demolished to make room for a super 52,000 square foot Harris Teeter grocer that opened in mid-2009 where the cinema once stood in North Durham.
Mike, The Willowdaile Cinema 8 was located on the Northern end of the city at the corner of Guess and Horton Roads,and it was the first multiplex theatre operating under Carmike Cinemas. The theatre was in operation from 1986 until 2005(spanning 19 years). This theatre got the first-run blockbusters and it was also the first to show exclusive engagements not to mention this theatre got to show in 1990 the first-ever “NC-17” flick “Henry and June” to play at this theatre. It also got the exclusive engagement showing to several films that made there world premiere showings ever in North Carolina at the Willowdaile…..Tony Brown’s “The White Girl” played here first-run as well as the erotic thriller “Trois”. Other movies that were crowd pleasers..“School Daze”, “Toy Story”, “Home Alone”, “Titanic”, “Coming To America”, “Lethal Weapons II, III, IV”, “Die Hard I”, “Die Hard II”, “Die Hard III”, “Spider-Man”, “X-Men”, “Star Wars:The Phantom Menace”, “Attack of the Clones”, “Toy Story II”, “The Passion of the Christ”,and many more. The theatre closed on June 2, 2005 after more than 19 years and was demolished in early 2006 to make room for a 52,000 square foot Harris Teeter grocer that opened in November of 2009 where the movie theatre once stood.
THE OPENING ATTRACTIONS FOR THE WILLOWDAILE CINEMAS: From it’s grand opening on December 12, 1986.
-Showing on Two Screens: Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd
with Martin Short starring in “THE THREE AMIGOS”
-Showing on Two Screens: Eddie Murphy in DOBLY STEREO starring in “THE GOLDEN CHILD”
“JUMPIN JACK FLASH”-Whoopi Goldberg
“PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED”-Kathleen Turner
“HEARTBREAK RIDGE”– Clint Eastwood
“TOP GUN”-Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer
“NOTHING IN COMMON”-Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason
COMING SOON MORE BLOCKBUSTERS TO THE WILLOWDAILE 8:
“STAR TREK IV”-William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy
“ENEMY MINE”– Louis Gossett,Jr. and Dennis Quaid
Disney’s “THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE”
THE OPENING ATTRACTIONS FOR THE WILLOWDAILE CINEMAS: From it’s grand opening on December 12, 1986.
-Showing on Two Screens: Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd
with Martin Short starring in “THE THREE AMIGOS”
-Showing on Two Screens: Eddie Murphy in DOBLY STEREO starring in “THE GOLDEN CHILD”
“JUMPIN JACK FLASH”-Whoopi Goldberg
“PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED”-Kathleen Turner
“HEARTBREAK RIDGE”– Clint Eastwood
“TOP GUN”-Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer
“NOTHING IN COMMON”-Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason
COMING SOON MORE BLOCKBUSTERS TO THE WILLOWDAILE 8:
“STAR TREK IV”-William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy
“ENEMY MINE”– Louis Gossett,Jr. and Dennis Quaid
Disney’s “THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE”
Not only did THE GOLDEN CHILD played on two screens at the Willowdaile,but it also did BIG BUSINESS playing in it’s largest auditorium in DOBLY STEREO with a seating capacity of 500. It made have been a flop,but anything with Eddie Murphy drew in huge crowds on December 12, 1986.
OTHER MOVIES THAT PLAYED HERE:
“Beverly Hills Cop II”, “Beverly Hills Cop III”, “Another 48 Hours”, “Hook”, “Rocky IV”, “Rocky V”, “The Polar Express”, “All the James Bond 007 films with Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan played here from "The Living Daylights” to “Die Another Day”. “Home Alone II”, and more………
Durhamites: What were your best memories of going to the Willowdaile Cinema and what was your favorite?