Northpark West 1 & 2

1100 Northpark Center,
Dallas, TX 75225

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: General Cinema Corp.

Architects: William C. Riseman

Firms: William Riseman Associates

Previous Names: Cinema I & II, Northpark I & II

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News About This Theater

Northpark ad from January 2, 1983

The Cinema I & II was THE theater to go to in the Dallas Metroplex from its opening September 22, 1965. It was one of the first three theaters in the nation to be equipped with Lucasfilm Ltd’s THX and was personally done so by Tom Holmin, who was head of that division at the beginning. The Northpark never had a presentation flaw in its 33 year run. Even Lab Spiced reels were rejected by the projection team.

The studios, having their Dallas offices not far away, had many of their screenings at the Northpark and you never knew what famous person might run into you. Harrison Ford sat in the back rows during “Blade Runner”. Carol Channing made her way down the aisles, passing out tissues during scenes in “E.T”. Benji pressed his paws in cement in the forecourt. It was said that George Lucas once said that it was his favorite place to show his films. It was one of only 20 theaters in the nation to run “Star Wars” on its opening weekend in May of 1977. It was also only one of a handful of theaters in the nation to show James Cameron’s “Titanic” in 70 mm.

Not only did the Northpark do an outstanding job as a first run theater, it also had classics shown, titles ranging from “The Blues Brothers” to “The Sound of Music” graced the screen every summer during their annual Summer Movie nights. And by far the Northpark was considered the best sound system in the nation.

Sadly, General Cinema closed it on October 23, 1998 and the building was torn down in 2001.

Contributed by Paul Hemme

Recent comments (view all 77 comments)

MSC77
MSC77 on December 25, 2017 at 5:05 pm

“The Graduate” opened here fifty years ago today. The film ran a super successful six months (one of the longest in the history of this theater). And to commemorate the classic film’s golden anniversary, here’s a new retrospective article which includes some exhibition history (and other) details.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on April 5, 2018 at 3:38 pm

A pencil rendering of the Cinema I & II by architect William Riseman is one of the illustrations on this page of NorthPark Center’s web site.

DENNISMAHANEY1
DENNISMAHANEY1 on April 16, 2018 at 6:09 pm

DIVISION MANAGER OFFICE WAS HERE, UNTIL LATER WHEN NEW TWIN OPEN 3 & 4, THEN HE AND FILM BUYERS OFFICE ON SECOND FLOOR OF NEW TWIN

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on May 25, 2018 at 7:32 pm

35 years ago today THX debuted at this theater with return of the Jedi.

MSC77
MSC77 on May 26, 2018 at 3:43 pm

moviebuff82: The UA Prestoncreek 5 was also THX certified for the “Return of the Jedi” release. (Plus one more venue in L.A.) The THX details (and lots more) can be found in my recent “Jedi” 35th anniversary retrospective article.

rivest266
rivest266 on May 11, 2020 at 10:11 am

Here’s a video about the “Butterfly design” cinemas built by General Cinema.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on May 11, 2020 at 10:29 am

Opened on 22/9/1965 with on screen 1 with “The sandpiper” and on screen 2 with “The greatest show on Earth”.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on May 11, 2020 at 10:33 am

Hopefully Benji’s pawprints in the cement were not lost in demolition of the cinema building!?

CinemaTech
CinemaTech on September 11, 2021 at 4:41 pm

Greetings everyone, my name is Dan Gable and I was the North Park Cinema Projection and sound technician from 1980 to 1995. This was the time frame when the theatre really stood out as a premire Theatre. Ron Beardmore was the chief projections during those years that made North Park 1 & II stand out above the rest for it’s top notch presentation in a very competitive time for Theatres. Most of those years Anna Carros was the theater manager who made the rest of the operation top notch. Ron was a perfectionist and so was I, we worked well together and had many all-nighters making sure everything was perfect for the next big movie. I am the technician that also worked with Tomlinson Holman, Clyde McKinney, and Anthony Grimani during the installation of the THX Sound System. Contrary to something said in another comment here, North Park 1 was the 3rd in the country and first in Texas. The first THX installation was the University of Southern California’s Eileen L. Norris Cinema, part of the film school. The second and third (North Park Cinema 1) installations were going in almost at the same time. But even prior to it becoming THX, the theatre already had great sound for that time. I had bi-amped the cinema with active crossovers and Ashley FET amplifiers, I also rebuilt the Altec Voice of the Theatre A2/4 VOTT loudspeakers and reinstalled the wings on them (much the same effect as THX modifications) and at the same time ran monster cable all the way back to the speakers and moved the low frequency amplifiers back of the screen at the speakers to improve the bass sound even further. This was done a couple years before THX was installed. It was Ron that made all this possible getting Jeff Lynn, The GCC GM, to spend the money to allow us to go the extra mile and make the unprecedented improvements prior to THX. It was a remarkable time and North Park Cinema 1 & 2 was a remarkable Theatre. It is greatly missed as are the great people behind it’s success.

CP200
CP200 on June 21, 2023 at 9:05 am

another great THX cinema gone to the dogs what was the total sound system spec THX install and the testing how long did all the install take , is any pictures or video, i mean nasa has bundles of video , so THX is historic any video ?

projector cinema processor
amplifiers speakers

how was each part of the stage of the install actually tested and speakers installed and retested for the THX install ?

was there any test audience tested with THX wings trailer ? or was it only tested on Tom Holman or other engineers ?

i like how this THX cinema is 2,100 seats how many kw was each amp and max acoustical watts in the THX auditorium ?

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