Big Cinemas Columbia Park 12
3125 Kennedy Boulevard,
North Bergen,
NJ
07047
3125 Kennedy Boulevard,
North Bergen,
NJ
07047
1 person
favorited this theater
Regal Cinemas Columbia Park opened about a year and a half after their Bergen Plaza 13, putting in to an “urban enterprise zone” 25 screens, assuming the theatre would be as profitable as the Regal Cinemas Hudson Mall, located nearby.
The theatre failed miserably, it was never crowded, even on Saturday nights. The theatre originally played some popular features like “Cast Away” and “The Patriot” on their opening weekend before it became a hold over house for the Loews locations in Seacacus. At one time a film would play at Loews, then at the Columbia Park, then at Cineplaza.
In 2004 it was acquired by Cinemark’s Interstate Theatres brand and operates to this day as a $2.00 a seat house. Now films play at Loews, then Cineplaza, and this location (many features playing there are either unsuccessful in their first run or are almost out on DVD).
The cinema has an identical layout on its two floors: both levels with six stadium seating auditoriums. They are pretty similar in style to the ones at the Regal in Battery Park, as this one opened along with the Battery Park 16, Court Street 12, New Roc City 18, and Kaufman Asteria 14 as part of Regal’s aggressively entry in to the New York market. The above locations soon after became United Artists theatres (I have no idea why, a sign was taken down leaving no marking of what was in the basement of Columbia Park for a few months until the owners reattached the letters CINEMA.
Regal’s move in to this market was ill-fated. This theatre made some of the same mistakes of the Bergen Plaza (now Cineplaza) — both were in the basement of shopping centers, parking was done in a dearly lit enclosed lot. Meanwhile this one should have fared well- the hoping center Columbia Park is a hit with 3 % sales tax.
Now the theatre is substantially more crowded, even on weekday nights with $2.00 a seat price policy, a bargain in the Northern NJ/Manhattan area where ticket prices can range from 9.50-10.75.
Taken over by Phoenix Big Cinemas by 2010.
Contributed by
John J. Fink
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
We might wana consider changing this one to reflect its current status at 10-screens. Instead of displaying a movie title above the door Theatre 1 displayed “Do Not Enter” – when I asked an usher why they weren’t using the theatre his responce was “It had burned down” apparently it had sustained some fire damange, as did the theatre located directly above it #7.
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check this out….no more cheesy Indian flicks playing at this theater anymore!!! This theater will once again be like the old Columbia Park 12, but show the same movies as the old Loews theaters since this theater has stadium seating and will do better business than the Secaucus theaters until the mammoth 26-screen Xanadu opens next year.
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check this out….no more cheesy Indian flicks playing at this theater anymore!!! This theater will once again be like the old Columbia Park 12, but show the same movies as the old Loews theaters since this theater has stadium seating and will do better business than the Secaucus theaters until the mammoth 26-screen Xanadu opens next year.
This is terrible news. It’s a real blow to variety in the multiplexes in the area. This place was the only place dedicated to Bollywood films and it’s a real shame that that was stopped. Bwood films are a ton of fun and worth the trek to see them.
I agree with you…the closest theater near where I live right now is the Clearview in Parsippany, where they might show a Bollywood film or two once in a while amongst a wave of blockbusters and indies. Other than that, I’m sad for those Bollywood fans missing on their favorite film on a big screen with surround sound and stadium seating, hopefully the new Xanadu might play some films of that type.
As of May 23 its under the Phoenix Theaters banner. For those of you keeping count this complex has been run by: Regal Cinemas, United Artists, Regal Entertainment Group, Cinemark (Interstate), Interstate, (lower half run by) Cinecorp USA, and now Phoenix. Unfortunately I still have passes and gift cards from Starplex – hopefully present management will still honor these, it’s not every week I get out to Texas just to see a movie.
now owned by big cinemas, an indian theater company. digital 3d is now at this theater.
This theatre has returned to playing first run, with a mix of mainstream and Indian fare.