Pocono Cinema and Cultural Center

88 South Courtland Street,
East Stroudsburg, PA 18301

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Related Websites

Pocono Cinema and Cultural Center (Official)

Additional Info

Functions: Movies (Classic), Movies (First Run), Movies (Independent)

Previous Names: Academy of Music, Grand Theatre, Grand Cinema, Pocono Cinema

Phone Numbers: Box Office: 570.421.6684

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News About This Theater

Pocono Cinema and Cultural Center

Originally opened as the Academy of Music on July 8, 1884. It began screening movies as the turn of the century. It was renamed Grand Theatre by 1908, with a seating capacity of 800. It was destroyed by a fire in 1929. It was rebuilt and the seating capacity was listed as 660. The Grand Theatre was closed in 1986.

It was restored and reopened in 1996 as the Pocono Cinema. It reopened as a single screen art house with a coffee house and art gallery in the lobby. Their success enabled them to add two smaller theatres in the back. The cinema shows art house fare as well as mainstream movies that do not play at the nearby Stroud Mall.

It closed briefly in November 2007, re-opening as the Grand Cinema. In early 2008, it was renamed Pocono Cinema again, but this was short lived as it closed at the beginning of May 2008.

New owners have since taken over and it has reopened.

Contributed by Chip

Recent comments (view all 12 comments)

jmanbeck
jmanbeck on May 8, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Yetter closed it again for “good” on May 1, 2008.

danpetitpas
danpetitpas on November 12, 2008 at 10:32 am

After being closed for nearly six months, the Pocono Cinema is reopening this week as a non-profit community theater.

Going non-profit allowed the cinema to fundraise $30,000 for renovations and to utilize volunteers.

The community will be paid back by bringing people downtown to patronize shops and restaurants.

The previous operator ran out of money after only a year. The building’s owner and former operator ran it for a couple of months before closing it down last April.

Read more at WNEP Newswatch 16 and at the Pocono Record.

movieguy
movieguy on August 19, 2009 at 6:27 am

THIS FINE CINEMA IS OPEN AND IT STATUS SHOULD BE CHANGED TO REFLECT THIS!

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on January 20, 2011 at 2:34 pm

This theater is indeed open; there is a picture accompanying this article about theaters in the area: View link

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on April 9, 2013 at 12:39 pm

An 800-seat house called the Grand Theatre was operating in East Stroudsburg in 1908, when it was included in the list of American theaters published in the September 5 issue of The Billboard. The Pocono Cinema’s building could date from the 1900s, though the front looks a bit plain for the era. The Grand Theatre of 1908 might have been this theater or a predecessor of the same name.

fordraff
fordraff on January 8, 2014 at 7:59 am

Please read A History of the Movie Theaters in Monroe County to get accurate information on the Pocono Cinema’s history. What is today Pocono Cinema began its existence as The Academy of Music on Tuesday, July 8, 1884. Theater that showed 1st movies in area. The book above is available for sale at the Pocono Community Theater, Carroll & Carroll Booksellers, Monroe County Historical Association and the Quiet Man Bookstore.

HeathCliff
HeathCliff on January 20, 2017 at 11:28 pm

@fordraff – enjoyed your review of John Ireland / the scarf for IMDB. Right on.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on July 17, 2017 at 12:21 pm

With the Poconos movieplex gone, this is the only theater in town.

JHJHJH
JHJHJH on July 18, 2017 at 7:51 am

But Cinemark Stroud Mall It’s very close, there are still options to go see a movie

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on August 18, 2023 at 7:48 am

The Grand Theatre was once destroyed by a fire in the Spring of 1929. It was rebuilt, restored, and reopened on January 9, 1930.

After the Grand Cinema closed in 1986, the theater sat abandoned for a decade. It wasn’t until ten years later in 1996 that the Grand was renovated and renamed the Pocono Cinema by John and Carolyn Yetter, unfortunately it almost turned down. They only operated the cinema for six months, and throughout the following few months, other former employees tried to take over the business by leasing it but failed after less than a year.

Throughout time, the Pocono received some ups-and-downs. In mid-2008, after the Pocono Cinema had closed for the third time in less than two years, the theater re-opened as a non-profit organization as the Pocono Community Theater. And in November 2015, the Pocono Community Theater was renamed “Pocono Cinema and Cultural Center” to better reflect its mission statement.

As of 2023, the Pocono Cinema & Cultural Center ran mainly first-run features, although there were some classic matinees added. Only some independent features were also added as rare occasions, since it was formerly an art house back when the theater was known as simply “Pocono Cinema” in the late-1990s and early-to-mid 2000s.

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