UA Queen 4 Theatre
239 Town Center Road,
King of Prussia,
PA
19406
239 Town Center Road,
King of Prussia,
PA
19406
2 people
favorited this theater
The King Theatre opened June 1963 by Sam Shapiro as the first theatre for the Sameric Theatres chain. This theatre was located in the Valley Forge Shopping Center in King of Prussia.
In 1973/74 the theatre was twinned. In 1988/88, four screens were built in a ajoining building in the shopping center, resulting in the name change to Eric King & Queen 6 Theatre. In 1988, United Artists acquired the Sameric chain, still calling the theatres Eric Theatres until 1991.
In 1997/98, The King Twin portion of the King & Queen 6 closed, resulting in a name change to UA Queen 4 Theatre.
In 2000, The UA Queen 4 Theatre was closed when the UA King of Prussia Stadium 16 and IMAX Theatre opened.
Today, a K & G Mens Warehouse and Peppers Italian restaurant occupies the UA Queen 4 building, and a Marshalls store occupies the former site of the Eric King Twin Theatre.
Contributed by
Michael R. Rambo Jr.
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
How many seats were in the King and Queen theatre complex per screen?
The King’s two theatres sat around 700+.
Three of the Queen’s four houses sat 415.
The last theatre sat 350. All four Queen
theatres looked quite identical (except 1 & 4
had no surround speakers, just mono sound),
but #4 had to have seats removed from the front
several rows to bring it into township regulation
due to the amount of parking spaces available.
The King was actually not opened as a Sameric. It was opened as a Jerry Lewis Cinema. As a matter of fact Jerry opened it personally, and there was a bronze plaque in the floor of the ticket lobby that commemorated that fact (“Opened by the King of show business, Jerry Lewis…”). It was very typical of a Jerry Lewis Cinema, very cheap construction, virtually no decoration, poor, uncomfortable seats.(The only other one in the area was in Lionville, Chester County—it eventually came to be called the Marchwood cinema.
On the death notice for Sam Shapiro, founder of the Sameric chain, it list that he opened the King Theatre, then a few monts later opened the Eric Fairless Hills and Eric Harrisburg Theatre. It wasnn’t until the late 1960’s that this theatre started using the “Eric” name.
The King Theatre was org. to the left of the Food Fair Supermarket at the Valley Forge Shopping Center