Alliance Theatre

410 Box Butte Avenue,
Alliance, NE 69301

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Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on December 22, 2009 at 4:01 pm

I received this email from Lyle in Alliance with a little history on the Alliance Theatre, it should clear up some questions.

I an not good at details but I can give you some “relative” answers that may
help. If it is important that you have the exact dates, I can get them for
you. If you just need the general information, I hope this will be of help.

Gerald Bullard bought the theatre and added first the balcony theatre; then
he added #3, the left half of the old JCPenny building. At that time there
was a video store in the right half (or so) of the building. Then he added

4 in the right part of the Penny building with the fifth screen in back of

the fourth theatre. It holds a couple dozen or so and is really just a
screening room. He uses it when the contract calls for showing a picture
even there is no one there. (or at least nearly that circumstance). They
don’t always use all of the screens, but that is how they run.

Theatre #1, the main and largest theatre, is equipped with very comfortable
seating, digital equipment for both flat and 3-D video and multi-channel
sound.

The name of the company is The Geju Theatres with screens in Newcastle, WY;
Hot Springs, SD; Chadron, NE; and Alliance, NE. In addition to the screens
in Alliance that I have already mentioned, there is also an outdoor drive-in
near the golf course which has just the one screen; it is called the
Sandhills Drive-In.

Geju stands for Gerald and Judy Bullard. Currently, Gerald is not as active
in the organization as in previous times. He still keeps in close contact
with his son Craig who with his wife Janine, runs all of the theatres in
Alliance.

kpdennis
kpdennis on December 21, 2009 at 12:33 pm

The photo on the May 2009 message was taken in 1989 – so sometime after then for the renovation.

Splitting an approximately 750-seat auditorium into five separate rooms – that’s an interesting puzzle!

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on December 21, 2009 at 3:03 am

Joe I think you mis-understood what I was trying to say, no date has shown up as to when it was multiplexed and nothing shows up on the internet in searches, from the photos it looks like the original auditorium had to have been split up since there are no additions visible at street level. It had to have been done sometime after 1982 as the photo in that year shows one screen.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 21, 2009 at 12:34 am

I’m not doubting that the theater was multiplexed, just saying that I can’t find anything in Boxoffice about it. I had hoped to find an item that would reveal the year that it was done, and that might give the new seating capacity.

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on December 20, 2009 at 4:45 am

Joe, it had to happen somewhere along the way, you can’t have 5 movies starting at the same time in one auditorium. Looks like it had to happen since 1982 since it was a single screen then from the photo posted by LM on 5/23/09.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 20, 2009 at 3:33 am

The Alliance was a 1937 rebuild of an older theater called the Imperial. Fox Intermountain had recently opened the rebuilt and renamed house, according to Boxoffice of November 20 that year. The Imperial had already been completely remodeled before, as reported in Movie Age of January 19, 1929.

Fox Intermountain was still operating the Alliance when the house was reseated in 1956, reducing capacity from 900 to 756, according to Boxoffice of June 2.

Updated and remodeled again in 1976, the Alliance was then being operated by Commonwealth Theatres, as reported in Boxoffice of October 11.

I’ve found nothing in Boxoffice about the multiplexing of this theater.

lostmemory
lostmemory on May 23, 2009 at 8:56 pm

This is the 1982 photo.

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on May 15, 2009 at 2:59 am

Easy – Chop Chop Chop

kpdennis
kpdennis on May 15, 2009 at 1:37 am

The Alliance looking sharp in 1989 – how did this single screen venue acquire four more auditoriums by 2009?
View link

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on April 6, 2009 at 5:46 pm

1982 photo of th Alliance Theatre.
View link

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on March 22, 2009 at 12:11 pm

Another photo of the Alliance Thatre.
View link

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on March 20, 2009 at 12:06 am

LM mentioned on Jul 10, 2007 that this theatre has 5 screens, according to their wev site they do have 5 screens. The header need to be updated. He also gave the Geju web site on Nov. 5, 2007.
www.gejutheatres.com

lostmemory
lostmemory on January 9, 2008 at 9:53 pm

This is a more recent photo.

lostmemory
lostmemory on November 5, 2007 at 2:21 pm

Don’t believe everything that you read.

lostmemory
lostmemory on November 5, 2007 at 1:41 pm

Here is a website for the Alliance Theater.

lostmemory
lostmemory on July 10, 2007 at 2:37 pm

This is a recent photo of the Alliance Theater. It looks like it has five screens.