Merle Hay Mall Cinema
3800 Merle Hay Road,
Des Moines,
IA
50310
3800 Merle Hay Road,
Des Moines,
IA
50310
1 person
favorited this theater
The Merle Hay Plaza Theater was opened January 28, 1966. It changed its name to the Merle Hay Mall Cinema a few years ago and had the largest screen in Des Moines. It was closed December 15, 2014.
Contributed by
Mike Geater
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
A properly big screen, bigger sound, reasonable ticket/concession prices, and a seating capacity not prone to sellouts! Absolutely the best place in town for big-screen action epics (King Kong, Lord of the Rings, Revenge of the Sith, etc).
I just caught an afternoon matinee screening of Watchmen in this theater, and I was really impressed. I’m an avid home theater fan, and have pretty high expectations for the presentations I watch. Because of that, I rarely have the inclination to go sit in a modern “stadium-style” cineplex theater – and haven’t in several years. Wow, was I blown away! Awesome screen, excellent sound, and really top-notch experience. I was even surprised with the very fair and reasonable ticket and concession prices.
If all theaters were like this, I probably would have never built a home theater in my basement. OK, there’s still the “babysitter problem”, but the theater is great.
Two thumbs up for Merle Hay Mall Cinema!
Before it “officially” re-opened in the fall of 1993, they had special screening on the four weekends leading up to to the grand re-opening to test the new sound systems. They showed The Empire Stirkes Back, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Top Gun and Days Of Thunder. Also they will occasionally show limited-run (one week) revival screenings in the spring and fall between tentpole season. One of those was Lawrence Of Arabia and I got to see it in all of it’s 70mm glory.
And yes, it is still the biggest regular theater screen in Des Moines. The only one larger is the IMAX Dome that opened downtown a few years ago.
The Merle Hay Mall Cinema was formerly the “Plaza Theatre” – when it opened c. 1967.
This opened as Plaza on January 28th, 1966. I uploaded it’s grand opening ad in the photo section.
I am sad that this theatre will close. The new theatre at Merle hay sounds nice, but this has such a great sized screen. Sad to see another single screen theatre with a big screen go away. I wonder what they will do with the space once it closes.
This theatre should be listed as closed.
The theatre is still open for a little over another week. Their last day is December 15th. Wish I could make it, but I’ll be too late. I don’t want to see Hunger Games, but since I won’t make it anyway the point is moot. It would be cool to buy one of the seats.
https://www.facebook.com/merlehaymallcinema?hc_location=timeline
Tri States Theatres opened this theatre.
Des Moines Register article about the 2014 closing: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/daniel-finney/2014/12/13/merle-hay-cinema-closing/20361003