Britton Cinema 8
3938 S. Dale Mabry Highway,
Tampa,
FL
33611
3938 S. Dale Mabry Highway,
Tampa,
FL
33611
3 people
favorited this theater
Contributed by
Lost Memory
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 33 comments)
tlsloews, At least you remembered the film “Sleeper” and your $1.50 per hour when you began in the business. I can’t recall which films were playing my first night on the job at the Dale Mabry Drive-In. But I can’t forget my $5.00 per night pay that amounted to about .83 cents an hour!
Mike, I saw “Paper Moon” on my first visit. Afterwards I peeked in the shoebox cinema I to see how “The Sound of Music” was doing and it was crowded. I was standing at the back for a few minutes when suddenly the reel ended and the picture went off the screen making loud bleeping & popping noises as it ran completely through the projector and soundhead leaving a brightly lit screen for a few seconds. POOR SHOWMANSHIP! Where was the projectionist..?!
Here’s an article on the reopening of the Britton as a triplex on June 28, 1973. A photo shows a portion of the original auditorium with the new smaller screen that replaced the original 60-foot wide screen which was torn out. I focused the ad to the max but still not the best quality. Text of article continues on bottom link.
View link
Text continued from above:
View link
Cool artical and photos Nick,I know it is hard to make them look good at least you have some old stuff to post I never kept any of my old stuff except one-sheets.Luckly none of my theatres were divited they just built as one screens even the Loews Melrose with 1000 seats including the balcony would have worked unless they were real small theatres,there was talk of it but it never happened. The Loews Crescent with 830 seats maybe could have been split but they would have been very long skinny theatres with small screens.And I just thought there were only exit doors on the left side of the house so the fire codes would not let this happen.
tlsloews, It’s amazing that none of the theatres in your city were destroyed by dividing. I just assumed theatres in every city were suffering the same fate but apparently not. Locally there were three large theatres that received the split treatment: the Britton, the Loews, and the Hillsboro I. The Loew’s/Austin was one of the worst examples of this trend.
When the Britton was opened in the mid 1950s, it was described as the “largest theatre south of Washington, D.C.” I wouldn’t know how accurate that was, but I certainly remember that it was described that way.
thanks Nick for the article.
The Britton Theatre 8 in Tampa is run by what was called FIVE STAR THEATRES. They have now dropped that name. The India(n)s that run this theatre are associated with, although they will make no such claim, is: View link and they advertise their India(n) films at www.forindians.com Their website may say they are not affiliated with any other websites however this is clearly not true.
It’s been leaked in the plaza that the theatre sits that once again they are promising First Run features at the beginning of the year 2011.
I’d also like to point out that this theatre has never repaired theatre 5 since Zota vacated it in 2008 so you can actually call this the Britton Theare 7. The elevator has been “temporarily out of service” since they have opened.
The Plaza management has been alerted as well as the maintenance people on the grounds in case of theft of equipment when their carnival leaves town.
Well, after that rant I can honestly say they have had only two reputable owners lease this theatre and that is General Cinema and Regal Cinemas. Remember, you get what you pay for.
Pete, are you saying that the plaza owner wants the theater to go first run? Or the operator? There is no way in you know where that they could make money as a 1st run location without a gut-rehab. It is destined as a sub run for the rest of it’s life. I would not see anyone invesitng that much money in such an old location with too much new competition!
I am dissapointed to hear that they are not marketing, and operating the location as it could be a gold mine as a dollar house if someone came in and cleaned the crap out of it! The dust on the speakers was 3 inches thick when I was here this this time last year. If you are aware if this is a yearly lease, I know a successful operator with 9 locations (6 being discount houses) that has equipment who would love to come into Tampa!
Chuck
Now playing here April 7 1963 is “PHAEDRA"Adults only. no children or student tickets sold.
Well I don’t believe it, but late 2011 this theater went 1st run again with a matinee price of $3 and evening $6 with NO UPGRADES.. Do I see it closing again when the problem of a digital upgrade LOOMS?!