Valley Circle Theater

5040 Mission Center Road,
San Diego, CA 92108

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Mann Theatres, National General Theatres

Firms: Harold W. Levitt & Associates

Previous Names: Fox Valley Circle Theater

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News About This Theater

Exterior

A single screen theater in the Mission Valley section of San Diego. One of three in it’s heyday (the other two were the Center and Cinema 21). Anchored the Mission Valley West Center before its demolition. Opened by National General Theatres on December 23, 1966 with Peter Sellers in “After the Fox”. The theatre had 922 seats, all on a single level. It was closed and demolished in early-1998.

Contributed by Gabriel Neeb

Recent comments (view all 27 comments)

LomaUsher
LomaUsher on March 14, 2014 at 1:30 am

I saw Star Wars in this cinema, and it my first taste of a Hollywood “blockbuster.” I remember the lines around the theater, the excitement, the chatter and high spirits, and I had NEVER heard an audience react like that in front of a movie-screen. I thought I was at a football game, sometimes for all the cheering. The theater itself was relatively nondescript, but the memories are not!

stowaway2k
stowaway2k on August 9, 2014 at 7:33 pm

What great memories. I too worked at the Valley Circle for about two years. I was hired on as a high school senior for “Star Wars”, and I stayed through “Starting Over”. The Star Wars run was incredible. Sold out solid for months on end, and then those crazy midnight shows. We had to borrow staff from other local Mann theaters. We were robbed at gunpoint one Saturday night after the midnight show began. A couple of us were slightly injured. We also hosted a few “sneak previews”, I remember Barbara Streisand attending one of her movies being previewed. It was a great time for me, nothing but very fond memories. Oh the movie memorabilia I collected from here that I should have kept!

LauraChorba
LauraChorba on March 15, 2015 at 2:57 pm

I worked here from12/06/85 … WHITE NIGHTS (8 weeks, 70mm-Dolby Stereo)

01/31/86 … MURPHY’S ROMANCE (5 weeks) 03/07/86 … NINE ½ WEEKS (Dolby Stereo) 03/14/86 … CROSSROADS (4 weeks, Dolby Stereo) 04/11/86 … THE COLOR PURPLE (RE, Dolby Stereo) 04/18/86 … TROUBLE IN MIND (4 weeks, Dolby Stereo) 05/16/86 … SALVADOR (3 weeks) 06/06/86 … ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo) 06/20/86 … THE KARATE KID II (9 weeks, Dolby Stereo) 08/22/86 … STAND BY ME (8 weeks)

dickneeds111
dickneeds111 on March 26, 2015 at 1:03 pm

SORRY nEEB, yOU SAID THAT oLIVER WAS NOT IN 70MM. dO YOU MEAN AT THIS THEATRE OR ANYWHERE.Columbia made 70mm blowups and they played them in a lot of big city theatres like L.A., N.Y. SF, Chicago and others.

kagemusha98
kagemusha98 on October 25, 2016 at 2:49 pm

I have been to this site in awhile. Having been a usher from 1969-1973… regarding OLIVER!..I saw the 35mm film with the projectionist. He was disappointed that they did not get a 70mm print. Back then San Diego was not a big city and to see OLIVER! in 70mm one had to drive up to LA… The projectionist also turned off the surrounds because they had a “whistle”. I had to sell hot dogs at intermission while holding the souvenir program and the page opened to Fagin holding a sausage …embarassing! I also remember “FORTUNE AND MENS EYES..The manager was very upset showing that film…:–). The weeks of BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE and also MASH…the theater was always packed with long lines outside. It did not matter how many times I watched it, the laughter was infectious.

CStefanic
CStefanic on February 17, 2017 at 11:14 am

Can I get confirmation from someone who may have been working at this theatre when it showed the Sneak Preview Cut of Logan’s Run on May 7th 1976?

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on May 16, 2017 at 11:41 am

Why didn’t this theater show ET and Titanic during their runs? Those movies torched Star Wars as the top blockbusters of the 20th century!!!

rleather
rleather on December 6, 2018 at 4:00 pm

Amazing theatre and presentation, sitting in the middle of a parking lot. I saw Star Wars opening day, first show here and the line was all around the entire (not small) building. Every other time after that when I was in there, it was mostly empty. 900 seats is a lot to keep filled.

rperaza
rperaza on May 26, 2020 at 3:22 pm

Oh what a time – and place! This became a babysitting facility for my younger brother and I (ages 9 and 11) that late summer of ‘77. We had to stay with our just-divorced dad for one of those summer months and we just hated having to be there with his new wife and baby (I’m sure she hated it, too). At any rate, this theater was right down the hill, and we’d sit through 1½ showings of 'Star Wars’ each session (we’d start mid-way about the Cantina scene). Oh, and it was not ‘Episode 4’ nor ‘A New Hope’ yet. I think we managed a total of 12 or 14 viewings that summer! One way or the other, it cost our dad, plus the concession stuff! Note: it also could have been the following summer of ‘78, as I believe 'Star Wars’ ran there for over a year.

rthompson_14
rthompson_14 on October 8, 2022 at 12:03 am

Movie Buff - ET showed at the Loma Theater and Titanic showed at the Cinema 21. All three theaters were single-screen 900-1000-seat venues and were all part of the Mann Theaters chain - I worked at all 3 of them (hired at Cinema 21, transferred to The Loma when we got a new manager at C-21 that I couldn’t work for, then transferred to Valley Circle when The Loma closed). I miss the big screen movie palaces.

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