Six Flags Cinema 1-5

2922 Galleria Drive,
Arlington, TX 76011

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: General Cinema Corp.

Previous Names: Six Flags Cinema I & II

Nearby Theaters

Six Flags Mall Cinema ad, January 2, 1983

1970’s style General Cinema theater, the Six Flags Cinema I & II was opened August 5, 1970 with Paul Newman in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. Each screen had 350 seats. It was a stand alone building north of the Six Flags mall, near the Sears automotive center. Three more screens were added on December 21, 1979. It was closed on August 26, 1990. It was demolished in 2017.

Contributed by Michael

Recent comments (view all 11 comments)

jamestv
jamestv on June 7, 2010 at 4:52 pm

This theatre building is still standing but rotting. I went many a time to the original Six Flags Mall Cinema I&II. Sometime in the ‘80’s, they added three more screens behind the original two.

mhg92
mhg92 on January 13, 2012 at 5:39 am

Saw Dragnet there in 1987

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on April 23, 2015 at 9:56 am

he General Cinema Corp.’s (GCC) Six Flags Mall Cinema I & II was announced late in 1969 to be located in the Village adjacent to the Six Flags Mall at the confluence of highways 80 and 360. It would open with the rest of the mall on August 5, 1970. It opened with “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” It would be GCC’s second Arlington theater with its nearby GCC Park Plaza Cinema which had opened in May of 1966. The Six Flags theater’s identical 350 seat auditoria had push-back chairs, automated projection equipment, special smoking sections, and an art gallery in the lobby. The mall was planned by veteran shopping center group Homart Development which had an exterior GCC at its Seminary South shopping center and would have exterior GCC theaters at its Town East Mall in Mesquite four years later and also at the Parks Mall in Arlington late in the 1980s. Six Flags’ external shopping area was called “The Village” and the theater could be seen from the northern doors of Sanger-Harris and Sears. A night out at the GCC Six Flags I-II might have also included a low-priced steak dinner at the neighboring York Steak House.

The mall got competition from the Forum 303 mall less than three miles away and the General Cinema. While that mall was underwhelming on a variety of levels, it did feature an interior and superior six-screen AMC theater opening on October 13, 1971. AMC signed a 10-year lease and did such great business with first-run fare and midnight shows that it re-upped for another 10-years and was supposed to build an additional six-screen theater adjacent to the Forum Mall. Fortunately for GCC Six Flags, that project was scrapped. Some of the theater’s biggest hits were “The Godfather,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

General Cinema faced pressure from six-screen multiplexes with both its Town East and Six Flags properties. In both situations, the theaters were retrofitted to become five screen properties. Town East got a poorly executed five-screen shoehorned into its existing space while Six Flags got extra space to tack on the additional screens. Fortunately for Mesquite moviegoers, Town East was then retrofitted to be an improved five-screen experience while the Six Flags Cinema I-V simply coasted to its end at the end of its 20-year lease in August of 1990. AMC would re-up for another lease at the Forum Mall.

The timing of GCC’s departure was curious as the mall, itself, was just completing a major expansion and redesign to compete with the new Parks Mall. But with General Cinemas opening its more modern Arlington Park Square 8 just across the street from the Parks in 1986, the circuit turned its attention there leaving behind both the Park Plaza and Six Flags. The Six Flags cinema became home to short-lived live projects including some wrestling events but for the most part look sad, empty and decrepit over the next 25 years. And fortunately for the Six Flags Mall, the March 28, 1997 launch of the nine-screen Tinseltown USA brought movies back to the Six Flags Mall even after the mall, itself, closed and then re-launched under a different name.

Coate
Coate on April 23, 2015 at 2:53 pm

“Star Wars” had a 25-week run here and ought to be lumped in with “The Godfather,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” as among the theater’s biggest hits.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on September 21, 2017 at 7:14 am

Official address – 2922 Galleria Dr #150, Arlington, TX 76011

rivest266
rivest266 on June 25, 2018 at 2:17 pm

August 5th, 1970 grand opening ad in the photo section.

rivest266
rivest266 on June 25, 2018 at 2:19 pm

The Six flags are Spain, France, Mexico, Texas, Confederated States of America and the USA.

rivest266
rivest266 on June 26, 2018 at 4:09 am

5 screens on December 21st, 1979. Another ad posted.

rivest266
rivest266 on June 27, 2018 at 4:36 pm

and closed in 1990.

richardgraymer
richardgraymer on March 17, 2024 at 8:51 pm

Saw “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back” there when they were first released. The theater by where I lived only had them during re-releases.

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