Marina Twins
1765 Ala Moana Blvd.,
Honolulu,
HI
96815
1765 Ala Moana Blvd.,
Honolulu,
HI
96815
1 person
favorited this theater
Location : Honolulu Hawaii. Ala Moana Boulevard. Street Level, occupying space below the Ilikai Hotel parking lot. Honolulu Yacht Harbor right behind the theatres, hence the name. Good location. Near major Waikiki hotels and restaurants.
The Marina Twins opened in August 1974 with the Honolulu premiere of "Chinatown". Till the late-1980’s, Marina was part of the Royal Theatre chain, showing exclusively Paramount and Disney studio releases.
One theatre was red, one was blue. Each theatre held about 190 seats. Decent projection, seats, and sound. Snack bar was okay. I remember stale popcorn, lukewarm hot dogs, limited candy selection. Tiny bathroom. I remember standing in long lines to see : “Murder on the Orient Express”, “King Kong”( 1976 version), “Black Sunday”, “The Black Hole”, “Ordinary People”, “First Blood”, “48 Hours”, “An Officer and a Gentleman”, “Flashdance”, “Terms of Endearment”, “The Terminator”, “Pretty in Pink”. I think "Saturday Night Fever" played continously for six months at this theatre, only to be replaced by the long running "Grease" in June of 1978.
The Marina Twins was bought by Consolidated Theatres in 1984 and started booking other studio films. Last movie I saw at the Marina Twins was "Death Becomes Her" in 1993. Theatres were sold gutted I think in 1995, replaced by Outback Steakhouse.
Contributed by
Chris Sailer
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Even the entrance to the theatre was completely redone when Outback gutted the theatre. Nothing left to decern that it was ever a movie theatre. Consoliudated either dumped or closed a lot of their Hi. theatres.
Oh yes I can’t forget the Marina Twins while then under ownership of the Royal Chain. As A Kid I always checked to see what was playing there back in the 70’s. The first movie that I saw there was Raiders of The Lost Ark. And other movies seen there, Grease 2, Terms of Endearment & Falcon & The Snowman, Four Weddings & A Funeral and few others I may have forgotten. The theater itself seems quite small, the lobby area, snack bar facility seems teeny tiny & the theaters on both side were designed differently. Theater 1 is the typical theater shaped auditorium vs. #2 was slightly a rectangle shaped-ish that was different from the other one. And yes when Royal Theater Chain went poof, Consolidated took over which eventually became Outback as I recall while living on the islands.
The Marina Twins were built in a former gas station, which opened onto the street (Ala Moana Blvd) and, because the building’s lower floors were a parking garage, the concrete floor of the gas station-turned-theatre sloped up off the street. The auditorium seats were placed facing the street and — instant rake! If you pulled back the sidewall curtain in the draped auditorium, the gas station sign was still on the wall which read “Turn off engine before refueling.”
In spite of their strange genesis, the Marina Twins were nice cozy theatres.
Affress:
1765 Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, HI. 96815