Paramount 5 Theatre

The Paramount was opened around 1991, when it expanded the single screen to 5 screens in the space originally housing a Food 4 Less grocery store. The original 1 screen was called the Frontier Theater for the the shopping center by the same name that the theater was located in. Not sure when it opened, but it was definitely open in the 70’s. The original 1 screen sat around 200, but had a large open area between the front row and the stage/screen. During popular movies (Star Wars, Karate Kid, Raider’s of the Lost Ark…) this area was normally filled with 50-100 kids sitting on the floor. The Frontier was independently owned, I beleive. The lobby area was very small, with a small counter used for both concessions and ticket sales, along with two ‘1 at a time’ restrooms. As Ankeny expanded, the theater was vastly inadequate, particularly with the many movie theater options down the road in Des Moines. The expansion from 1 to 5 screens in the early 90’s was too little and too late given the boom of population and retail options in the area, giving rise to a new theater being built a few years later.