Charlottetown Mall Cinemas
418 Independence Boulevard,
Charlotte,
NC
28204
418 Independence Boulevard,
Charlotte,
NC
28204
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 36 comments found
Raymond, Stanley Kramer’s IT’S A MAD,MAD,MAD WORLD was NEVER presented as a roadshow at the Charlottetown. It was a general release in 1964. It was given two showings daily with reduced admission.
John Huston’s THE BIBLE was a reserved seat engagement at the Charlottetown around January, 1967.(aka The Cinema I & II)
“HAWAII” was a reserved seat engagement showing at the Carolina. It did not play at the Charlottetown.
“THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD”(which was presented in Cinerama) was a general release showing at Charlottetown. It was not a roadshow presentation NOR it was not presented in Cinerama neither. Same with “KHARTOUM” that also played here as a general release. Due to the length of both films,it was given two showings daily.
The re-release of BEN HUR and EXODUS played here too as general releases.
BTW….All of the James Bond-007 pictures played at Charlottetown with the exception of “HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE”-which played first run at the Center.
The Bond Movies that played at Charlottetown(aka Cinema I & II): “FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE”, “THUNDERBALL”, “YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE”, “DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER”, “LIVE AND LET DIE”, “THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN”,all the way with “THE SPY WHO LOVED ME”, “MOONRAKER”, “FOR YOUR EYES ONLY”,“OCTOPUSSY”, “A VIEW TO A KILL”, to ‘THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS" and “LICENSE TO KILL”….
**The original PLANET OF THE APES played the Charlottetown first-run in June of 1968 as a general release.
thanks raysson and Jay.
Posted a pic of Opening Day STAR WARS ad at Charlottetown in July of 1977. Look at the photos for this theater.
By 1975,Screen 1 was split down the middle into two auditoriums for its grand opening of the Charlottetown Mall Cinemas I-II-III,adding an additional 670 seats.
By 1980,Screen 2 was split down the middle to make way for a multiplex(Charlottetown Mall 4).
BTW: This theatre was NEVER under Carmike Cinemas. General Cinema control operations until its closing in 1994.
Opened on November 6,1963 with Debbie Reynolds in “MARY,MARY”(playing on two screens for it’s grand opening). Also known as the Cinema I & II. This was North Carolina’s first-ever twin theatres under General Cinema Corporation.
Seating capacity for Screen 1: 700 seats
Seating capacity for Screen 2: 650 seats
Total of 1,350 seats when this was a twin cinema in 1963.
Francis Ford Coppula’s THE GODFATHER played here on March 22,1972.[when it was still a twin cinema]
STAR WARS played at the Charlottetown Cinema for an impressive 46 weeks from June 17,1977 until it ended in December of 1977.[aka The Charlottetown I-II-III]
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK played here to capacity crowds in 1981.
The Charlottetown Mall Cinemas was also known as the CINEMA I & II. The theatre originally opened on November 6, 1963 with Debbie Reynolds in “Mary,Mary” that played on two screens. I have the original ads from it’s Grand Opening from the Charlotte Observer newspaper as the 1st twin theatres to be established in North Carolina.
I have found the original ads for the Grand Opening of the Charlottetown Mall Cinemas,also known as the Cinema I & II from 1963. I wish someone would put this information out there,but I have the original ad from the Charlotte Observer newspaper.
Charlottetown Mall became one of the first indoor shopping centers to be built in the Southeast between Washington,DC and Atlanta,GA. Charlottetowne Mall was North Carolina’s first ever indoor shopping center and became Charlotte’s most popular destination center that opened to the public on October 28, 1959.
The mall had two levels that included a Bon Marche' Department Store(later Ivey’s),a Roses Five and Ten,
Eckerd Drugs,another department store,and on the lower level on the opposite end was a huge Colonial/Big Stat grocer.
The Charlottetowne Mall cinemas opened in 1963 as it was the first twin theatres to be established in North Carolina. A third screen was added in the mid-1970’s(By taking the original auditoriums and splitting it down the middle and it was also done in the 1980’s).
A fourth screen came during the 1980’s until its closing in the 1990’s. It has since been demolished.
fondling a theatre girl….these days that would be sexual harassment and statutory rape of a minor. serious charges here.
this sorry bastard of a manager deserved to be arrested too!!!
this also happened to a theatre manager in Durham too who was arrested for fondling an underage girl(statutory rape)after the young girl(who was an employee at the theatre) told police what happened to her on the job,and the next day when the manager show up for work,he was surrounded by local police and the district manager of Carmike Cinemas(which operated the cinema)and was arrested on serious charges of rape and incest of a minor.
These days if anyone did that on the job….towards any young girl,you will not only lose your job…you’ll be arrested too….its not worth it. During working hours,keep your hands to yourself,focus on your job and leave this young people alone during your shift at work.
fondling a theatre girl,boy thats a new one.
my brother and i worked there in winter 75. changing the theater marquee at the street. this was before it was moved to the hill. manager at the time was a real jerk, fired us and he got caught fondling one of the girls up front in ticket booth. had our photo taken by jeep hunter of the observer changing the marquee one night.
FYI: At the height of its opening,the Charlottetown Cinemas(which it was twin theatre back in 1963)mostly had rights to show exclusive roadshow enagements,which were mostly reserving seating,and were given either two or three showings daily. Most of the exclusive roadshow enagements were mostly the James Bond 007-Sean Connery films that played here that open to capacity crowds that went to see them: I know in one of the advertisement that a showing of “Goldfinger” was a roadshow enagement and so was “Thunderball” and “You Only Live Twice”. Not to mention other films were given the roadshow treatment at the Charlottetown as well including “The Greatest Story Ever Told”,and more,which it was a twin cinema during the mid-1960’s and early 1970’s,before it became a triplex theatre.
Charlottetowne Mall Cinemas opened in 1963 as one of the first twin theatres to be established in North Carolina. Owned and operated under General Cinema Corporation. The theatre closed in 1994,and was demolished in 2005 to make way for a Target and a Home Depot store.
FYI: The Charlottetowne Mall opened its doors to the public in 1959 as the first-ever indoor shopping center to be established in North Carolina. I don’t know if the mall is still in operation,but the last I heard it was renamed as Midtown Square Mall.
WASN’T THERE A TWIN DRIVE IN BUILT SOMEWHERE AROUND THERE AND I AM SURPRIZED NO ONE IN CHARLOTTE HAS WRITTEN ON THE THUNDERBIRD DRIVR IN. I KNOW IT WAS AN ABC THEATRE.
Photos of General Cinema Theatres operating in North Carolina.
View link
Includes the marquee for the Charlottetown Mall Cinemas from either 1981 or 1982.
Some excellent history, some images about General Cinema can be found at:
View link
This GCC Theatre was identical to the Sunset Hills Cinema I & II in St. Louis, Co. They did the same there, split the big auditorium to make it Cinema I, II & III and later split the smaller auditorium making it a four screen. Lonf gone and the area is now a Home Depot.
Here is a direct links to pictures mentioned above:
View link
This one of the box-office from Jan. 1982:
View link
Charlottetown Cinemas did have three screens at one time (c1981). By 1982 it had 4. Two photos of it can be found at my flickr site: View link
No one has talked about the bathrooms! I can’t speak for the men but in the womens' each stall had it’s own sink. Big, roomy, private stalls! (of course, a nightmare to clean!!!!)
Charlottetown was indeed a I-II-III at some point although I dont have the exact years. Im glad someone posted that all General Cinemas popped their own corn. I worked many years at SouthPark and we always popped our popcorn upstairs.
General Cinemas usual practice with a big twin was to split one side, making a triplex, then coming back a few years later to split the other large auditorium ending up with in 4-screens. So at some point along the way I’m sure it was Charlottetown Cinema I-II-III, as Michael C. suspects.
“Star Wars” (1977 original) had a 46-week run here, which I suspect was the longest run in the theater’s history.
[quote]The correct name for this theatre was Charlottetown Mall Cinemas. This theatre never had 8 screens. It opened as a twin cinema. Years later the two auditoriums were split to make a 4-screen cinema. — posted by jce on Feb 9, 2004 at 7:52pm
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Are you sure it went from two screens to four? Wasn’t there a period where the theater had three screens? I ask because newspaper advertising from the late 1970s identified it, in typical General Cinema stylization of the era, as Charlottetown I-II-III.
The Charlottetowne Mall Cinemas was demolished along with a vacant Shoney’s Restaurant was replaced with a Home Depot store and a Target.
The address for this was at 418 East Independence Blvd.
at the intersection of Independence Blvd. and Kings Drive across from the Charlottetowne Mall.