Woodfield Mall Cinemas
5 Woodfield Road,
Schaumburg,
IL
60173
5 Woodfield Road,
Schaumburg,
IL
60173
6 people
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This theater was located inside the Woodfield Mall. (The mall also had a pair of free-standing twin cinemas at the perimeter of the mall near Golf Road, which have both since closed and been razed, replaced by additional retail). Built in the early 80s in the place of the mall’s indoor ice-skating rink, the theater had five screens. This theater closed in 2000.
After it closed, the space was turned into a theme restaurant called Mars 2112 which was very short-lived. The former theater area was converted into an Improv Comedy Club in 2006, the first location in Illinois.
Contributed by
Aaron wood
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Recent comments (view all 26 comments)
The first theater at the Woodfield Mall was opened to the public by ABC-Great States on July 30, 1971, but had its formal grand opening on September 9 that year. It was a twin screen operation called the Woodfield 1 and 2, and was designed by the architectural firm of Loebl, Schlossman, Bennett & Dart, the same firm that designed the original River Oaks Theatre in Calumet City.
The October 11, 1971, issue of Boxoffice Magazine ran an item about the opening, but failed to mention the seating capacity of the new theater. An earlier Boxoffice item published on February 1, 1971, announcing the groundbreaking for the project, had said that one of the auditoriums would seat 1200, but that the capacity of the other had not yet been announced.
The June 4, 1979, issue of Boxoffice said: “The Woodfield 2 and 3 opened May 25, giving Woodfield 1 and 2 the much-needed room in one of the country’s largest shopping centers.” The use of Woodfield 2 and 3 as the name of the new theaters must have been carelessness on the part of Boxoffice. Later issues refer to the new houses more sensibly as Woodfield 3 and 4.
I’ve been unable to find anything in Boxoffice about the Woodfield 5.
Is there any way I can see caps from BO magazine?
Boxoffice has uploaded scans of most of its archive to Issuu, a web publishing site. To find items on specific subjects it’s best to use Google advanced search, but once a particular issue of the magazine is opened at Issuu, their internal search will quickly find specific words (only one at a time, alas) within that issue.
Of course, living in Hoffman from 1961, we went to the Woodfield Mall when it opened-the world’s largest shopping mall. Three levels in the center court, a skating rink and a McDonalds; first time for a fast food restaurant in a mall. I worked at J.C. Penny and had friends that worked at Florsheim Shoes and Chess King.I performed in the court with HEHS choir. There was no theater inside at that time and the Woodfield 1 & 2 freestanding theaters were fabulous because they were new. I recall “The Poseidon Adventure” and “Grease” at this theater. I have not been to Woodfield since.
No Photos?
I just found ‘77 high school yearbook photos of Gerald Ford’s appearance in the center court of Woodfield Mall- B&W . There are pics somewhere of our choir doing a concert there as well. I was an usher at the Thunderbird in Hoffman Estates; wish I had photos of that!
Wikipedia has good pics of the inside of the mall
Thanks Cliffordell!Wikipedia is the free BOOK as I call it.
My friend Steve worked at Johnston & Murphy shoes, not Florsheim. I loved working at that mall. You could walk for hours; I’d never seen so many shops! I was always hanging out at Walden Books looking for movie stuff. My Mom’s second job was at Lord & Taylor so I could have whatever I wanted off the reduced rack plus employee discount. I worked in the stock room and the display dept. at Penny’s and never once used my employee discount! Ow! But I think we got reduced theater tickets as well, which was great. Still needed a ride, though!!!I remember getting lost in the parking lot looking for my Mom and my Grandmother after an evening of shopping. I became very anxious and,when I finally saw them in the distance, started to
tear up. It was cold and dark; I didn’t remember if we were in section A, B or AA or BB!!
This opened on July 30th, 1971. I uploaded the grand opening ad with picture here.