Kings Plaza 6 Theaters
5201 Kings Plaza,
Brooklyn,
NY
11234
5201 Kings Plaza,
Brooklyn,
NY
11234
9 people
favorited this theater
Opened by Century Theatres as a twin in 1970, inside the Kings Plaza shopping center. Next to a Joyce Leslie.
The Kings Plaza 6 Theaters was closed by AMC Theatres in January 2010.
Contributed by
gena2
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Recent comments (view all 33 comments)
In 1974 or so, a friend & I saw a double bill (remember them ?) of “Claudine” and “Harry & Tonto” here.
Yes I do remember (and miss) those double features. And the one you saw in 1974 was typical of that era, where a new movie would be doubled with one from 6 months to a year earlier. (sometimes even 2 or 3 years earlier) Some other classic ‘double features’ from that time include, “The Graduate” & “Carnal Knowledge”, “The French Connection” & “MAS*H”, and “Bullitt” & “Bonnie and Clyde”. When the theatres were short on films to run, they could always count on these, and others to get them thru.
This theater opened when the Kings Plaza mall opened in 1970 and, at the beginning, was quite popular. In 1971, I stood for 2 hours on a very long line waiting for the next showing of Sean Connery in “Diamonds are Forever.” (I saw many Bond films there.) One of my favorite memories was a rainy Christmas eve. 1978, sitting on the floor next to the Alexanders dept. store for several hours waiting, with my wife, for the next showing of “Superman.” I saw many films there and then 2 things happened: they turned 2 nice large theaters into four (six now.) But more importantly, individuals from outside the area discovered the plaza and this theater. As a result predictibly the crime rate went up and this was no longer a very enjoyable place to see a film. (I can clearly remember an incident of windows being smashed after a group of rowdy “youngsters” came out of a showing of Bad Boys.“) The last time I was there was in the late ‘80s or early '90s to take my son to see a Tom Selleck film "Mr. Baseball.” I have not been back since.
Since I was the one who posted this theater originally to Cinema Treasures (I’m also gena2), it only seems appropriate that I be the one to post of its demise. I heard a very strong rumor that this theater will be gone soon, and in its place there will be a Best Buy (like we really need that). It saddens me greatly, as this theater (like the Kingsway, the Marboro, and the Georgetown Twin) was one of my childhood theaters. My late grandmother took me here to see Rocky 3, though I’m sure she was slighly disturbed that her six year old granddaughter wanted to see it. (I liked the theme song.) My last memory of going here, is seeing “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” about the life of Tina Turner. During all the scenes in which Tina was getting beat up by Ike, a man near me was yelling “Go get her Ike! Beat her up BUT GOOD!‘ It was at this point that I realized I could no longer patronize this theater. The moviegoers were just too insane. But I’ll miss it. Thinking of going one more time for old time’s sake.
Passed by Kings Plaza this afternoon and, lo and behold, this theater is indeed closed. Saw many wonderful films here: “Superman,” “Diamonds are Forever,” “Live and Let Die,” “Moonraker,” “For Your Eyes Only,” “Octopussy,” “2010,” etc., etc. However when the clientele of this theater started to change, it was the kiss of death. And this theater is now deceased.
On a sunday I went to an 10:00AM morning discount showing to a movie the mall did open till 10AM from the parking area . At least I miss those dumb commercials when I finally enter the theater.
This in its day one of brooklyns highest grossing movie theaters.
This is a Best Buy now.
While it is appropriate – at least for those who enjoyed viewing movies here – to mourn the passing of this theater, it is worth pointing out that the opening of Kings Plaza in 1970 had the unforseen consequence of really gutting the once vibrant Flatbush/Church Avenues shopping district. The greatest cinematic victim of this development was, of course, the Loews King.
So the random fates of life go forward: The Kings Plaza Theaters are now history while the Loews King is undergoing a well deserved restoration.
I lived in Brooklyn all my teenage life, theaters like this one was an escape from the neighbor-hood many theaters were in walking distance, but you wouldn’t take a girl there due to enemies in the area, and her friends might see her and label her a whore. The Kings plaza allowed you to shop and see a movie and have dinner in the area, all in walking distance and catch a cab or bus depending on the maturity of the date. While back in Brooklyn on vacation with my wife, I was giving her the grand tour, she is native Italian, I was brushed buy a female “thug” who wanted to stare me down, while expecting an “excuuussse me”, she wanted to confront me and engage in a starring contest, I chose to let it go but if it wasn’t for my training and military bearing she might have got a good ol brooklyn beat down. The area has changed and but popular culture has changed also these theaters have to find a way to attract movie goers, we can get young amped up teens watching violent movies with the variety of drugs out there, then let them loose on society and expect them to maintain property values and personal behavior.