Warwick Mall Cinemas

400 Bald Hill Road,
Warwick, RI 02886

Unfavorite No one has favorited this theater yet

Additional Info

Previously operated by: General Cinema Corp.

Nearby Theaters

News About This Theater

Warwick Mall Cinemas

This opened as a twin cinema on April 7, 1971, and it was where many of the major films of the era opened in the Providence area after the downtown Providence theatres closed. I saw “The Exorcist” and “The Godfather” in this theatre. The General Cinema chain also owned the Lincoln Mall Cinemas and Garden City Cinemas, both also gone. One of the two auditoriums was eventually twinned.

The theatre went into decline over the years, after the opening of the Showcase Warwick multiplex. It was closed on January 28, 1999 and torn down in the early-2000’s. Now, in another part of Warwick Mall, a multiplex cinema has been built called the Showcase Warwick Mall.

Contributed by Gerald A. DeLuca

Recent comments (view all 14 comments)

Gerald A. DeLuca
Gerald A. DeLuca on May 5, 2005 at 12:47 pm

The only think I didn’t like about this theatre was that the auditoriums (when they were a twin theatre) had screens that had sort of funnel-like metallic sides. I believe they were grayish. When the left-as-you-enter auditorium was twinned, I believe each then had fixed black masking. There were no curtains and no variable masking in the house. CinemaScope films filled the screen, but in standard aspect-ratio movies, there was a blank area of white screen on either side. As a purist, I’ve always felt that correct screen masking is essential to full enjoyment of what you were watching and part and parcel of a good projection system as much as good focus, brightness, and sound quality.

David Wodeyla
David Wodeyla on May 5, 2005 at 1:49 pm

I wonder if the gray sides were the same metal General Cinema used in all their auditorium sidewalls? Maybe they extended them to the sides of the screens here.

brianmichela
brianmichela on August 27, 2005 at 8:10 am

In the 1970s and 1980s, I saw most movies at either the Warwick Mall Cinemas or the Showcase. The downtown movie palaces had closed, and, when the neighborhood theaters were sliced into mini theaters, I stopped going to them. I did make an exception, though, with the Cinerama which sometimes showed a foreign film that I wanted to see.

Gerald A. DeLuca
Gerald A. DeLuca on September 12, 2005 at 7:56 am

The Warwick Mall Cinemas closed on January 28, 1999 after the last showings of A Bug’s Life and Mighty Joe Young. It had opened in April of 1971 twenty-eight years earlier. A Providence Journal article from the previous day reported the closing. The Theatre had opened as a two-screener. Later one of the auditoriums was split in two. The seating capacities were 450, 360, and 330.

hardbop
hardbop on April 26, 2006 at 9:31 am

Last film I caught here was WAR OF THE ROSES in the late 80s.

frankd
frankd on July 13, 2007 at 8:59 am

I have to correct a previous posting – Ed Renden was NOT the manager of Warwick Mall Cinemas, Bill Quarters was. Ed was the manager of Garden City Cinema, then Swansea Mall, and finally Lincoln Mall (all part of the General Cinema chain). After all of those cinemas closed, he went to Showcase Cinemas in Seekonk in the mid-90s.

David Wodeyla
David Wodeyla on July 13, 2007 at 10:32 am

Sorry for the error, Frank, I confused Lincoln Mall with Warwick. That’s what happens as the years go by…

DOS76
DOS76 on July 20, 2008 at 5:59 am

ed renden i hear is at the showcase seekonk on fall river avenue- he used to work at the small theatre across the street 9-10 before they closed it- he worked with a another manager who was a very good friend of mine who i have lost touched with- wonder where he is now any one know?

hardbop
hardbop on October 10, 2012 at 11:49 am

I was thinking about this theatre the other day. The Brooklyn Academy of Music revived NIGHT OF THE COMET, which I caught on original release at this theatre back in 1984 when I was back in Warwick for a family visit
.

Gerald A. DeLuca
Gerald A. DeLuca on December 19, 2017 at 1:18 am

This theatre was in operation from April 7, 1971 to January 28, 1999.

You must login before making a comment.

New Comment

Subscribe Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.