Diamond Cinemas

The North Hanover Shopping Center opened theatre-less in 1965 on Carlisle Street. That changed in 1971 when an expansion took place adjoining the North Hanover Shopping Center called the Delco Plaza. William Goldman Circuit’s Plaza Theatre launched the new Plaza Theatre on June 23, 1971 with James Garner in “Support Your Local Gunfighter” in the Delco Plaza. Goldman was also running the downtown Hanover / former State Theatre. The Plaza Theatre seated 588 at opening with a single, 23' by 40' screen.

Reading-based Fox Theatres management took over both Hanover movie houses and twinned the 588-seat Plaza into two 280-seat auditoriums. It relaunched as the Plaza I and II on February 11, 1976 with Al Pacino in “Dog Day Afternoon” and Burt Reynolds in “Hustle”. A new wing was added on June 22, 1983 that brought two more auditoriums and a new name. The 477-seat and 553-seat auditoriums at the new Fox Theatres both showed “Return of the Jedi”."

On August 30, 1984, the downtown Hanover Theatre was closed. Also less than a year later the neighboring North Hanover Shopping Center was renamed the Value City Shopping Center as Value City was the plaza’s main anchor. In 1993, a plan was announced to expand to eight auditoriums. The plan was carried out to the plans of Jacobson Masciotti Architects but reduced to just six screens at a relaunch on June 16, 1993 as the Fox Theatres.

On January 26, 1996, Carmike Cinemas bought out Fox Theatres Corporation’s 12 locations. Carmike took over the location on February 23, 1996 and it was renamed the Carmike Hanover Cinema 6. Carmike closed the venue partly due to the competition from the R/C Hanover 9-screen (later 16-screen) megaplex that opened just 1.5 miles away and mostly due to its declaration of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Carmike closed up on March 4, 2002.

But Fred and Carolyn Straughsbaugh of the Glen Theatre in Glen Rock took on the venue. They changed it to the Value Cinemas taking on the name of the adjoining shopping center and its main anchor. It launched on October 11, 2002 with all seats $3. The theatre ended operations following screenings on Labor Day, September 5, 2005.

Finally and almost inexplicably, Diamond Cinemas Circuit of Baltimore took the venue on the same policy but a dollar high as the location was also trying to compete with the R/C. Diamond Cinemas had its Grand Opening on September 21, 2007 with “Transformers”, “Ratatouille”, “Pirates of the Caribbean 3”, “Live Free or Die Hard”, “Shrek 3” and “Evan Almighty”.

The venue closed just a year later on November 3, 2008. “Tropic Thunder” was officially the last film. Owner Bob Weinholt said that the venue had lost a staggering $100,000 in just over a year’s time. That was followed by the loss of the Value City store just two weeks later when the retailer declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Cinema was razed along with most of the Delco Plaza in 2011 with the rebuilt plaza renamed as the North Point Shopping Center.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

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